9. Community Organizing: Centre de recherches pour le développement international

J. Parks.

The active participation of people in a community in the co-management programme is at the heart of co-management. Success of co-management is directly related to a well-organized community that has been empowered to take action to manage and conserve its aquatic resources. Community organizing is much more than just establishing organizations, it is a process of empowerment, building awareness, promoting new values and behaviours, establishing self-reliance, building relationships, developing organizations and leadership, and enabling communities to take action (Table 9.1). Thus, as mentioned above, environmental education, capacity development and social communication are central elements of the co-management process.

Table 9.1. Community organizing.
Stakeholder	Role
Fishers	• Participation in meetings • Support organization formation • Assist in developing organization structure • Support and participate in organization • Leadership
Fisher leaders/core group	• Participate in meetings • Assess situation • Decide on mission of organization • Canvas community for support • Support consensus process • Develop organizational structure
Government	• Support organizing efforts • Provide legal support to organize
External agent/CO	• Identify core leaders • Organize core group • Support core group in mobilization • Build alliances and networking • Seek funding for organization

Community organizing looks at collective solutions. It changes the balance of power and creates new power bases. It is a value-based process by which people are brought together in organizations to jointly act in the interest of their 'communities' and the common good.

It has been reported that the fundamental source of cohesion of every strong community organization is the conviction that it offers its members a unique vehicle for exercising and developing their capacities as citizens. The empowerment process at the heart of community organizing promotes participation of people, organizations and communities towards the goals of increased individual and community control, political efficacy, improved quality of community life and social justice (Wallerstein, 1992).

To participate in co-management, the stakeholders will need to organize themselves and arrive at an internal consensus on the interests and concerns that they want brought forward. Meetings and discussions are held among the individual stakeholders to identify and clarify their interests and concerns and for those individuals with common interests and concerns to organize themselves into groups. Effective community participation in co-management requires a strong community organization(s) to represent its members (Box 9.1). In some cases, community organizations capable of representing their members in co-management already exist in the community. In other cases, organizations will either need to be strengthened or newly established. One or more community organizations may be needed in the community depending upon its size, diversity and needs. An appropriate person(s) from the organization must be selected to represent them on the larger co-management organization.

Box 9.1. Fisher Organizations in the Caribbean.

The Caribbean has fewer community organizations that are positioned to play roles in co-management than in other regions of the world. The low level of experience with collective action in the region is evident in that fisher organizations are not widespread, are relatively weak, and are not well prepared for a role in co-management. Community organizing will be a critical component of introducing or strengthening co-management in the Caribbean. Weaknesses of fishery organizations in the Caribbean suggest that much will have to be done to promote sustained collective action to institutionalize co-management. Crisis-driven management responses prevail in both government and industry, and crisis responses often feature intense, temporary collective action. Some countries have cooperatives and fisherfolk organizations. However, these groups will not automatically be suitable as representative organizations in co-management. It is likely that they were established with objectives that relate more to expanding exploitation, improving marketing and increasing incomes of members. Changes in outlook will be necessary for these groups to play major roles in resource management. These changes will be difficult and lengthy, especially if the organization is still struggling with its original mandate. Putting more focus on resource management may strain the internal cohesion of the organization.

Source: McConney et al. (2003b).

Fishing cooperatives and fisher associations exist in many communities. However, these organizations will not automatically be suitable as representative organizations in co-management. It is likely that they were established with objectives that relate more to expanding exploitation, improving marketing and increasing the incomes of members. Changes in outlook will be necessary for these organizations to play major roles in resource management. These changes may be difficult and lengthy, especially if the organization is still struggling with its original mandate. Putting more focus on management may strain the internal cohesion of the organization (McConney et al., 2003b).

The process of community organizing is seldom 'tidy'; it doesn't always happen in neat, predictable steps. Activities may occur simultaneously. Community organizing involves learning, sharing and adapting. It often involves building upon existing institutions and organizations in the community. Community organizing is led by the CO, but must be a collaborative effort of all the stakeholders in co-management.

9.1. Components of Community Organizing

There are several components in community organizing, some of which have been undertaken earlier in the process:

1. Preparation

• Create a core group(s) and core leaders;

• Assess the situation (research);

• Hold visioning exercises;

• Decide on a mission for the organization.

