I
strongly believe that community engagement is a key aspect of any development
project which seeks to truly empower people. Without the community's genuine
interest a project cannot hope to achieve any lasting change as people might be
less willing to take on board new ideas. It is rarely an easy task to engage
communities in NGO work, in fact it is one of the main challenges we have
encountered in our work with the NFED.
I am working with the Kukuo
community in the Savelugu district with a group of women to find out about
their income generation activities. We are hoping to lay the groundwork for
future cohorts to facilitate the women in becoming cooperatives. When we
visited the community for the first time I was nervous and had a few concerns
about how the women would react to us. My biggest worry was that we might be
involving ourselves in a community that did not want us there. When we arrived
we were introduced to the group of women and all my initial concerns melted away.
The women were incredibly welcoming and friendly and appeared to genuinely
appreciate our presence in their community which made me feel relaxed around
them. Being from the UK my skills in Dagbani are limited which the group
confirmed with their warm laughter. Nevertheless, using Dagbani helped with
engaging the community as the women could see that I was attempting to connect
with them, rather than enforcing my own ideals.
On our next visits my partner and I
attempted to establish what the women's expectations of us and the project
were. We wanted to form a mutual understanding of our role and the women's role
in the project. The suggestions came thick and fast; they wanted grinding
mills, money, better access to water, even wellington boots. Being a long term
project we did not want to just give the women material items and then leave.
Instead, we want to facilitate the women to improve their skills and knowledge
to benefit them in the future, making our work sustainable. We liaised, talking
through our aims whilst explaining that we wanted to create longer term impacts
rather than short term gains. Finally, after vibrant discussions, consensus was
reached and everyone was happy.
One major challenge in community
engagement is removing the barrier between us as NGO workers and them as
beneficiaries. The barrier can create a feeling of inequality and might also
cause the perception that we are saviours and they therefore, need saving. The
women in the Kukuo community are all hard working, intelligent adults who are
seeking ways to improve their income generation and literacy. We respected this
and wanted to engage the women in a way where we all felt like equals. As part
of our project we ran a focus group, asking questions, inviting responses,
engaging the group in a process that could have sharply increased the divide
due to language barriers. Fortunately, everyone gladly participated, and at the
end of the session we took a group picture together, joking and laughing at how
funny we looked. Shared moments like this helped to reduce any barriers which
may have formed between us.
Community engagement can
be a challenge in any NGO work , as there are language and cultural barriers as
well as diverging expectations. I have found communication and honesty extremely
useful in building fruitful relationships, both have helped me to carry out professional
objectives and form personal friendships that I can reflect on long after I
complete my time in Ghana.
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