1. Introduction
Community organizing is one of many strategies for revitalizing disadvantaged neighbourhoods and communities and for pursuing social change on a broader basis. But Community organizing is the only strategy that invests all of its resources and energy to build the power of the people themselves, people directly impacted by the issues being addressed – to work effectively for community change.
The experience in the country and elsewhere demonstrates that when autonomous, vibrant and voluntary community organizations thrive at local/community level, social and economic progress is not only possible but also greatly accelerated and sustained. (URT, Rural Development Policy 2001). Where communities are empowered and encouraged to plan for their own development and have greater autonomy over local resources, self-motivation and capacity to organize emerge.
This article presents the concept of Community Organizing and potential for Community Organizing process through Community Based Organizations in Mtwara District, the relevance of community organizing towards CBOs development and the challenges.
2. The Concept of Community Organizing
2.1 What is Community Organizing?
The concept of Community Organizing is a long-term approach where the people affected by an issue are supported in identifying problems and taking action to achieve solutions. It is a means of achieving social change through collective action by changing the balance of power. The Marin Institute, (2006).
Dave Beckwith and Cristina Lopez (1998) define Community Organizing as the process of building power through involving a constituency in identifying problems they share and the solutions to those problems that they desire; identifying the people and structures that can make those solutions possible; enlisting those targets in the effort through negotiation and using confrontation and pressure when needed; and building an institution that is democratically controlled by that constituency that can develop the capacity to take on further problems and that embodies the will and the power of that constituency.
Community Organization on the other hand is that process by which the people organize themselves to ‘take charge’ of their situation and thus develop a sense of being a community together. It is a particularly effective tool for the poor and powerless as they determine for themselves the actions they take to deal with the essential forces that are destroying their community and consequently causing them to powerless. Linthicum R, 1991, p.31.
Seth Borgos and Scott Douglas, (1996) refer Community organization “….as the organizations that democratic in governance, open and accessible to community members, and concerned with the general health of the community rather than a specific interest or service function…”
For the purpose of this paper Community Organizing simply means a process of facilitating people to work together, and how to be effective in their society.
2.2 The Relevance of Community Organizing
According to Marin Institute, Community organizing helps to build out many voices to add collective power and strengthen the issue. Community organizing is a key part of an overall strategy to make changes in a community that are widely felt, and that reflect the wishes of the people who are differently affected by alcohol-related community problems. This requires the organizers to not only listen and be responsive to the community, but also to help peoples in the community develop the skills necessary to address their own issues in an ongoing way.
Community organizing looks at collective solutions – larger numbers of people who engage in solutions that impact even more people. These people usually live in the same neighbourhood. The core elements of community organizing are participation, ownership, relationship building and leadership development.
Local communities become partners who not only participate but also negotiate in the development process. In participatory approaches to development, one of the primary focuses must be strengthening community organizations and local institutions. Local institutions are understood here in the broad sense as a system, cooperation or organization between people. It is through such institutions that people maintain and develop sustainable livelihood strategies and build social systems of mutual caring and support.
3. Development of Community Based Organizations in Mtwara District
Community-based organizations (CBOs) are found in all parts of Tanzania. Their contributions to communities and society as whole can not be overlooked and neither can the needs and difficulties they face in trying improve the living conditions of their members.
Since the beginning of market reforms in Tanzania in the mid 1980s many people have been organizing themselves into economic groups many of which operate in the informal sector as a way of generating cash income.
From the historical context, there had been a fertile ground for community organizations to grow in Mtwara District as early as 1960s with the establishment of Rural Co-operative Societies. These encouraged the formation of economic groups for crop collection and sales. Later on the same period the emergence of political pressure groups including for example The Women Union of Tanzania (UWT) witnessed the emergence of many women member groups. Many other initiatives also encouraged the formation of more economic groups among the poor as a way of building solidarity and strength.
The recent development that have taken place among CBOs in Mtwara District must also be considered as in the context of the presence and contributions from other development agencies including for example, RIPS, CONCERN, SwissAid and Basic Needs.