2. Mobilization (Boxes 9.2 and 9.3)

• Seek out community support and build a base of support among community members;

• Hold meeting(s) to discuss the vision or mission, reach consensus and agree on developing an organization or join an existing organization;

• Develop organizational goals and objectives, organizational structure, leadership/membership and action plan;

• Appoint a representative of the organization.

3. Strengthening (Box 9.4)

• Environmental education, capacity development and social communication;

• Building alliances and networking;

• Organizational sustainability to keep members and funding.

4. Evaluation.

Box 9.2. Community Organizing in the Fisheries Sector Programme in the Philippines.

To become managers of coastal resources, fisherfolk in each village were guided to form an association which was eventually registered with the Cooperative Development Authority as a cooperative. The process began with the formation of a core group which recruited more members and initiated the formulation of the association's articles of cooperation and by-laws. The expanded membership ratified the articles and by-laws and elected officials who, with help from the NGO, prepared and submitted the required registration papers.

Training on the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for cooperative management included leadership, team-building and organizational skills; participatory development planning; simplified financial and accounting systems; project feasibility studies; and problem solving and decision-making. Training in fisheries-related laws and ordinances and in the knowledge and skills for managing fish sanctuaries, mangroves and artificial reefs was also provided.

Source: Abad (1997).

9.2. Preparation

Community organizing starts with the preparatory component which involves the CO working with a leader(s) from the community to establish a core group to lead the community organization. This core group should be small (three to five people) and include individuals who are enthusiastic, have a common interest, and represent a cross-section of the community. The leaders should be individuals who are acceptable to the community and who command sufficient respect.

Box 9.3. The Community Organizing Process in Peam Krasaop Wildlife Sanctuary (PKWS), Koh Kong Province, Cambodia.

In Cambodia, the word 'community' has come to mean a special group of people interested in organizing themselves and supported by programmes of NGOs or government agencies. For example, Cambodians refer to such things as community forestry, community fisheries, community land use planning, and community protected area, where these communities have been supported by government and NGOs. Community, in this sense, may refer to a committee in a village, which is not necessarily the administrative boundary of a village or commune.

In Peam Krasaop Wildlife Sanctuary (PKWS), Koh Kong Province, the Participatory Management of Mangrove Resources (PMMR) has been doing community organizing work since 1997 to facilitate a process where a village structure called the Village Management Committee (VMC) is set up and strengthened. PMMR is based at the Ministry of Environment. The project team includes technical staff from the Ministry at the national level, and staff from technical line departments in the province such as: the Department of Environment, the Department of Rural Development and the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery.

When PMMR began this process in PKWS, meetings were held to discuss the community organizing approach. The PMMR project arranged a series of workshops and study tours in and outside the country for the key villagers and the PMMR team members.

Inside the country, study tours were conducted to similar projects of community-based natural resources management, such as Community Fisheries at Ream National Park, Sihanouk Ville and Community Forestry, FAO Project in Siem Reap province. Trips outside of Cambodia were held to see the participation of local community in coastal zone management in Thailand and Sri Lanka.

These study tours provided challenges for the participants to exchange ideas and learn experiences from one another. Learning from training/workshops and study tours, the community members expressed an interest in working with the PMMR team and concerned government agencies to come up with a community management strategy that would work in this area.

In planning for the community organizing process, PMMR suggests considering the following questions:

• What are the villagers' concepts/ideas for protecting their fishing grounds?

• Are the identified fishing grounds to be co-managed more or less free from interruptions by outsiders?

• Should the boundary for the community-managed area follow an administrative boundary or a natural physical boundary?

• What are the steps in establishing community fishing areas?

• Who is involved in the process of community regulation development?

• How does one gain official recognition of community regulations from local authorities and technical departments?

• What will community by-law look like? For example, will penalties be included, what sizes of gear will be restricted?

