COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION

TOPIC 1: OVERVIEW OF COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION

Key Concepts in Community Mobilization
Community: A group of people who share common interest, values or goals and connected social
economic and geographical ties.
Mobilization: Is the process of organizing and activating individuals, groups and communities to take
action towards a common goal, e.g. clean water problem in the society
Empowerment: Is the process of enabling individuals and communities to get control over their lives,
making informed decisions and take actions to address their needs and concerns.
Engagement: Is the active involvement and participation of individuals, groups and organization within
community in decision making processes, problem solving and corrective actions.
Collaboration: Is the working together with others include community members, organization to achieve
common goals and address community members.
Capacity Building: Refers to enhancing skills and knowledge, resources and abilities of individuals and
communities to effectively address community challenges and provide positive change.
Social Cohesion: Refers to the sense of belonging, trust and cooperation among individuals and groups
within the community.
Why Social Cohesion is important in the Community?
 It contribute to social stability, resilience and corrective actions
Sustainable Development: Refers to the development that meets the needs of the present generation
without compromising the stability of the future generation to meet their own needs. This can be done by
involving community members.
Raising Awareness: Increasing knowledge and understanding key issues and challenges within a
community through community and education strategies in order to mobilize community members to take
action.
Positive Social Change: Is the process of creating meaningful and listing improvements in life of
individuals, equality and rule of law in a questioned community.
Participatory Decision Making: is the involving of community members in the process of decision
making that affect their lives and the community.
Why is it essential to participate in decision making by the community members in society?
 It helps the voiceless people so that their voices and perspective are heard and considered in the
society
Community Mobilization: is the process that involves, engaging and empowering individuals, groups
and organization or communities to take collective action and work towards a common goal. It aims at
bringing people together in the community to achieve common goal. It raises key issues, awareness and
mobilize community members to take an action in finding solutions.
The main goal of community mobilization is empowering individuals and communities to take
ownership of their own development and improve the quality of their life. Thus by enhancing social
cohesion and fostering sustainable development.
MAIN OBJECTIVES OF COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION
SR#. OBJECTIVE EXPLAINATION
1. Capacity building in the Strengthening skills, knowledge, abilities and resources
community to affectively address challenges and promote positive
change.
2. Promote Community Encourage participation and involvement of community
engagement and participation members and stakeholders in planning, implementation
and evaluation process.
3. Addressing community needs identifying and addressing the specific needs and
and concerns concerns of the community through collaborative efforts
and sustainable solutions
4. Enhance Social Cohesion The sense of belonging, trust and unity bring people
together and take action to address their own needs.
5. Promoting social justice and Addressing the qualities and promoting equal rights and
equity opportunities for all community members, ensuring fair
distribution of resources opportunities within a society
6. Fostering Sustainable Planning activities by involving community members and
Development implementing activities that have long term positive
impacts that meets the needs of present generation
without compromising the future generation.
7. Creating positive social Change Addressing systemic issues and promoting equity justice
and wellbeing through meaningful and lasting
improvements on the rights of individuals in the
community
8. Empowering individuals in the Active involvement and participation of individuals,
community groups and organization within the community in decision
making processes, problem solving and corrective actions.

IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNITY MOBILISATION

 Increases participatory in decision making process.
 Reduces dependency syndrome
 Strengthens cooperation, coordination, collaboration and accountability among stakeholders
 Promotes equal opportunities
 Strengthen Community participation and self-reliance for sustainability of projects
GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION
 Recruit and secured the right leadership
 Establish a formal structure
 Engage stakeholders of diverse background
 Include of people of influence
 Funding is broad based
 Build on community strengths and assets
 Build shared vision, ownership and passion
 Used data as source of power and leverage for planning an d change
 Measure and report results
WAYS TO MOBILIZE COMMUNITIES
 Community meetings  Radio listening groups
 Public debate  Quiz Competition
 Village literacy Affairs  Print media
 Dance and concerts  Door to door session
 Mobile cinema  Story telling
 Sports events and competition
ROLE OF CULTURE IN COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION
 Unifying factor
 Symbol of resistance
 Source of inspiration
 Means of empowerment
 Tool for social change
COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION APPROACHES
1. RAPID RURAL APPRAISAL ( RRA) APPROACH
 Aims to gather information and insights about rural communities quickly and efficiently
 Active involvement of community members in data collection and analysis
 The main objective of RRA is to empower local communities by involving them in decision
making process E.g. Mapping, transect walks, interviews and focus group discussions.
KEY PRINCIPLES IN RAPID RURAL APPRAISAL (RRA) APPROACH
 Participation: Through assessment process and decision making E.g. transect walks
 Rapidity: Quickly gathering of information helps in timely decision making and action planning
 Flexibility; Adaptable to specific needs of the community
 Holistic Approach; Linkage of Social, cultural, economic and environment
 Empowerment; Knowledge and information that help to make informed decisions and bring
self-reliance
ADVANTAGES OF RAPID RURAL APPRAISAL (RRA) APPROACH
 Time efficient  Cost effective
  Participatory and inclusive  Promote local ownership
 Empowerment of local community  Improves decision making
 Flexible and adaptable  Enhancing capacity building
 Build community cohesion  Fosters learning and participatory
 Facilitate collaboration
DISADVANTAGES OF RAPID RURAL APPRAISAL (RRA) APPROACH
 Limited depth
 Potential Bias E.g. Focus group discussions
 Lack of Validation
 Ethical Consideration
 Limited Scope.