CBOs have been used as efficient units for the implementation of programmes like the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) and special funds like Women’s Development Fund and the Youth Development Fund provided through the District Councils.
5. Potential and Multiple Effects of CBOs Empowerment in Mtwara District
Most CBOs in Mtwara District are informal groups held together by a common need for self-advancement through collective support. There is intrinsic as well as tangible value in being a member of a CBO obviously for the sake of togetherness cemented by shared values or problems such as the need to reduce poverty, create employment, meet specific needs and/or rise up the social ladder. CBOs empowerment initiatives trickle down to community level. CBOs are benefiting themselves and their communities. Many CBOs have brought new technologies, activities, and pertinent information about development issues.
The power of participatory approaches at community level has taken root to the extent that most CBOs now have their members represented in Local Government Forums where they are able to influence decisions made for village development. Some CBOs are represented even at ward-level meetings and in District Council meetings.
CBOs have the potential to promote gender equality and women empowerment. The ability of women in CBOs to self organize is an indication and the key element of women empowerment. Most CBOs are already empowered enough to develop their own survival strategies. The strengths point to the fact that they are most likely to continue seeking strength from within members and from outside the community in order to survive.
In summary CBOs in Mtwara District have acquired demonstrable capacities including; confidence in self-expression, increasing demand by CBOs for participatory processes in community development; and ability to harness, rationalize and utilize locally available resources towards poverty reduction. All these are potential factors for community organizing among Community Based Organizations in the Mtwara District.
5. Policy Review
Tanzania is currently in the midst of reaching social, political and economic reforms whose primary objective is to unleash and bring into greater play the creative energy and efforts of communities to improve their own well being, as well as to bring about the overall long term sustainable development. Democratic participation is fundamental to effect implementation of these reforms especially the Local Government Reform and the Rural Development Policy.
Community organizing and participation as strategies for poverty alleviation and sustainable development have brought about many achievements in many places in Tanzania towards enabling the people to own and control their development process. The achievements have then enabled people to bring about their own development base on their own priorities, which is fundamental to the National Strategy for Poverty Reduction.
On the other hand the objectives of Community Development Policy among others is to; “to enable Tanzanians to join together in groups and increase their commitments to self-development, and also to ensure that people participate fully in formulating, implementing and evaluating development plans”.
It can be concluded from the above policies and strategies that community organizing is crucial in the process of development because the empowerment process through community organizing promotes participation of people, organizations and communities toward the goals of increased individual and community control, political efficacy, improved quality of community life, and social justice.
6. Constraints and Challenges facing CBOs in Mtwara
· Most CBOs in Mtwara District have a very poor resource base and are only able to engage mostly in micro projects that are too small to promote growth.
· Low level of education to some of the CBO leaders
· Most CBOs work with rudimentary and outdated tools making production especially in cashew processing difficult and time consuming.
· Membership size of most CBOs is very small. It ranges between 5 to 10 members.
7. Conclusion
In Community organizing process, people are at the centre – people are the main driving force for development. People live in different kinds of communities within a wider society. These include villages, hamlets, religious groups, CBOs and other interest groups. It is peoples’ ability to come together and organize in different ways, which is the real key to improving their lives and building wealth and well being in the community. Most communities in Tanzania have access to considerable local resources, which are often taken for granted and under-utilized. The key to this is Community Organizing, peoples’ capacity to organize themselves. People should then participate in, drive and own the development process.
CBOs are nucleus for participatory development in rural communities. CBOs are formed to enable groups of community members to work together towards solving civic, public and economic problems in an open and friendly manner. The small groups as may be, are empowering members of their households and motivating others to form own groups. These groups can be used as effectively as a nucleus for sustainable development.
CBOs in Mtwara District are gaining power as a voice to be reckoned with. They are able to challenge development processes and demand adequate public services in their communities, which is one of the principles of Community Organizing.