In the PMMR's experience, community organizing is both a technique for problem solving and a way to improve income for people, strengthen local awareness and enhance natural environment. Communities are enabled to consider their problems on economic, political and social needs, and initiate conflict resolution within a natural resources management framework. In the community organizing process, local community capacity building is a central point. The community development worker or field facilitator must understand well any issues and factors that affect villagers' participation in the community organizing process.

In Koh Kong, four communities were established with strong support by the Provincial Governor and the Minister of Environment combined with good facilitation by the PMMR research team, and learning from other experiences.

Source: Nong et al. (2004).

Box 9.4. Local Government–Civil Society Group Partnership, Philippines.

During the past 14 years, Naga City, Bicol Province, Philippines has built a reputation for being a model local government unit that pioneered innovations in local governance. For example, the People Empowerment Programme (PEP) is a continuing initiative of the city government to promote political empowerment of its citizenry. In particular, the city government passed an 'Empowerment Ordinance' that mandated the partnership between the local government and the non-government sectors in the city and encouraged the federation of the NGOs and people's organizations into the Naga City People's Council (NCPC). The NCPC continues to improve the city's conditions, with funding and technical assistance from the city government, the USAID-funded Governance and Local Democracy Project and, more recently, the Philippine–Australia Governance Facility for institutional development and the strengthening of the city's basic sectors.

By giving premium to community organizing, the NCPC has given marginalized sectors a voice and an avenue for meaningful participation in governing their city. The NCPC even extended its reach by organizing a functional Barangay People's Council. In doing so, participation and inclusiveness in direction-setting, policy-making, as well as programme and project implementation, monitoring and evaluation at the city level, has been widened. In addition, there is now a heightened level of trust, confidence and openness between civil society groups and government.

The innovative approach of the Naga City government now includes multi-stakeholder planning for resource management and rehabilitation. Under the Naga City Participatory Planning Initiatives, the rehabilitation of Naga River has started. So far, a draft of the Naga City River Watershed Strategic Management Plan was produced based on extensive inputs from stakeholders who have approved the plan themselves through a stakeholder congress.

Source: www.naga.gov.ph

The core group should hold meetings to assess the situation in the area. Information from the research activities conducted earlier can be utilized to gain a broad understanding of the situation. People in the community may be asked to identify issues.

The core group then decides on the initial direction of the organization and a mission for the organization. Questions to be asked include:

• What are we trying to do?

• What size of area are we going to organize?

• Who will support our efforts?

• What is a good idea for our first action?

• How are we going to reach out to others?

9.2.1. Leadership

Any community organization rises or falls with the quality of its leadership. The importance of identifying and developing responsive and effective leadership from the community cannot be understated. Leaders are needed to direct change and mobilize people towards a common vision. Leaders are not necessarily born with special qualities. Leadership can be learned and practised. Leadership and management work hand-in-hand and are sometimes done by the same person, but they are not the same thing. A manager runs the day-to-day operation of the organization. A leader provides inspiration and motivation. Every member should be encouraged to take leadership roles. Leaders should be changed regularly to discourage corruption. Future leaders should be identified and trained on a continuous basis (Box 9.5).

It is never easy to find community members who have the time to devote to organizational tasks. Often, the potential leaders with more time on their hands are from economically well-off families. The poorer ones are often too busy earning their living. It is important for a CO to look for potential leaders among the poorer sectors in the community who could provide even a little of their time to the organization. Equally important is to always be on the look out for possible women leaders. Not too many women are visible in community affairs but developing potential leaders among them is an important element in a co-management process.

Box 9.5. Local Leaders in Bangladesh.

In Bangladesh, local leaders of the baors (inland water bodies) were identified and elected by the fishers. Leaders' terms of office were limited so as to give others the chance to gain leadership skills and to reduce the possibility of corruption. Reliance on one individual as a leader can be a problem. In certain Philippine cases, projects failed when the leader died, left political office, or left the area, because there was no one to take the leader's place.

Source: Pomeroy et al. (2001).

Thus, leaders should represent, to the extent possible, the varied interests in the community. In some cases, co-management initiatives start with leaders from a specific sector or group in the community but this should always be expanded as the process moves along to ensure broader participation. In community organizing, first- and second-line leaders are also developed among community leaders with the former mentoring the latter.

