In order for community development to be successful and sustainable at a local or international level the community and local citizens must be fully engaged with the development process. I have dedicated my career to engaging local communities in local development processes and opportunities: facilitating their involvement in social, health, economic and political decision making processes. I have witnessed the outcomes that community engagement fosters.
One example focusing on the reduction of health inequalities, a current focus of my work, is found in the journal ‘Community engagement to reduce inequalities in health: a systematic review, meta-analysis and economic analysis’ that evidences the positive impact community engagement has in reducing existing health inequalities. This is just one of many examples that prove that development project outcomes are better when the local community is fully engaged.
Involving local people in political and developmental processes is also a democratic right.
“The people of Scotland have spoken. It is a clear result. They have kept our country of four nations together.”
Take the recent Scottish referendum on independence, if a referendum had not been granted to the Scottish people we would never know whether Scotland is bound to England because it was not given a choice or because the people chose to be part of the Union. Their recent decision to stay within the union is as a result of a democratic and fair decision with over 85% of the population voted. Great Britain remains undivided through a process of engaging with citizens politically. Now compare this to the current events in Syria and the onslaught of the terrorist group ISIS, did the people of Syria have a say in whether they would like to become an independent Islamic State? Both these examples prove that citizens much be engaged in the political process for it to be democratic.
Working in rural indigenous communities of Guatemala for two years I saw countless international and government projects come and go, handing out aid and establishing new initiatives without consulting or engaging local communities about these projects. These development solutions were often inadequately designed for the local environment or insensitive to local cultural practices. These projects often failed or were unsustainable lacking local support to enable their continuation. Take the example of a greenhouse built by the government built in a community at too higher altitude for anything to grow. The greenhouse now lies abandoned only a couple of years later. Compare that to AMA’s organic greenhouse project. The need for a supply of nutritious , affordable and diversified diet identified through community engagement processes led to the instigation of this project. Not only is the greenhouse now harvesting organically-grown tomatoes, lettuce and pepper for local consumption and for surplus sale but they are now in the process of establishing an sustainable agricultural school in order to ensure seed diversity and food security for local indigenous women and their families. All this happened because the leaders of AMA who are driving grassroots development in the Guatemalan highlands had stopped to ask what it was the community wanted. After listening to their needs they to action to respond with real and workable solutions.
Effective community engagement creates sustainable change and development for our local and international communities. Whether you work in local or international development, it's essential that local people are given a voice, their voice often holds the key to your own projects’ success.
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