Community organizing is one of many strategies for revitalizing disadvantaged neighbourhoods and communities and for pursuing social change on a broader basis. But Community organizing is the only strategy that invests all of its resources and energy to build the power of the people themselves, people directly impacted by the issues being addressed – to work effectively for community change.
The experience in the country and elsewhere demonstrates that when autonomous, vibrant and voluntary community organizations thrive at local/community level, social and economic progress is not only possible but also greatly accelerated and sustained. (URT, Rural Development Policy 2001). Where communities are empowered and encouraged to plan for their own development and have greater autonomy over local resources, self-motivation and capacity to organize emerge.
This article presents the concept of Community Organizing and potential for Community Organizing process through Community Based Organizations in Mtwara District, the relevance of community organizing towards CBOs development and the challenges.
2. The Concept of Community Organizing
2.1 What is Community Organizing?
The concept of Community Organizing is a long-term approach where the people affected by an issue are supported in identifying problems and taking action to achieve solutions. It is a means of achieving social change through collective action by changing the balance of power. The Marin Institute, (2006).
Dave Beckwith and Cristina Lopez (1998) define Community Organizing as the process of building power through involving a constituency in identifying problems they share and the solutions to those problems that they desire; identifying the people and structures that can make those solutions possible; enlisting those targets in the effort through negotiation and using confrontation and pressure when needed; and building an institution that is democratically controlled by that constituency that can develop the capacity to take on further problems and that embodies the will and the power of that constituency.
Community Organization on the other hand is that process by which the people organize themselves to ‘take charge’ of their situation and thus develop a sense of being a community together. It is a particularly effective tool for the poor and powerless as they determine for themselves the actions they take to deal with the essential forces that are destroying their community and consequently causing them to powerless. Linthicum R, 1991, p.31.
Seth Borgos and Scott Douglas, (1996) refer Community organization “….as the organizations that democratic in governance, open and accessible to community members, and concerned with the general health of the community rather than a specific interest or service function…”
For the purpose of this paper Community Organizing simply means a process of facilitating people to work together, and how to be effective in their society.
2.2 The Relevance of Community Organizing
According to Marin Institute, Community organizing helps to build out many voices to add collective power and strengthen the issue. Community organizing is a key part of an overall strategy to make changes in a community that are widely felt, and that reflect the wishes of the people who are differently affected by alcohol-related community problems. This requires the organizers to not only listen and be responsive to the community, but also to help peoples in the community develop the skills necessary to address their own issues in an ongoing way.
Community organizing looks at collective solutions – larger numbers of people who engage in solutions that impact even more people. These people usually live in the same neighbourhood. The core elements of community organizing are participation, ownership, relationship building and leadership development.
Local communities become partners who not only participate but also negotiate in the development process. In participatory approaches to development, one of the primary focuses must be strengthening community organizations and local institutions. Local institutions are understood here in the broad sense as a system, cooperation or organization between people. It is through such institutions that people maintain and develop sustainable livelihood strategies and build social systems of mutual caring and support.
3. Development of Community Based Organizations in Mtwara District
Community-based organizations (CBOs) are found in all parts of Tanzania. Their contributions to communities and society as whole can not be overlooked and neither can the needs and difficulties they face in trying improve the living conditions of their members.
Since the beginning of market reforms in Tanzania in the mid 1980s many people have been organizing themselves into economic groups many of which operate in the informal sector as a way of generating cash income.
From the historical context, there had been a fertile ground for community organizations to grow in Mtwara District as early as 1960s with the establishment of Rural Co-operative Societies. These encouraged the formation of economic groups for crop collection and sales. Later on the same period the emergence of political pressure groups including for example The Women Union of Tanzania (UWT) witnessed the emergence of many women member groups. Many other initiatives also encouraged the formation of more economic groups among the poor as a way of building solidarity and strength.
The recent development that have taken place among CBOs in Mtwara District must also be considered as in the context of the presence and contributions from other development agencies including for example, RIPS, CONCERN, SwissAid and Basic Needs.
