Leave No One Behind: Community Involvement in Community Development
There’s a feeling of accomplishment that comes with completing a project for a community or when you’re involved in a community development program.
Either as an individual or maybe a team, planning and executing ideas, strategies and projects that improves the quality of life for a group of people is a great thing to do plus it makes you see life from a different perspective. You realize that little efforts from individuals can lead to a great turnaround for others.
After your project, you should think about the people whose life you just made better in your own little way. Are they happy about what you or your team have done? Are they prepared to effect change and help sustain whatever it is you’ve done for them?
You could think that since you’re solving a problem for their community, everyone should jump out and show support and sing praises of you or your team. Well, this might happen in some places but it’s not the same everywhere.
There are stories of residents of particular communities demanding that NGOs pay them before carrying out charity works in their community.
Most times these NGOs leave with anger and sadness. They’ve seen a gap they intend to bridge but they are not allowed to do so by the same people who would be beneficiaries.
Active and participative representation by members of a community you’re trying to work for would help a lot in achieving your project and even sustaining it when you or your team leaves.
The United Nations defines community development as a process where community members come together to take collective action and generate solutions to common problems.
Read that definition again and you’ll realize the need to involve members of a community in whatever project you’re doing for them. There’s a need to meet with members of the community (leaders, stakeholders and key members of the community).
By communicating with them, you get to model your project in a way that would suit them the most, because you’re doing it for them and not for yourself.
When you help them identify that they have a problem, then they’ll appreciate the solution more than if you’re providing a solution to a problem they’re not even aware they have.
Do your survey and identify the target audience within the community (can be youths, high school students, adults etc.) that could help you or your team sustain the project you’re about to carry out when you’re no longer there. The real success of a project comes from the sustainability and continuous positive effect of that project.
If you have the opportunity to be part of community development, count it joy as it’s a beautiful thing to do. Also keep in mind that a community isn’t about the number of people or how large the geographic region is. A community could be a school, a street or a group of people.
Follow due diligence and leave no one behind while you’re making impact.
