So you have seen a Skinny Twin production...
Can you “support local initiative” without feeling like it’s all “give give give” on your behalf
I have experienced a sense of " giving too much" in a project, this was though a project I had structured without much consultation with the community. It was part of a program and it was more like ticking the boxes, The participation levels from the community were very low and a sense of disempowerment and lack of ownership prevailed within the community. What I learned from there is sometimes you cannot impose an idea on a people and get away with it. You cannot also have a preconceived idea to motivate or inspire no matter how grand or innovative the idea is if the community doesn't feel ownership of the project.
In supporting local initiative, I have realised as a practitioner to be able to clearly state and define your role and expertise as a supporter. However I have found that the more informed the community realises you are than then , the more they rely on you, in this case it might then be a matter of seeking ways to broker with other support streams for the community or help with their capacity building on areas you feel they can be empowered for and during the initiative and for later initiatives. An example is my current support of the West Papuan project, in helping with setting up a working group. it was important to include diverse skills from amongst the community group and we included members who are studying , working and experienced in some of the areas the project would benefit from, in this case, instead of over reliance on myself or other support streams, the group utilised its own member expetise.
I would suggest the following as some ways to counter feelings of giving too much, or giving too much!
1. Empowering the local members in the initiative to utilise their pre-existing skills.
2. Supporting the formation of a working group and reference group so as to have a pool where skills can be extracted from.
3. Defining your core expetise and role in supporting the local initiative
4. Brokering or supporting capacity building within the local initiative members.
5. Identify and reinforce your limitations in supporting the local initiative
Some of these suggestions clearly are support structures in themselves to local initiatives, they are more toward empowering the locals to achieve their goals. Another example of a situation I have encountered was with SAIL, the kids apart from other needs required every week transport to and from the campus. This was a potential area of feeling like it was like " give give give" as fuel was not reimbursed and small things like disrespect for property in relation to your own car came into perspective. One way this was countered was by mobilising volunteers who knew what there were raising their hands for , in this case the "burden" was spread and shared.
Volunteer mobilisation with the local community or wider community might then be another way to spread responsibility ensuring your support is specific and limited to what you are prepared to offer. This might then fall under brokering Capacity Building as a community that can mobilise volunteers from within or outside empowers itself toward its own social capital.
It is easy to think of the above but still find yourself have these feelings, personal style in handling responsibility and commitments may also come into play, in this regard it might be a challenge to the practitioner not to over commit and also as a duty of care to state the level of support and specific areas of expetise for support.
In supporting local initiative, I have realised as a practitioner to be able to clearly state and define your role and expertise as a supporter. However I have found that the more informed the community realises you are than then , the more they rely on you, in this case it might then be a matter of seeking ways to broker with other support streams for the community or help with their capacity building on areas you feel they can be empowered for and during the initiative and for later initiatives. An example is my current support of the West Papuan project, in helping with setting up a working group. it was important to include diverse skills from amongst the community group and we included members who are studying , working and experienced in some of the areas the project would benefit from, in this case, instead of over reliance on myself or other support streams, the group utilised its own member expetise.
I would suggest the following as some ways to counter feelings of giving too much, or giving too much!
1. Empowering the local members in the initiative to utilise their pre-existing skills.
2. Supporting the formation of a working group and reference group so as to have a pool where skills can be extracted from.
3. Defining your core expetise and role in supporting the local initiative
4. Brokering or supporting capacity building within the local initiative members.
5. Identify and reinforce your limitations in supporting the local initiative
Some of these suggestions clearly are support structures in themselves to local initiatives, they are more toward empowering the locals to achieve their goals. Another example of a situation I have encountered was with SAIL, the kids apart from other needs required every week transport to and from the campus. This was a potential area of feeling like it was like " give give give" as fuel was not reimbursed and small things like disrespect for property in relation to your own car came into perspective. One way this was countered was by mobilising volunteers who knew what there were raising their hands for , in this case the "burden" was spread and shared.
Volunteer mobilisation with the local community or wider community might then be another way to spread responsibility ensuring your support is specific and limited to what you are prepared to offer. This might then fall under brokering Capacity Building as a community that can mobilise volunteers from within or outside empowers itself toward its own social capital.
It is easy to think of the above but still find yourself have these feelings, personal style in handling responsibility and commitments may also come into play, in this regard it might be a challenge to the practitioner not to over commit and also as a duty of care to state the level of support and specific areas of expetise for support.
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