|
HOME | ABOUT WCSAP | MEMBERSHIP | CONTACT US |
| Prevention Advocacy Legal Management Public Policy Resources Events | |
Frequently
Asked Questions About Social Change and Community Development
As
people have been working on their social change / community development
initiatives some questions have become common. Here are some questions
frequently asked by others. If you have questions, please email
us.. They will appear with suggestions for consideration on the wcsap
web site (www.wcsap.org) As you read these questions and
have additional thoughts about them, consider e-mailing those thoughts
and suggestions to the same address. Together we will build a base of
information gleaned from our own experiences. Thank you! How do
I decide what community I want to partner with? As you
think about community partnerships you should be thinking about what individuals
you already have working relationships with. If, for example, you decide
that you would like to partner with the faith community, you should determine
who you already know or work with who is a member of that community. Do
you already have a relationship with a pastor or church member? Would
that person be willing to talk with you about your proposed working relationship?
If that person believed that your partnership would benefit the community
would they be willing to gather some key people together to discuss your
proposal? If
you can answer these questions about persons in any given community, you
could reasonably consider partnering with that community.
Begin slowly. Explain thoroughly to everyone you meet. You may
feel like you are saying the same thing over and over again. You may well
be doing that. Remember, it is new information to each new person or group.
If you lay the foundation well, you will create a more successful partnership.
How
do you choose stakeholders when you only really know Service Providers? Stakeholders
need to be representative of their community. If you select only
service providers, you will not get a nearly complete picture of what
the community itself thinks, believes and is willing to take action about.
Service providers, though, can be a good link to others
who might be an appropriate stakeholder to add to your group. When
I talk to my stakeholders about "underlying conditions" they don't know
what I'm talking about. They don't relate to that language. What can I
do? As prevention
educators, we know what we mean by "underlying conditions", but those
words may seem like jargon to others. We have and use a lot of jargon,
words that have meaning only to those in the work that we do. To communicate
well with each other we may need to use words other than our accustomed
jargon. "Underlying conditions" may translate to "the attitudes, beliefs
and behaviors that allow sexual assault to happen", or some such phrase.
It is important to keep phrasing what you are asking from your
stakeholders so that all participants are able to contribute. That requires
a good facilitator to listen well, adjust and rephrase. Do
we have to do particular activities to determine underlying conditions
or to create our plan or can we do that in our own way? There are
probably as many ways to determine underlying conditions as there are
facilitators. The key to gleaning information from stakeholders is
giving them all many possible ways to access the internal information
that they hold. Some people are able to brainstorm out loud in a large
group. Others find that method too confusing and become quiet. We often
don't hear their ideas because they get silent and just listen. Finding
some way to work in pairs, small groups and then the larger group can
often help quieter, more introverted members of the group to access what
they know and share it with us. Sometimes it is helpful to have people
list on a piece of paper their own private brainstorm. Then share with
partners or the group. Again, there are many ways to accomplish compiling
information, including underlying conditions, from stakeholders. How
do I document what we do in our meetings? What do we have to document
to be reflective about our work? What do we have to document to meet the
evidence of compliance for the prevention standards? Documentation
of your work helps explain to others what you have accomplished, and helps
you keep track of your own progress. The following are methods others
have used to document and provide evidence of their work.
The key
to good documentation is doing it as you go along. It is not burdensome
when it is simply a part of your process. It is incredibly difficult, though, to document something after the fact. Important
documents can be lost, minutes cannot be reliably reconstructed and showing
evidence of stakeholder attendance can be difficult at best. Do not wait
to document! How many
sessions will it take to do our plan? Every group
is different. Some groups have accomplished the basics of a plan in a
few hours. (if they are working in a 3 or more hour block) Others take
several meetings. The key is for the facilitator to know all the elements
needed in a plan and to keep the group on task within the planning framework.
If good notes are taken and minutes provided participants, information
will not be lost if the plans are made over several weekly meetings. A good resource is the "Sexual Assault Prevention
Plan" tool. Logic models are also
a good planning tool. Check the prevention section of the Washington Coalition
of Sexual Assault Programs' web site (www.wcsap.org) for these documents. Getting
started seems to be taking so long. Is this normal? It is quite
normal to take some time to get started. The foundation of a successful
process is built on one-to- one conversations as you build the stakeholder
group and become knowledgeably connected to the community.
Laying the foundation can help build readiness and commitment.
Once you begin meeting, the process will move along with more "visible"
results. An exception
to this rule occurs when there is an "opportunity for action". When some
situation occurs in a community that calls for an immediate response,
stakeholders often identify themselves and commit to a planning process
and later invite you to join. Sexual assault programs are often asked
to provide expertise, but these are community driven, issue driven initiatives.
If you capitalize on an opportunity for action you can build community
relationships in a very meaningful way. Is
this model used differently with young people than it is with adults? The elements
of the model are exactly the same no matter what group you work with.
The differences for any group occur with use of language (translating
jargon) and the kinds of activities you use to accomplish the task of
planning. While adults may (and there is a question here) be able to sit
longer and stay more in their heads, young people need activity-based
interaction. There are many ways to accomplish the basic tasks of condition
identification, visioning, determining ways to see progress and planning
activities to address the conditions. The key is to learn from your group
of stakeholders the most effective ways to work together. Your capacity to remain flexible about how
you accomplish the tasks will allow the work to be done. ©2007 Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs. Reproduce only with permission. |