Effective leaders:

• Challenge the process (pioneers, search for opportunities, experiment, take risks);

• Inspire a shared vision (visionaries, envision the future, enlist others);

• Model the way (practise what they preach, set an example, plan small wins);

• Enable others to act (team players, foster collaboration, strengthen others);

• Encourage the heart (coaches and cheerleaders, recognize contributions, celebrate accomplishments);

• Welcome criticism.

9.3. Mobilization

After the core group has decided upon a mission statement for the organization, they canvas the community for support and build a base of support among community members. The community members are contacted one-on-one by the core group members and CO to request their opinions/advice on the identified mission, including activities they themselves can undertake. The individuals should be encouraged to discuss their concerns and the costs and benefits it could bring to them and the community. This process provides an opportunity to gain insight into the perceptions and interests of stakeholders and to identify common interests and potential conflicts. It also allows individuals with common interests to be brought together. Non-organized fishers can be identified and asked about becoming members of an organization. Go to where people are. Try to include those who are under-represented.

Meeting(s) are held to discuss the purpose/objective, reach consensus, and to agree on developing an organization or join an existing organization. The core group organizes a series of meetings with stakeholders to discuss the mission and to share their views. The first meeting should be started on a neutral tone and do not deal with sensitive topics initially. The first meeting must focus on the concerns of the fishers and the possible need for them to form an organization to address these needs. The main objective of the meeting should be to reach agreement about the formation of an organization.

Encourage people to come together when they are ready and not when it is imposed on them. Be aware of power structures within communities and institutions which may inhibit some stakeholders from contributing. The facilitation of these meetings is crucial to their success. If meetings are well-managed, they can provide an opportunity for each stakeholder to hear and appreciate others' views and concerns. Social communication activities can be used to help ensure support for the organization and its mission.

Every stakeholder will have different information, concerns and interests which need to be considered and developed. Making sure that all stakeholders are able to develop their own position and form of representation may initially result in challenges to community organizing. It must be remembered that building an organization is a slow process. People need to feel that being part of an organized group is necessary to protect their interests.

Once there is agreement on the organization, a meeting(s) is held to specifically define the organization's goals and objectives, organizational structure, leadership, membership, dues and finances and action plan. Organization structure is the framework around which the group is organized. Structure describes how members are accepted, how leadership is chosen, and how decisions are made. Structure give members clear guidelines for how to proceed and it binds members together. There are three elements to organizational structure:

1. Some kind of governance to make decisions;

2. Rules by which the organization operates; and

3. A distribution of work.

Each organization may develop roles for individuals to play in the organization. There may be a variety of committees within an organization, such as the executive committee, action committee and finance committee, which carry out specific roles and responsibilities. Organizational structure is best decided upon internally, through a process of critical thinking and discussion. Organizational structure will be guided by such factors as the purpose of the organization, size, volunteer or paid staff, and whether it is advocacy- or service-oriented (Boxes 9.6 and 9.7).

Successful organizational structure usually includes:

• An elected leadership;

• Regular meetings;

• A newsletter;

• A means of delegating tasks and responsibilities;

• Training for new members;

• Social time together;

• A planning process;

• Working relationships with power players and resource organizations.

A goal is set and objectives are devised that will lead to the goal. To be effective the organization should, at least initially, pursue only one objective at a time. The organization should generate ideas to achieve the objective, then carry them forward into an action. Once the organization's members agree on an action, create an action plan. The action plan should identify strategies to achieve each objective. Work should be broken down into manageable tasks. The action plan should include a timeline to identify when things should be done and by whom, an ordered list of tasks to complete, persons responsible for each task, facilities and funds.

Box 9.6. Beach Village Committees in Malawi.

The Participatory Fisheries Management Programme (PFMP) on Lake Malombe and the Upper Shire River in Malawi was implemented to reverse the decline in the fisheries. The strategy employed to implement the PFMP involved creation of a Community Liaison Unit (CLU) composed of fisheries extension staff and Beach Village Committees (BVCs) representing the fishing communities. The BVCs were intended to serve as the basis for a two-way channel of communication between fishers and the Fisheries Department. It was also hoped that they would progressively assume responsibility for the management of the fishery. The BVCs were selected by village communities. The BVC was composed of gear owners, fishing crew members, and any active member of the village group. The village head was supposed to serve as an advisor to the BVC. The BVC had the role of controlling the beach and the group that fished from the beach, limit access to the beach and fishery, organize meetings of its members, establish fishing rules and represent its members at higher levels.