CBOs have been used as efficient units for the implementation of programmes like the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF) and special funds like Women’s Development Fund and the Youth Development Fund provided through the District Councils.
5. Potential and Multiple Effects of CBOs Empowerment in Mtwara District
Most CBOs in Mtwara District are informal groups held together by a common need for self-advancement through collective support. There is intrinsic as well as tangible value in being a member of a CBO obviously for the sake of togetherness cemented by shared values or problems such as the need to reduce poverty, create employment, meet specific needs and/or rise up the social ladder. CBOs empowerment initiatives trickle down to community level. CBOs are benefiting themselves and their communities. Many CBOs have brought new technologies, activities, and pertinent information about development issues.
The power of participatory approaches at community level has taken root to the extent that most CBOs now have their members represented in Local Government Forums where they are able to influence decisions made for village development. Some CBOs are represented even at ward-level meetings and in District Council meetings.
CBOs have the potential to promote gender equality and women empowerment. The ability of women in CBOs to self organize is an indication and the key element of women empowerment. Most CBOs are already empowered enough to develop their own survival strategies. The strengths point to the fact that they are most likely to continue seeking strength from within members and from outside the community in order to survive.
In summary CBOs in Mtwara District have acquired demonstrable capacities including; confidence in self-expression, increasing demand by CBOs for participatory processes in community development; and ability to harness, rationalize and utilize locally available resources towards poverty reduction. All these are potential factors for community organizing among Community Based Organizations in the Mtwara District.
5. Policy Review
Tanzania is currently in the midst of reaching social, political and economic reforms whose primary objective is to unleash and bring into greater play the creative energy and efforts of communities to improve their own well being, as well as to bring about the overall long term sustainable development. Democratic participation is fundamental to effect implementation of these reforms especially the Local Government Reform and the Rural Development Policy.
Community organizing and participation as strategies for poverty alleviation and sustainable development have brought about many achievements in many places in Tanzania towards enabling the people to own and control their development process. The achievements have then enabled people to bring about their own development base on their own priorities, which is fundamental to the National Strategy for Poverty Reduction.
On the other hand the objectives of Community Development Policy among others is to; “to enable Tanzanians to join together in groups and increase their commitments to self-development, and also to ensure that people participate fully in formulating, implementing and evaluating development plans”.
It can be concluded from the above policies and strategies that community organizing is crucial in the process of development because the empowerment process through community organizing promotes participation of people, organizations and communities toward the goals of increased individual and community control, political efficacy, improved quality of community life, and social justice.
6. Constraints and Challenges facing CBOs in Mtwara
· Most CBOs in Mtwara District have a very poor resource base and are only able to engage mostly in micro projects that are too small to promote growth.
· Low level of education to some of the CBO leaders
· Most CBOs work with rudimentary and outdated tools making production especially in cashew processing difficult and time consuming.
· Membership size of most CBOs is very small. It ranges between 5 to 10 members.
7. Conclusion
In Community organizing process, people are at the centre – people are the main driving force for development. People live in different kinds of communities within a wider society. These include villages, hamlets, religious groups, CBOs and other interest groups. It is peoples’ ability to come together and organize in different ways, which is the real key to improving their lives and building wealth and well being in the community. Most communities in Tanzania have access to considerable local resources, which are often taken for granted and under-utilized. The key to this is Community Organizing, peoples’ capacity to organize themselves. People should then participate in, drive and own the development process.
CBOs are nucleus for participatory development in rural communities. CBOs are formed to enable groups of community members to work together towards solving civic, public and economic problems in an open and friendly manner. The small groups as may be, are empowering members of their households and motivating others to form own groups. These groups can be used as effectively as a nucleus for sustainable development.
CBOs in Mtwara District are gaining power as a voice to be reckoned with. They are able to challenge development processes and demand adequate public services in their communities, which is one of the principles of Community Organizing.
no reference and citations where do you get all this?
ReplyDelete