Community mobilisation

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Pacific Sexual Diversity Network Leadership Development

Suva, 23 – 25 February 2009

Overview of session

• Presentation – basic information• Group work – example scenarios• Practical application of community

mobilisation to your activities

What is community mobilisation?

• A capacity building process through which individuals, groups or organisations plan, carry out and evaluate activities on a participatory and sustained basis to improve their health and other needs, either on their own or stimulated by others.

– International HIV/AIDS Alliance, All Together Now, 2003

What is community mobilisation?

• A capacity building process through which individuals, groups or organisations plan, carry out and evaluate activities on a participatory and sustained basis to improve their health and other needs, either on their own or stimulated by others.

– International HIV/AIDS Alliance, All Together Now, 2003

More on community mobilisation

• A long term process, not a one-off event• A way of working or method, not a specific

activity• Emphasises communication, debate and

cooperation• Seeks to bring coordination• Is empowering and tries to involve many

people, especially people marginalised from existing processes or structures

• Importantly, it leads to action and social change, often to address inequality

• An (ethical) attitude, not just activities

What are the benefits?

• Enables communities to determine their own development

• Builds trust within communities so they can work together effectively

• Builds civil society – capacity of communities to work with government and other sectors (health services, research etc.)

• Helps to apply political pressure and create positive change

• Reduces HIV/AIDS incidence

Some principles• Welcome wide involvement even from

people who disagree with you• Facilitation of discussion, providing

opportunities for everyone to have their say• Work together on issues everyone can agree

on, look for points of consensus• Avoid top-down approaches where people in

leadership positions make decisions for everyone else

• Process is as important as outcome even if it takes a long time

Increased participation = increased mobilisation

• Community mobilisation is most achieved when participation is maximised.

• How can the community participate most meaningfully in any given activity, and in every aspect of an organisation?

High participation = high sustainability

& community control• Increased participation means increased

sustainability and high levels of community control

• Low sustainability and little community control: information giving, consultation (but without influence over decisions), participation for material incentives, being co-opted, selecting leaders

• High sustainability and high community control: decision making, community-led processes, learning together, initiating new activities, being involved in advocacy

Power and representation

• Who has the power?• How can this power be shared more equally

and fairly?

• Who is represented?• Who is not here? Who is not represented?• Why are they not here/represented?• How can this be changed?

GIPA

• Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS – 1994

• Greater Investment in People Living with HIV/AIDS – 2008

• The idea that participation must be meaningful and build skills and capacity

• Sustainability, community control, power

Some examples

• Treatment Action Campaign: South Africa• The AIDS Service Organisation (TASO): Uganda• Many of the organisations that make up the

PSDN as well as the PSDN itself!• … but community mobilisation can almost

always go further, because opportunities for greater community mobilisation are everywhere!

Exercise 1: community mobilisation scenarios

• Read the scenario you are given and answer this question:

• How can community mobilisation be applied to this situation so that there is:

• Greater community participation?• More meaningful community participation?

• Remember skills and capacity building, sustainability, community control, GIPA, power, representation etc.

Exercise 2: practical work

• Nominate an activity you have coming up or are planning (this can be anything from a small activity to a very large one).

• Briefly describe this activity.• Devise a plan to:• (1) involve greater numbers of community

members in this activity• (2) involve the community in more

meaningful ways than is currently planned• Remember skills and capacity building,

sustainability, community control, GIPA, power, representation etc.

• Be creative and be practical!

Passing on what you’ve learnt in this session

• Do you want to put the plan you’ve just come up with into practice?

• How can you let others know about the work you’ve undertaken here?

• What support will you need to do this?

Some resources

• All Together Now, 2003, International HIV/AIDS Alliance - good information and heaps of practical tools that have been created in the field by communities in developing countries

• Involving Those Directly Affected in Health and Development Communication Programs – Participation Guide, 2007, Health Communication Partnership

• Both available at www.aidsalliance.org – search publications for community mobilisation

• Also search community mobilisation on www.aidsmap.org

Chinese proverb

With the best leaders, when the work is done and the task

accomplished, the people will say “we have done this

ourselves”.- Lau Tzu