SUMMARY OF NINETEEN PROPOSITIONS OF ROGERS’ PERSON-CENTRED APPROACH

(Adapted from Person-Centred Facilitation: Process, Theory and Practice by Grobler and Schenck 2009:4–6).

The goal of this chapter is to

» explain the place of research in participatory community practice.

The objective of the chapter is to enable the reader to:

» understand how participatory project-based research and PRA and PLA facilitate the community practice process.

17.1 INTRODUCTION

Research is another supplementary management function. Participatory practice is about decision-making for change, and decisions must be informed by knowledge which includes information gained through research.

In community practice we encounter two kinds of research: research on community practice and project-based research, both of which are part of a community practice process. Research on community practice is, for example, when a researcher makes an evaluative study of community development projects or writes a case study of a development project. Such research is done by the researcher independently of the community, and the results must be the researcher's perception and interpretation rather than a universally valid ‘truth’. Project-based research as part of the change process is not done for the sake of gaining information for some outside institution about the situation or process; it is done to facilitate or move a change process forward towards reaching the goals the group has set. Lammerink (1994:363) states that ‘research is ultimately for facilitation of the action … and should act as a tool in the hands of the people, encouraging participation and a growth of awareness at the grass roots’. Project-based research in participatory community practice is participatory, people-centred and assets-based.

Research is referred to in the broad sense as collecting data and thinking about accumulated facts so that the data discovers and has meaning for the community, the community practitioner and the organisation he/she represents. The word ‘research’ means ‘finding out’ or ‘discovery’, by use of systematic eff ort, of information or answers to something you want to know. The goal of participatory research is more than information; it is also to gain awareness and understanding that will lead to purposeful action.

Goal of the chapter is to:

» describe the facilitation of basic and advanced communication skills needed for management in people-centred community practice.

Objectives of the chapter are to:

» understand the importance and aims of communication as a management function in and with communities.

» know the basic and advanced communication skills that the community practitioner uses in all eff orts of communication with the community.

13.1 INTRODUCTION

Communication is the process of sending and receiving messages, either verbally or non-verbally, between people. As this is a continuous process, it will affect the relationships that exist between people who are in contact. Therefore, one of the most important functions of a community practitioner is always to stimulate or facilitate communication in a variety of ways. Over the years, many people involved in participatory practices have worked out different ways of communicating with and within the community and building relationships to facilitate change. When we work in and with communities, we connect with people through multiple ways, multiple directions, and multimedia. The most important form of communication is dialogue, which is not about transmitting or imparting information, but about sharing, relating, connecting, and creating new meanings knowledge and understanding.

Without going into depth about all communication skills, we will discuss some of the communication skills that emerge from our described theoretical framework. These communication skills are the foundation for management, networking, conflict management, capacity-building, and research.

13.2 THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION IN COMMUNITIES

Communication is very instrumental for understanding communities in participatory community practice; through communication, communities that we work with are formed.

Preface to first edition This book was born out of a need to develop a handbook for beginner social service practitioners and micro community development workers operating at a community level. The book represents our att empt to bring together the richness and variety of people-centred ideas in the field of community practice.

About 50 years ago, Allan Walker from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont, wrote a paper called ‘Some Relations Between Community Development and Roger’s Client-centred Therapy’. He identified four areas of similarity between community development practice and individual therapy:

• The motivation in both is a desire for change.

• The role of the therapist and the role of the community worker is that of a facilitator and the importance of self- determination or agency of people. Facilitation is primarily a function of the belief of the therapist or community worker in the individual and community’s capacity and genuine appreciation.

• The process of therapy and community development is a process of facilitating self-discovery.

• The outcome is a person or community that takes responsibility for its own problems and grows in the process of making the changes. This book in many ways elaborates on these points.

The goal of this chapter is to

» explain the process of dealing with differences and conflict in community practice.

Objectives of the chapter are to enable the reader to:

» understand the various levels of differences and conflict.

» know about various ways of dealing with differences and conflict.

