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Co-ordinator:
Anaseini Ratuvukivuki-Tabakisuva
Ana joined ECREA as one of the Community Facilitators(CF)
of the SEE Programme. After the last co-ordinator nominated
to be the Director she was recommended to be the Coordinator
of the Programme. She is married with a baby daughter.
Programme
Assistant: Mary Naresh
Mary Naresh is currently the new Programme
Assistant joined ECREA late 2006. She enjoys working with
ECREA as well as the communities that SEEP currently serves.
Resource Person: Isikeli
Nasoga
Community Facilitators
Cema Rokodredre, Lepani Liunaba,
Paul Logaivau, Tokasa Niuniu & Elenoa Sauqaqa
Introduction to the Programme
WHAT IS COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT?
Obviously there are many different understandings of community
development:
For us at ECREA, community development is about people like
the following definition we picked up from our sister organization
BRG in Madang PNG when they say it is about:
Integral Human Development that starts and ends with the
people, men, women and children and builds respect, social
harmony, and contentment for all.
It continues to add that community development done well:
• Makes people aware; allows them to decide, and is
built on their knowledge skills and rights so that they can
use their own resources to bring about change.
• Requires mutual respect in all communications and
work.
• Builds people’s knowledge and understanding,
reduces and resolves conflict and problems, and promotes the
common good.
• Utilizes appropriate new ideas and methods to raise
living standards.
• Builds people’s awareness and commitment to
looking after the human and physical environment and resources.
• Builds, strengthens and maintains good traditional
laws, language, and culture.
• Promotes spiritual development, self-discipline, social
harmony, and justice.
You’d be thinking right now that you as a human being
are already doing the above right? That you are aware, no
one pushes you around, you ‘promote the common good’
i.e. going to church reading your bible, don’t litter,
and speak your mother tongue?
- so what’s the big deal??
The ‘deal’ is in the fast approaching changes
the world is seeing i.e. (ever heard of) GLOABLIZATION? As
a concept, very hard to define simply – as a way of
living, well we are already right into it and we don’t
even know what hit us!! And this is for those living in the
urban areas!
By working on community development that seeks the above;
perhaps there is some hope that cultures will be able to survive
and even flourish in the global context – sort of like
being able to mix things up a bit in order to continue to
thrive.
There are many many numerous ways that the above i.e. community
development can be done. For this programme we attribute a
lot of our thinking and philosophy to the great Paulo Freire
– not perfect but a seminal thinker. He put out that
thought provoking and yet hard to access book ‘Pedagogy
of the Oppressed’ and developed the thinking around
adult critical literacy. Our form of community development
is something like what he was trying to do (he passed away
in 1999 just before we started this programme). We also pay
attention to the work of the Grail Center out of South Africa
with Anne Hope and Sally Timmel as well as the afore mentioned
BRG in Madange (we have yearly exchanges with their people
and ours – exciting stuff!).
So HOW DO WE DO COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT????
The following are only guidelines (the things that you keep
in mind when you are doing something – to guide you)
though it may read like laws?
1 Engage the community thru ‘community entry’
– going and visiting after being invited in by one of
them. Checking to make sure that the community understand
what we do and how we will do it. No money and no projects,
you want us outta there tell us immediately and we will also
have the same curtsey if we feel you are ‘wasting our
time’
2 Know the community – its issues, layout, people, who
likes who and who cannot talk in whose presence. This is information
that we will store for future use when we get to the ‘making
a change’ part
3 Educate the community – cannot get away from this
one. Get the people to come to a few sessions on history,
analysis and fun – as a community. This is big –
the people need to go thru this stuff on knowing their history
so that they can analyze whatever injustices they feel is
happening around them or emanating from them
4 Strengthen or change – whatever plans or issues that
need to be dealt with is made manageable and achievable
5 Act and exit – they act on things we move out –
and return sporadically to see how they are going
Right – like following these ‘guidelines/laws’
will really bring about that wonderful yet idealistic notion
of community development talked about before!
