Community Capacity Enhancement: Fundamentals of Community Conversation. Lessons from Community Counseling 1988-2000
Africcess officeMacDonald Chaava.
February, 2014
Success
Success of community capacity enhancement is a multivariate idea. It includes transformation of
communities, organizations, of facilitators, leaders, families, and individuals within targeted communities
and beyond.
2/4/2014From Community Counseling to CCE-CC
Getting ready
○ Prepare the organizations
○ Enroll leaders
○ Receive the invitation to community
○ Develop your Home Team
2/4/2014From Community Counseling to CCE-CC
Organizations
○ Draw a map of the area to be covered
○ List the organizations in that area
○ Map of coverage area of each organization named
○ Goals of each organization listed
○ Organization ways of working
2/4/2014From Community Counseling to CCE-CC
Leaders
○ Identify the community
○ List key leaders in community
○ Visit key leaders individually
○ Discuss the entire concept with each: why and how
○ Answer questions
○ Invite leaders to a group meeting of leaders only
○ Set a date and time
2/4/2014From Community Counseling to CCE-CC
Invitation
At leaders’ meeting:
○Let leaders self-invite to future conversations
○Create a critical mass of leaders
○Set a date and time for first community conversation
Community conversation is not a training!
Once started, conversations must go on
Commit your team (home team) to follow-up
2/4/2014From Community Counseling to CCE-CC
Building the “Home” Team
○ Two or more trained facilitators lead a community conversation
○ One leader, one documenter
○ Plan together
○ Work as a team during meetings
○ Carry out reflections as a home team
○ Debrief with community leaders after each meeting
○ Help community build on successes
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Sustenance strategy
○ Maintain Dynamism of relationships
○ Cashing in social capital
○ Search and maximize Interconnectedness
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Relationships
○ Link leaders, facilitators, community members
○ Transfer of capital through relationships
○ Expansion of vision through relationships
○ Trust as key to igniting interest
○ Faith in the process as fuel to keep conversations
2/4/2014From Community Counseling to CCE-CC
Social capital
○ Save, invest, and accumulate social capital
○ Provide and listen for feedback
○ Keep looking for interconnectedness
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Measuring success
Quantitative and qualitative measures
○Number of facilitators trained
○Quality of training
○Stories of change
○Narratives of hope
○CCE-CC Way of life
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Ends www.africcess.com
2/4/2014From Community Counseling to CCE-CC
Picture on Cover page taken by Cramwell Mweemba. Chikankata.
OVC committee members having serious reflections on issues affecting orphans, using
CCE-CC methodology