16.1 INTRODUCTION

In this chapter we focus on a specific area of dealing with differences and conflict, namely, within the community group.

Dealing with differences and conflict as described here is seen as a supplementary management function. Community practice is about facilitating change and change entails making decisions with different people with a range of different perceptions. The decisions that are made to bring about the change are different from those made previously, otherwise they will not contribute to change, and the situation will stay the same. These differences may cause tension and conflict if differences are not dealt with satisfactorily. If conflict escalates it can undermine change eff orts. Dealing with conflict can take so much time, energy and resources. It can break down trust and foster a host of negative attitudes. Conflict can undermine the group cohesion to the point where the group disintegrates. Sometimes groups anticipating conflict simply disband because of an inability to face the differences with which they are confronted.

No or too little conflict where everybody agrees all the time can be negative because it may mean that genuine participation is not present; the group may be accepting everything a leader says. It can then be an indication of a lack of participation, self- determination and very litt le motivation to work towards change.

Management

Goal of the chapter is to:

» clarify the concept facilitation in participatory community practice.

Objectives of the chapter are to enable the reader to:

» provide a framework for facilitation. » explain the facilitative relationship. » explain the process of facilitation. » describe facilitative actions and attitudes. » describe the qualities and abilities of facilitators.

5.1 INTRODUCTION

The term ‘facilitation’ is often used in promoting social change and used by change agents to refer to actions they perform to bring about outcomes. For instance, in training and education the terms used are ‘facilitators’ and ‘learners’. This chapter will describe facilitation for participatory community practice as it is used in this book.

5.2 DESCRIPTION OF THE CONCEPT OF FACILITATION

The word facilitation comes from the Latin word ‘facilis’, which means ‘easy’. The opposite of facilitating is to hinder, complicate and discourage. Facilitation assumes that change is a process from ‘within’ people, evolves, transforms and is relational. (See 3.3.5-3.3.8) Facilitation is a term often used in describing the process of multiple and phased actions used to enable or make easier some kind of social change, e.g. learning in education or change in the wellbeing of communities through community practice. An educator can be a facilitator of learning; someone making learning easy. This means not following a ‘banking approach’, depositing information in a top-down way (Freire) but rather assisting a group of people in learning. The teacher does not control all activities. The educator creates the space to learn and introduces relevant, real-world activities to release a spirit of creativity and innovation. The learners get involved as active participants in discussions and teamwork activities, so that a process of learning can take place.

The goal of this chapter is to

» explain the process of capacitating within the context of participatory community practice.

Objectives of the chapter are to enable the reader to:

» understand what is meant by capacitating.

» understand capacitating by means of an example.

15.1 INTRODUCTION

Capacity consists of an understanding, attitude, organisational structure, skills and material resources, and capacitating means increasing these elements. There is a tendency to regard capacity and capacity-building in a very functional way. This means that capacity is knowing what is supposed to be done and how it should be done as well as the ability to perform tasks effectively, efficiently and sustainably. Capacity to perform relates to the required skills, abilities, knowledge and experience relevant to execute the task effectively. Capacity, together with willingness (desire and eff ort) and opportunity, is regarded as the main determinant of performance (Ivansevich & Matteson 1996). Traditionally, capacity-building is then seen as a process of equipping people with knowledge, skills and techniques to fit jobs and tasks or investment made with the purpose of enhancing ability to achieve performance. It results in increased and strengthened performance ability through the development of knowledge, skills, ability and experience relevant to the task.

Capacity-building is nevertheless one of the supplementary management functions for increasing assets and strengths. It is about strengthening the ability of individuals, community groups and organisations so that they are better able to manage community projects and take part in partnerships and community enterprises.

The goal of this chapter is to explain

» the importance and basic knowledge of management and leadership in participatory community practice.

Objectives of the chapter are to enable the reader to:

» understand the importance of management in participatory community practice towards building sustainable community projects and organisations.

» know the main and supplementary management functions in participatory community practice.

» understand leadership in relation to management in participatory community practice.

