Organizing Communities for Social Change :A Systems Strengthening Approach

Summary:

This interactive, skills-building workshop focuses on how program designers and practitioners can amplify social change by harnessing greater collaboration between community and institutional systems through a common goal of strengthening community capacity. The workshop will draw upon participants' experience of organizing communities for social change through a systems strengthening lens to achieve greater sustainability and scale. Communities provide the social, cultural and organizational support structures and services closest to families and children. They establish social norms and make decisions on how to allocate and manage their resources, and address challenges. They are organized with traditional leadership, both formal and informal, local organizations, and established social networks. To the extent that SBCC initiatives fail to recognize and integrate these existing social structures and systems within program design, we risk undermining them and limiting community ownership, program quality, and sustainable social change. Conversely, there are examples of community-strengthening efforts that have not achieved outcomes at meaningful scale or sustained over time. Systems thinking promotes the understanding that in complex and dynamic systems, a community must be able to monitor, learn and adapt its strategies according to its evolving context, with government and institutional systems playing an important supportive role. The workshop focuses on the application of approaches and practical tools to design programs informed by existing community strengths, platforms, and people, as well as, the institutional opportunities for sustaining and scaling social change approaches and strategies within government and partners.

Discussion/Implications For The Field:

There is growing recognition that community interface with institutional partners including government, NGOs research entities, and the private sector is important for advancing and scaling social normative change. Institutionalizing participatory learning and action, community organizing and capacity strengthening skills and approaches are an effective means for catalyzing partnerships for social change.

Abstract submitted by: 

Paula Valentine - Save the Children

Gail Snetro - Save the Children

Eric Sarriot - Save the Children

Telesphore  Kabore - Save the Children