Community focal areas
Project has created entry points to communities in several ways and the focal areas are identified through a criteria developed by the District Steering Group (DSG).
The ultimate decision for the selection of the CDD focal areas lies with the DSG. The DSG comprises all government departments, representatives of both local and international NGOs working in the district as well as the leaders in the district.
It is the key organ that guides in the identification of the CDD focal areas and subsequently approves them, approves micro projects to be implemented in the communities in the district and monitors and evaluates them.
The following are broad guidelines that are normally used by the DSGs for community identification:
- Should take into consideration all livelihood zones.
- Target the most vulnerable/marginalized and isolated communities.
- Avoid duplication where other development actors are present.
- Willingness, initiatives and commitment of communities to development work.
- Communities that have not been covered in the first phase be accorded priority.
- Communities with proven implementation capacity to be given priority
The Project then works with the identified areas either directly by using Mobile Extension Teams (METs), or through a Partner Agency that uses a guideline developed by the Project.
The facilitators of the process (METs) stay in communities sufficiently long enough to apply the participatory methodologies in a sensitive and passionate manner. They mobilise communities, build their capacity for collective action, ensure adequate representation and participation, and try to break through elite domination.
Our team of facilitators consists of people from different institutions and training backgrounds to allow the communities to benefit from different knowledge sources and perspectives.
Each member of the multidisciplinary team working with the communities has a specific contribution to make, according to their professional position and personal experience.
The METs are a group of extension officers drawn from the line ministries and NGOs/CBOs who form the link between the communities and the Project. They work with community members, equipping them with skills for prioritising and designing projects geared to meeting their needs.
They assist the communities by giving them technical support to determine what options are available and at what cost to address a given need. They are also utilised in community trainings and supervision of micro projects.
The groups of facilitators are people who know the local community well and are fluent in the local language of the participating community.
There are three full time METs, who each lead a group of 20 sourced from line ministries and partner agencies and are responsible for certain parts of the district. Out of the three Mets, one is a woman. The Mets are directly answerable to the district CDPO.
Communities are mobilised, their capacities assessed in terms of implementing projects, then a decision is made as to whether they qualify for either of the two CDD implementation approaches.
Communities have to go through differentiated Participatory Integrated Community Development (PICD) training to identify their priorities and draw up Community Action Plans (CAPs).
All people are equal in their decision-making within the project and they are given a right to participate in all matters that affect them directly or indirectly. The project never assumes that all people in a community are homogenous and insists on the full representativeness of all segments of the population.
Before starting any process, ALRMP staff carries out a thorough assessment of the communities? power relations to be able to deal with issues of voice and power.
The Project ensures that community level initiatives are community defined and owned and that excluded groups are brought into the whole process of community development, hence encouraging true participation.
The facilitator then assists the community to write a proposal for soliciting funding.
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