Reframing Community Development: A Conversation

among Faith Leaders in the Twin Cities

Joan Velásquez, Co-Founder of Mano a ManoJanel Kragt Bakker, Associate Director of Collegeville Institute

Case Study 1: Mano a Mano International

Case Study 2: Sister Church Relationships

Best Practices

Challenges

Opportunities

creating partnerships with rural Bolivian communities to improve health and increase economic well-being

Case Study 1

Partnering Relationships

Driven by Communities

Mutual and Collaborative Cross-cultural Experiences

Focus on Strengths and Assets

Sustainable Development

Influenced by Immigrants from South

Over-Arching Themes

Integrated Programs Respond to Needs Identified by Communities

Health care

Education

Sustainable Agriculture – Base of RuralEconomy

Access to other Communities and Markets

Results Related to HealthDistributed over 4,000,000 Pounds of Surplus from U.S. to Bolivia

• Built and Co-administer 151 Medical Centers• 1,000,000 Patient Visits Yearly• All Center Salaries Paid by Bolivian Sources

Maternal and Infant Mortality Reduced by 90% in High Andean Rural Communities

Results Related to Education

Built 54 Schools andHousing for Teachers

Old School

New School

Results Related to Economic Development: Water and Food

Built 8 Water Reservoirs: Serve 40,000 Rural Residents

Built 1,200 Miles ofArterial Roads

to Markets

Connecting Communities to Each Other

Air Transport to Support Programs

2,681 Patients Airlifted to Hospitals

Training for Sustainable Agriculture:Integrates all Mano a Mano Programs

Four Bolivian Organizational Partners

Mano a Mano Bolivia: Health and Education

Mano a Mano Nuevo Mundo:Infrastructure for Sustainable Food Security

Mano a Mano Aviacion: Air Support for Programs

Mano a Mano Internacional: Hosts Visitors, Raises Funds and Pilots New Initiatives

Our Project Partners

National Ministries

Communities Municipalities

Mano a Mano

Long-Term Mano a Mano Goals

Create/develop Bolivian capacity to build and sustain infrastructure that communitiesneed to meet basic needs and thrive on their own land.

Create deep and long lasting commitments to respectful relationships that add hope and meaning to lives of all involved.

Case Study 2: Sister Church Relationships

Research project was designed to study North Americans’ experiences in sister church relationships, probing attitudes and behaviors regarding international religious engagement.

Research Parameters Studied international parish partnerships of 12 congregations in the Washington, D.C. area. Research subjects represented a broad swath of American Christianity.

•3 Roman Catholic parishes•3 African American Baptist congregations 3 mainline Presbyterian •3 evangelical Anglican

Method was ethnographic case study consisting of:• Interviews with 72 congregational leaders and parishioners• Interviews with 18 representatives from denominational and parachurch mission agencies •Participant observation at worship services, committee meetings, and sister parish-related events

• Sister parish relationships illustrate the contemporary processes of globalization.

• Sister parish relationships reflect the restructuring of North American religious institutions.

• Sister parish relationships reflect the post-colonial turn in Christian mission efforts.

• Sister parish relationships reflect the growth and maturation of the church in the global South.

Best Practices

Fostering Mutuality

Fostering Dignity and Empowerment

Fostering Sustainability

Fostering Mutuality • All partners contribute. • Projects arise out of relationships,

rather than the reverse, and relationships are esteemed more highly than projects.

• Bi-cultural mediators help bridge differences.

• Decision-making processes are established jointly, and a shared understanding between partners develops surrounding expectations.

• Respectful conflict is welcomed as an opportunity for growth.

• Trust develops mutually—each partner giving and receiving, and each partner accountable to the other.

Fostering Dignity and Empowerment

• Communities identify their own needs, assess how those needs should be met, and make requests.

• Power and privilege are taken seriously. Disparities in socio-economic status are acknowledged and when possible, subverted.

• Transfers of material resources are handled carefully and discreetly, and criteria for use are explicit.

• Whenever possible, transfers of material resources are channeled to employment, lending, and investing.

• The partner with greatest contextual knowledge of the setting is primarily responsible for decision making about that ministry.

Partners Sign Formal AgreementFostering Sustainability • Partners jointly

establish a written covenant/agreement which specifies the length and terms of engagement.

• Partners spend time together and maintain regular contact.

• More than one or two people in each party take “ownership” of the relationship.

Challenges in the Partnership Model

Working across national/racial/cultural linesDisparities in access to

power and resources Balance of leading and

following Difficulty of sustaining

relationships over time and distanceAccountability: to whom

and for what?

Opportunities in the Partnership Modeltaking advantage of

globalization processes bridging ideological polarities

capitalizing on the restructuring of North American institutions

building social capital

Questions and Answers/Group Discussion

Guided Table Discussion

1. We often face wide disparities in available material resources when working in our local communities as well as when working internationally. How do we/how can we best address these issues?

2. We tend to emphasize accountability from those to whom we make resources available. How should we be accountable to them?

3. The principle, “getting to know the other and their point of view,” has guided the work presented today. When working on a project through your church or other community, how have you applied this principle and how might you consider applying it in the future?

4. Discuss one practical “take away” in relation to a ministry or community development initiative in which you are involved.