12.1 INTRODUCTION

Managing and leading are complementary processes and both are essential in participatory community practice. All members of committee or team should develop leadership and management skills Both are primarily processes and skills and not positions. The difference between management and leadership is that management is more about getting things done, while leadership is about visioning, dreaming and facilitating visioning and dreaming . To start, we point out the different focuses of leadership and management in the following table.

Management and leadership are integral parts of and applied in all the phases of the process discussed from chapters 6-11, as already indicated in the definition of participatory community practice in chapter 1: Participatory community practice is a managed change process facilitated with a community to increasingly meet their needs so as to enhance their wellbeing and quality of their own lives and those of the wider community of which they are part.

12.2 MANAGEMENT

12.2.1 Introduction

Two levels of management are applicable in participatory community practice.

The first level of management is where the practitioner facilitates and enables community members to manage their project and complete the various tasks during the phases of connecting and discovering, dreaming, delivering and sustaining of interventions. On the second level the community practitioners have to manage themselves and their work.

The goal of this chapter is to

» provide an overview of the creation of an inclusive economy by linking the informal and formal economies, and focusing on the marginalised poor by establishing income-generating activities.

Objectives of the chapter are to enable the reader to:

» demonstrate an understanding of the informal and formal economies.

» understand the role the community practitioner can play to link people involved in the informal economy with the formal economy through income-generating activities and projects with the purpose of creating an inclusive economy.

» understand income-generating activities as community practice.

» understand the development, management and analysis of value chains for income-generating activities and projects.

19.1 INTRODUCTION

Income generating activities is a term used to describe small scale economic activities (enterprises or business) to assist poor and marginalised people at the bottom of the economic pyramid to create income to increase wellbeing and inclusive economies in communities. People need not rely exclusively on handouts or externally initiated development assistance and projects to increase wellbeing in communities. This idea is based on the assumptions that there is always potential for change in people, that people are creative, and that there are always some assets, abilities and resources through which wealth can be created. The key is to discover and mobilise these in income-generating activities.

19.2 POVERTY AND MARGINALISATION

Poverty and marginalisation are not synonymous, but they are interrelated, with significant overlaps, especially where poverty and marginalisation persist over time. According to the World Bank there are 800-million people living below the international poverty line of US$1.90 a day, which represent approximately 11 percent of the world's population (World Bank Poverty and Shared Prosperity, 2016). Extreme poverty is usually assessed in economic terms.

‘Extremely marginalised’ refers to those people socially excluded due to gender, ethnicity, disability, disease (HIV and Aids, malaria), and other factors including conflict, corruption and environmental disasters, such as floods and droughts, that leave them in positions of low status and power as well as living at the intersection of economic and social exclusion, lacking the minimum resources to meet their basic needs (Baumuller, Ladenburger & Von Braun, 2011). Another factor contributing to marginalisation and poverty is the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) that increases joblessness.

The goal of this chapter is to

» provide an overview of funding and writing proposals for funding and income-generating projects.

Objectives of the chapter are to enable the reader to:

» understand the possibilities of funding projects.

» know how to write a funding proposal and an operational business plan.

» understand income-generating activities as community practice.

18.1 INTRODUCTION

Any project needs a range of resources including tangible resources (e.g. funds, raw materials, labour), knowledge, skills and technology. One works on the assumption that all communities and individuals, however poor, have assets, strengths and opportunities that can be mobilised as resources to develop projects and increase people's wellbeing. This means that there are always some local or internal resources, even though they may be limited and need to be supplemented by external resources. External resources may be necessary, but before planning a project that is wholly dependent on external resources, the following should be kept in mind:

• When considering projects, priority is given to projects that, even though they may need external resources for a kick-start, can be of such a nature that they can soon be sustained locally. The project or activity must be able eventually to become sustainable in the context of locally available resources.

• External resources that are used should not be of such a nature that the management capacity and skill required to absorb, manage and control them exceeds the capacity of the action group or committee. This can destroy confidence and self-reliance and be disempowering.

