By Thando Lukuko
People living in under-serviced or low-income communities, however we wish to term them, have every capability to address the key socio-economic challenges they face such as energy, housing and sanitation. What is needed over and above relevant technical support, is emotional support (empathy, encouragement and compassion). Often however, as community engagement practitioners we are only in a position to offer tangible support (financial, goods or services) attached to unrealistic expectations within limited timeframes. This is one of the biggest lessons I have learned so far in my experience working as a community engagement practitioner.
“It takes a village to raise a child” is an idiom commonly found in many black homes, and remains very relevant to this day. Although I don’t have a child of my own I know from personal experience the importance of having both tangible and emotional support, and the difference that it makes. I therefore view community engagement with this philosophy in mind. It takes tangible support through partnerships to address the challenges faced in historically black townships, and real emotional support to inspire community members to see the value in putting in the work to meaningfully change their situations – that is very likely to stretch beyond the scope and timeframe of any individual project.
Linked to this, one of the hardest tasks for me as a practitioner is to try and articulate the needs and concerns that communities have in a manner that best represents them, and then to apply my skills in a way that will help them achieve the goals and objectives they wish to achieve within the scope of the given project. To do this effectively involves my viewpoint of these communities and the community members from the start as true partners as opposed to beneficiaries of programmes.
I have had the opportunity thus far to work with some of the most amazing community activists. Their capabilities, skills and love for uplifting their communities is nothing less than inspirational. But in my conversations with them, many have confided in me in how their passion is often dampened by the focus on the project processes and less so on the communities and community members themselves.
My impression is that there is also often a shortage of reinvestment in communities – towards skills development, capacity building and relaying gained knowledge to the communities in a way that would allow them to effectively use the information they generously provided to strengthen their ability to ‘fight the good fight’ and improve their community’s circumstances.
So what can be done to redress this imbalance?
As actors in the benefactor-beneficiary continuum we need to prioritise and ensure the focus is on the communities we are seeking to support. We are working with people’s lives – trying to improve them for the better. We should strive to always be sensitive, patient, responsible and caring about the lives we touch by the work we do.
Tangible assistance such as finance and technical support make a big difference. Emotional support and viewing communities as our partners, are in my view, just as important if we want to help realise the true empowerment of people and communities.