Well - we have to understand a few things:
• We are dealing with people – that would be human
beings with all that comes with it
• It is not about the destination but the journey (or
something like that) – anyway it is bringing the people
together is more important than how things turn out stress
therefore on #2-3 of the process
It that all? Because it looks very much like any other participatory
learning action cycle!
Considering the fact that community development (see the above
definition) is about all those things participatory cycle
is unavoidable.
Also,
It is the care and passion with which these ‘participatory’
work cycles are done that sets them apart. Movements are not
built on shoddy or lack luster work – long, steady,
slow and painful are apt descriptions and make no mistake;
building real relationships with each community sorta moves
it from being just a project into a movement that is critical
in its thinking. Well that’s the aim anyway!
So, is THAT what SEEP is about? All that ‘community
development’ and ‘guideline/rule’ thing?
To put it specifically -
SEEP is an attempt to strengthen the (Fijian) vanua structure
for the global (market) context. We are an innovative approach
to assisting rural indigenous communities (village and settlements)
in strengthening their existence in the market economy or
global context.
Making the Fijian structure relevant for the people in the
global/today’s context.
From the community development point, yes, and a whole more
besides – we have to be about something even if only
we from ECREA know it like our objective that we know is to
Engage rural indigenous communities in understanding and
analyzing development issues that affect their lives and encourage
them to initiate and manage actions that address them.
So, what ‘development issues’ – there are
many aren’t there especially for rural communities?
Through our work we found there are 2 major ‘development
issues’ –
1. Leadership (local)
2. Land at two levels:
(a) resource management and (b) conflict over land boundaries
Other persistent issues are things related to both and communication
• Women consistently on workload,
• Men on human rights as interrupting cultural practices
• Youth on lack of acknowledgement from elders both
men and women in taking their views seriously.
But how does SEEP do this 5-part work?!
Relatively simple – we get invited, go out there check
things out and form some kind of relationship. The major area
of our work right now is Education i.e. #3 and we do this
in 2 part: community visits and the community forum.
Community visits - CF’s visit the community separating
men, women and youth to begin analysis of issues of concern
for the individual groups. This is done before bringing the
groups together for collective analysis and perhaps plans
forward.
Community Forum - to assist with sustainability and ownership
over the process, SEEP has developed so-called community forum.
This is a gathering of community from each community SEEP
currently works. These gatherings are held over a period of
3-4 days in a neutral location outside the community setting.
The idea behind these Fora is to transfer aspects of the process
to community leaders (both formal and informal leaders identified
by the people and the programme) so that implementation and
sustainability in the community is more realistic.
This two part approach to community development follows one
(forum) from the other (community visits).
Okay – sounds…interesting and A LOT – but
another question…
Why ONLY rural indigenous villages (that would be only Fijians
right?)?
Simple answer:
They are the landowning units i.e. resource owners of Fiji
– the largest and difficult group to work with comparatively.
Not so simple answer:
In our countries brief history of independence (36 years this
year with a new government elect) we have had 2 coups. One
a military takeover (1987) and the other a civilian takeover
(2000); and the reason given by the 2 coup-sters was ‘indigenous
cause’ – whatever that meant! The major supporters
of both coups – rural indigenous people, from all over
Fiji the likes that we have seen now twice in our history.
Analysis after analysis has been done on the coups and while
reasons have seen men to this day being thrown into jail for
instigating the coup and manipulating ‘indigenous cause’
the sad fact is that there is a fear among rural indigenous
communities. Otherwise there would be no support for either
coup!
Not so simple answer #2:
Well – for that you have to invite us to come into your
community!
And how does one do that – ‘invite ECREA/SEEP
in?’
• Get interested
• Call us
• Visit us
We talk in person the rest of the way.
But before that here is where we are up to at the moment
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Programme Updates:
Programme Activities 2007
Programme Activities 2006
Programme Activities
2005
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