{"id":483,"date":"2011-02-07T13:12:25","date_gmt":"2011-02-07T13:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leedscd.wordpress.com\/?p=483"},"modified":"2011-02-07T13:12:25","modified_gmt":"2011-02-07T13:12:25","slug":"a-great-big-fundamental-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2011\/02\/07\/a-great-big-fundamental-mistake\/","title":{"rendered":"A Great Big Fundamental Mistake?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Many community groups feel the need to do something. \u00a0Preferably quickly.<\/p>\n<p>To develop some kind of &#8216;project that the community can rally around&#8217;. \u00a0That will &#8216;inspire people and show them we are doing something&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>But I think this is a mistake. \u00a0A great big fundamental mistake. \u00a0For several reasons:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>it lets many people in the community off the hook &#8211; they can, and will, wait for YOU to sort things out. \u00a0This does nothing except to create a new more local group of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/leedscd.wordpress.com\/2010\/03\/10\/challenges-in-community-development-the-vision-of-the-anointed\/\">the anointed<\/a> &#8211;\u00a0they may lend a hand &#8211; but they will expect you to lead.<\/li>\n<li>it further disempowers members of the community who see the power lying with you and your group, or as the latest in a long line of well\u00a0meaning\u00a0but powerless do-gooders.<\/li>\n<li>it is disrespectful of the community &#8211; it implies that you know what is needed to sort things out.<\/li>\n<li>it ties up resources &#8211; before you know it your are running a couple of projects and everyone is too busy to take on any more. \u00a0You start to burn out while achieving little and skeptics in the community start to say &#8216;I told you so&#8217;&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>you alienate people &#8211; whatever project you choose you will make friends and enemies, while others will remain indifferent. \u00a0You choose to work on &#8216;the environment&#8217; and some will\u00a0think\u00a0it about &#8216;jobs&#8217;. \u00a0You work on &#8216;jobs&#8217; and others will\u00a0think\u00a0it is about &#8216;childcare&#8217;. As soon as you nail your colours to a mast, some will think they are the wrong colours on the wrong mast and just back away.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So what should we do instead?<\/p>\n<p>Listen, wait, educate and facilitate.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Listen to what community members want to do, and then help THEM to do it.<\/li>\n<li>Wait and wait and wait, until you find someone who REALLY\u00a0wants\u00a0to do something and invites you and your group to help. You might want to think about what you would need to be like to deserve such an invitation.<\/li>\n<li>Educate. \u00a0Help\u00a0local\u00a0people to understand about what is happening to them and their community and why. Help them to explore the opportunities created as political, economic, social and\u00a0technological\u00a0change sweeps their community.<\/li>\n<li>Facilitate. Help people to do their work. \u00a0Help them to associate and organise. \u00a0Help them to build their power and to work on what matters most to them. \u00a0Build extensive networks of people who know how to help. \u00a0The Zen of facilitation\u00a0means\u00a0that you can maintain many projects without burning out.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Posts\"><ul class=\"entry-meta\"><li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"An imaginary open letter: To those who would &#8216;engage&#8217; us&#8230;\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/08\/09\/an-imaginary-open-letter-to-those-who-would-engage-us\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">An imaginary open letter: To those who would &#8216;engage&#8217; us&#8230;<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"Some thoughts on Best City outcomes\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/07\/05\/some-thoughts-on-best-city-outcomes\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Some thoughts on Best City outcomes<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"Some Barriers to Engagement\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/06\/13\/some-barriers-to-engagement\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Some Barriers to Engagement<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"Getting to Grips with Social Finance &#8211; FREE TRAINING\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/06\/12\/getting-to-grips-with-social-finance-free-training\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Getting to Grips with Social Finance &#8211; FREE TRAINING<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"SPOSTARBUST-Related-Post\"><a title=\"Working In Community Development Today&#8230;\" href=\"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/2012\/05\/23\/working-in-community-development-today\/\" rel=\"bookmark\">Working In Community Development Today&#8230;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many community groups feel the need to do something. \u00a0Preferably quickly. To develop some kind of &#8216;project that the community can rally around&#8217;. \u00a0That will &#8216;inspire people and show them we are doing something&#8217;. But I think this is a mistake. \u00a0A great big fundamental mistake. \u00a0For several reasons: it lets many people in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[36,38,63,109,149,157,175,174,177],"class_list":["post-483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-community-2","tag-community","tag-community-development","tag-engagement","tag-innovation","tag-person-centred","tag-power","tag-regeneration-2","tag-regeneration","tag-responsive","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/realisedevelopment.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}