Inspiring Communities
Jun 25th, 2008 by Tracey Todhunter
Yesterday I went to Salford to run a workshop on “Motivators and Barriers in Your Community”.
The day didn’t start well due to trouble with the trains which meant I was late (but fortunately in time to hear Toby Blume from Urban Forum give a very entertaining presentation about Government policy on community engagement).
Then Straight into presentations and workshops without even time for a coffee! Things got worse when I found my room had been set out “theatre style” instead of chairs in a circle and 2 other workshops were in the same marquee with what looked like office display boards to screen us from each other. We could hear the adjacent presentation very clearly and some of my participants had trouble hearing what I was saying, I certainly had trouble hearing them.
I had to abandon my plans for a participatory workshop and debate, but we still managed to raise some of the issues which influence successful community projects (although the lady at the back who sat filing her nails was clearly disappointed).
To be honest, the person who should have been running my workshop was Gerry Stone a resident and chair of the Seedley and Langworthy Development Trust, who put it in a nutshell in her presentation “People are at the heart of what we do”, she’s right. As community development workers we all know it’s not what we do “to” or “for” a community that leads to success it’s what we do with them that leads to long term sustainable parterships. The most important motivator in any community project is the people and we have a duty to listen to what the community wants or needs rather than imposing our perceptions of what would lead to improvement.
Some people in my workshop had clearly “got it”, but there were others who openly admitted they still fly because it’s cheap, haven’t take energy reduction measures in their own homes or kicked the standby habit and couldn’t see much point in taking action other than recycling or reusing their shopping bags. I’m left wondering they came to a workshop entitled “Community Action on Climate Change” in the first place?
I decided to walk back to the station and revisit the place where I used to live, wandering through Seedley and into Manchester I came home feeling proud of Salford and the people who live there and hopeful that the stories I heard of active community engagement and empowerment can be told to others and that more residents will be inspired to get involved and supported by adequate funding and professional support to make the changes they want to see in their areas.
