11.3.1 Knowing your community

To mobilise your local community effectively, you need know about its social organisation, economy, problems and politics. This information can be obtained from many sources, both formal and informal, and might include (Pact Tanzania, 2006):

  • political and administrative structure
  • demographic features and population characteristics (e.g. number of people in different age groups, gender balance)
  • economic activities (e.g. employment, market days)
  • social stratification and economic status of households
  • organisations, their functions and activities
  • leadership pattern and its influence
  • languages and cultural traditions
  • health, sanitation and nutrition levels
  • education levels.

Through stakeholder mapping (as described Study Session 4) you will begin to understand the nature of your community as a social system. Think about how the different elements of the community such as the children, women, youth and local organisations are connected to each other. You will soon realise that a community is not merely a collection of individuals but a system that involves a lot of intricate links and relationships between those individuals. People enter and leave the community, by birth, death and migration, so it is constantly changing and yet it continues to exist.

Getting to know your community is not something that can be achieved quickly. You will need time to develop relationships with the community members. For successful community mobilisation you need to know what will motivate people to become involved and this requires understanding of their interests and concerns.

Stakeholder mapping will also help to identify the key stakeholders in WASH and especially those who are the existing leaders within the community. Working with existing leaders is much more likely to be successful because other community members will be influenced by them and follow their lead (Mercy Corps, 2013).

11.3 Strategies for community mobilisation

11.3.2 Prioritisation of projects