• By relying on external resources only, one is introducing temporary relief and welfare, and dependence rather than development. Burkey (1996) warns that a very important principle is to minimise dependence: every eff ort should be made to minimise the dependence of the activity, either in material or human terms, on assistance from outside; otherwise, group autonomy will never be achieved.

Goal of the chapter is to:

» explain the process of participatory visioning and finding a focus for action.

Objectives of the chapter are to enable the reader to:

» understand what is meant by vision.

» understand how to facilitate the process of participatory visioning.

8.1 INTRODUCTION

In the previous phase of the process, the foundation for participation is established through connecting and discovering with individuals and usually loosely constituted groups in the community. There is an awareness of ‘what is’, the strengths and the gaps in the community and there are people who are interested in being involved, a potential action group.

8.2 FORMING A WORKING OR ACTION GROUP

If it has not already happened, the process has now reached a point where the individuals need to consolidate as a group to be able to find a focus and create a vision. The connecting and discovery phase usually excite a few people who want to see their community driving the development process in the present and future. These people may be interested in forming a group and recruiting other community members who may be interested in the process. The community practitioner's task requires knowledge and skills of group development processes (forming, norming, storming, performing and adjourning). This enables the community practitioner to know when to let the process continue spontaneously, when to provide support, and when to facilitate with reflective (appreciative and problem-posing) questions.

The group is created as a collective learning context in which they can be facilitated to develop a vision and take the process forward. The foundation for this is based on Freire's concept of cultural/learning circles (see chapter 2).

Goal of the chapter is to:

» describe the theoretical foundation for participatory community Practice

Objectives of the chapter are to enable the reader to:

» understand the importance of a theoretical foundation for community practice. » realise the diff erence between a focus on problems and a focus on people and their capabilities and assets.

» have an overview of applicable human behaviour theories and people-centred approaches in development to become aware of one's own theoretical orientation.

INTRODUCTION

Activity

Before continuing to read this book, we encourage you to make use of a notebook in which you complete the given activities and jot down any ideas that make sense to you or that you want to remember. In doing this, you will be starting a process of personalising theory.

As a person reading this book you may wonder how the book views and approaches community practice. We use the following definition that will be unpacked in this book.

Participatory community practice is a managed change process facilitated with a community to increasingly meet their needs to enhance their wellbeing and quality of their own lives and those of the wider community of which they are part.

Participatory community practice refers to intentionally implementing change with and in the context of the community. The community practitioner works with the community for the direct benefit of the participating community members and more indirectly for other non-participating people in the wider community. Such practice is informed by various theories that recognise the value of people and place them at the centre of the understanding of change.

Introducing participatory community practice

Goal of the chapter is to:

» explain the process of participatory designing/planning a new future

Objectives of the chapter are to enable the reader to:

» understand what is meant by designing a plan.

» understand how to facilitate the process of planning.

» understand how to facilitate designing, building and sustaining an organisational structure for community engagement and change.

» understand and be able to apply appropriate tools and methods for facilitating participatory planning.

9.1 INTRODUCTION

With a clear image of their vision or dream, people are now ready to set goals directed by their vision together. It is not enough to only have a vision. For a vision to become a reality, goals and actions have to be planned. This includes an organisational structure through which the action will take place. Sometimes a group, once they have a vision, is so keen to start that they proceed without a clear design or roadmap – without goals, objectives and action plans. The other danger is that so much time is spent on designing the new future that implementation is unnecessarily postponed, and interest starts to fade. It is therefore important that planning and action should follow soon aft erthe visioning process, before enthusiasm decreases.

The design/planning phase takes place in a participatory manner by people coming together in a dialogue about their desired future. Participatory planning is founded on the belief that (even poor) people can, and should be, enabled to analyse their own reality and plan the change they want for their wellbeing. To be participatory also means that the planning process is bottom-up. It is not a plan designed outside or without the community's involvement, whether by the community practitioner, the organisation or the funder. The decision-making about goals (e.g. project/s) is done by the community which may be represented by an action group or a committee of an action group. This implies the importance of paying a lot of attention to relationships to develop trust and open communication to deal with differences.