Community Development, A Collective Effort!

Community Development, A Collective Effort!

Ananpansah,B Abraham of Olive International Konsult writes:

The word development has engaged the attention of the world ever since the baptism of the United Nations.It’s gaining eminence each passing day especially,in the face of heightened so-called technical and economic aid to less developed countries from the world’s superpowers in an attempt at tackling poverty.

Development could mean a lot of things.But it could also mean “change”.A change that is the dream of every government-central to community(local).A change that is mostly talked about but stubbornly elusive.A change that enable people to gain control over their environment,and situation.That change may be economic or human in dimension.

As a community advocate,I’ve always been enthusiastic about the type of development called “community development”.
And by community development,I mean a grassroot process by which members of a community collectively drive local solutions to their common problems thereby increasing their capacity to deal with the environment around them.Where community development is a possibility,the human beings who happen to to the real wealth of the community develop their full potentials within an enabling environment.The local people are able to lead productive and meaningful lifestyles through enlarged choices.And poverty is alleviated if not eliminated.

As a matter of fact,due to the endemic nature of poverty in communities particularly in Africa,community development is a much desired goal.
Obama puts it in another way,”If poverty is a disease that infects the entire community in the form of unemployment and violence, failing schools and broken homes, then we can’t just treat those symptoms in isolation . We have to heal that entire community.”
— Barack Obama

In this light,over the years,there have been several efforts to change the situation of communities in Ghana and Africa at large through policy,handouts and band-aids-from government to NGOs.Most of these attempts from experience have failed to yield desired results.They at best end up producing temporal or quick fix solutions.The bottom line being that,they fall short of community support and participation.

It is on this note,I dare to say community development will remain a remote reality without a concerted efforts of all members of the community(community support and participation).Thus,a collective drive towards self help community projects aimed at community empowerment.It must not be the traditional handouts or band-aids.But a pooled efforts an reviving the lost days of communal labour.Community self planning is key!

The land,people, local resources and community must think alike…Wes Jackson will say that,”When people, land, and community are as one, all three members prosper; when they relate not as members but as competing interests, all three are exploited. By consulting Nature as the source and measure of that membership, The Land Institute seeks to develop an agriculture that will save soil from being lost or poisoned while promoting a community life at once prosperous and enduring.”

One modern day trend that frustrate efforts at community development is the so-called grassroot politics.Grassroot politics has caused more harm than the devil can ever cause to communities.Development effort in the community now has political coloration.Sanitation which used to be the trademark of communities has now taken a political dimension.The end result being cholera and malaria killing us like flies in this 21st Century,and reducing productivity.Thanks to this “modern day evil,the death of a neighbour no longer diminishes a community.We mash our faces like mashed potatoes at each other with every tick of the clock.Jabbing and throwing salvos at each other are the order of the day.At every least provocation,we reveal family history and tell the opponent what s/he doesn’t even know about his/her own family.”Chai.I think the white man infected us with democracy as a deliberate punishment for escaping colonialism.
Every effort at communal labour or community support project is politically defeated.It's either my party,or it's bad at all cost.

Don’t get me wrong.Politics at the local level is good.Indeed, it’s the only way governance can be brought to the doorsteps of the people.The only way local people can mobilise local resources for local development.And when I talk about grassroot politics being good,I talk about the one advocated by Vaclav Haval,
” Genuine politics — even politics worthy of the name — the only politics I am willing to devote myself to — is simply a matter of serving those around us: serving the community and serving those who will come after us. Its deepest roots are moral because it is a responsibility expressed through action, to and for the whole.
— Vaclav Havel

This is the kind of politics I think we should embrace at the community level.

The lost days are not lost yet.The good old days are not gone yet.We can still put our best foot forward and scrap community transformation together.Community Development is a Collective Effort!We must all be deeply immersed in community service. “Without community service, we would not have a strong quality of life. It’s important to the person who serves as well as the recipient. It’s the way in which we ourselves grow and develop.”
— Dorothy Height

Community Development is a possible goal with the spirit of communism and togetherness.Let’s get a move on,and spark the community flame!Our collective situation should not present pity but hope.We may need external support along the way but we dare not depend on it…
“We can begin by doing small things at the local level, like planting community gardens or looking out for our neighbors. That is how change takes place in living systems, not from above but from within, from many local actions occurring simultaneously.
— Grace Lee Boggs

By ANANPANSAH,B ABRAHAM (AB)- Olive International Konsult.