COMMENTARY: Applying More ‘Elbow Grease,’ Community Organizers and International Development

A Commentary by CEDPA President Carol Peasley

Jan. 15, 2009 — Immediately following the election of Barack Obama, the CEDPA office in Washington was inundated by congratulatory messages from around the world. The messages were unusually celebratory. Our international alumni, the thousands of women and men who attended CEDPA’s various leadership and management training programs, were inspired. Most spoke of the President-elect “rekindling in us the desire to aspire, to reach out for our goals in spite of the economic and political challenges we are confronted with daily.” Others spoke of him “awakening” their commitment to work “in this long and arduous struggle of change”; of him providing “a courageous example that they must imitate”; and of being “ready for him to lead and… [copying] his inspiration and ideas in [their] own small communities.” There was a common tone: “this victory is for us all.”

As we read the many messages, we wanted to understand why so many of our alumni were so excited. Some alumni were straightforward: Africans were inspired by the election of one of their “sons.” Others, as most Americans, were inspired by Mr. Obama’s eloquence and the resonance of his message of change. But, there seemed to be something more driving their enthusiasm. They embraced his message of partnership and expressed an appreciation for a future American president who would “lead the entire world to answer the security, political, environmental, economic development and public health challenges, which can only be solved together.”

But, even the above didn’t fully explain why our international colleagues were so excited by the election of Barack Obama. Then it dawned on us: his background as a community organizer. His history of working to empower community members to act in their own common interest to solve problems is what resonated so strongly with our 5,200 plus alumni. These alumni work hard to improve the lives of the people in their communities and mobilize those people to push for better policies and more effective governance.

During my career in international development, I have seen so many cases of success beginning at the community-level. And, for more than 30 years, CEDPA and its alumni have been at the forefront of countless cases in which communities successfully mobilized themselves to solve problems. CEDPA’s social mobilization efforts are built on an important principle: true change requires broad buy-in and support from individuals, families and communities. We thus try to empower community champions by helping them to build consensus, educate and energize others to take concerted action, and galvanize stakeholders. This results in a stronger sense of community— and more and more people joining the movement. Once this momentum is generated it leads to the formation of new social norms, creating a climate that supports individual behavior change as well as social and political change.

One of my favorite examples is CEDPA’s success a decade ago in launching the 100 Women’s Groups program in Nigeria. The initial goal was to harness the strength of Nigeria’s many vibrant women’s organizations into active coalitions that would enhance to socioeconomic status of women, their families and their communities. As democracy began to emerge in Nigeria, the 100 Women’s Groups took on an even larger role in promoting change. Each Group was comprised of about 100 women representing 10 to 15 community organizations. The groups would identify issues of common concern, take the issues to the appropriate level of government and then work to solve them. Soon the network had more than 100,000 members in 680 groups. Some had a relationship with CEDPA; most did not. The members saw the benefits of a strategy of common action to meet their own needs. As one member noted, “The strength of the 100 Women Groups is that we speak with one voice.” They became a force to be reckoned with in Nigeria.

As the Obama Administration moves forward to reform foreign assistance, we hope it will look to the President’s own background as a community organizer for inspiration. We urge the new leadership to emphasize local solutions and the mobilization of local communities as part of the U.S. foreign assistance. This will require changes in how USAID and the other U.S. Government agencies work. A new, reformed foreign assistance agency will need to have more staff working overseas; this will then permit more local grant-making, a greater attention to local solutions and a movement away from the huge mega-contracts that have begun to dominate foreign assistance. There will also need to be greater emphasis on local capacity building. Supporting and strengthening the capabilities of local community organizers should be an important priority for international NGOs and for the U.S. Government.

If we do this, we can help to unleash the huge enthusiasm that exists among CEDPA’s alumni and other community organizers around the world. The U.S. can help give them the resources and support they need to effect change in their communities and countries. As one of our Nigerian alumni said, “The process of bringing change is tough, but with support from all of us, [President Obama] will succeed. So we say ‘more grease to his elbows.’”

As we get ready for the January 20 inauguration of Barack Obama, it is obviously not enough for us to ask him to apply more “elbow grease”. We must all do so – and, in doing so, we need to remember to look to those local community organizers to help lead the process.

  What is RSS?