A number of problems occurred in the establishment and operation of the BVCs. Some local leaders appointed certain individuals for their personal gain. Most BVCs had very few fishers as members and even fewer had crew members.

The creation of BVCs resulted in contests for power and authority with the village headmen. In many cases, the village headman became the de facto leader of the BVC, even though he was not the chairman. The village headmen became prone to ignoring the authority of the BVCs, since by historical tradition and custom, they hold ultimate authority. Where the BVCs have resisted being taken over by village headmen and have established some semblance of independent authority, fishers have often been confronted with dual authority of both the BVC and the village headman. In some cases, gear owners saw this as a chance to cut out the practice of giving payment to the village headman and to challenge them on this matter. The strong village headmen had no option but to curb the powers of the BVCs. In some cases, the elected BVCs were forced to disband and were replaced by BVCs with members appointed by the headman. In these cases, fishers saw the BVCs representing the village headman's interests more than their own.

In contrast to Lake Malombe and the Upper Shire River, the village headmen were largely kept out of the BVCs on Lake Chuita in Malawi. Since the fishers elected BVCs on their own with the facilitation of the Fisheries Department, they were able to ignore the Lake Malombe model which incorporated village headmen as ex-officio members. The exclusion of headmen from the BVCs and the growing reluctance of fishers to make payments to the headmen have increased tension between the BVCs and the headmen.

Source: Njaya (2002).

Members and leaders make all organizational decisions, from by-laws to slogans. Members raise and select organizational issues based on the self-interest of the group, and broad agreement among members is necessary before the organization will pursue an issue.

Each organization should discuss, agree on, and post guidelines for decision-making. Some decision-making approaches include straw polling (a show of hands to see how the group feels about an issue), voting and consensus (bringing the group to mutual agreement by addressing all concerns).

Box 9.7. Barbados National Union of Fisherfolk Organizations.

The Barbados National Union of Fisherfolk Organizations (BARNUFO) is a secondary, or umbrella, fishing industry organization. It is not a trade union, but an alliance or federation. BARNUFO's mission, according to the written constitution, is to fulfil the requirements of its member fisherfolk organizations with a view to improving their socio-economic conditions based on sustainable development of fisheries 'from the hook to the cook'. The members of BARNUFO are the primary fisherfolk organizations of Barbados, not the individuals in the industry. Two persons can be selected from each primary member organization to be representatives in BARNUFO. BARNUFO sits on the government's Fishery Advisory Committee. The Fisheries Division works with BARNUFO as its main partner in sea egg (sea urchin) co-management initiatives such as data collection.

Source: McConney et al. (2003a).

The organization, if they want to take part in the co-management negotiation process, will need to identify and appoint one or more individuals to represent them. In cohesive organizations this may be easier than in non-cohesive organizations. Criteria such as honesty, knowledge of the area and issues, negotiation skills, maturity and status in the community and others may be used to select a representative.

9.4. Strengthening

To ensure sustainability of the organization, there must be continual strengthening of the organization and its members; this includes government. Strengthening means obtaining the necessary attitudes, knowledge, skills and resources to take part in the co-management programme. This can be achieved through the environmental education, capacity development and social communication activities described in Chapter 8. Change does not occur in the blink of an eye. Individual change in terms of values and awareness takes time to change and must be strengthened through information, education and capacity development. The value transformation of individuals is enhanced through an organization resulting in collective action.

In addition, the CO should help the organization in building strategic alliances with other organizations with common interests. Networking establishes linkages with other organizations working for a common goal. The strategy is to share information with other organizations so as to bring about greater understanding as well as social and policy change.

Once the organization is formed, efforts need to be made for sustainability. Several measures can be undertaken (Espeut, nd):

• Members should be notified of meetings in good time.

• One of the most difficult pitfalls in community organizations has to do with keeping up the momentum. Almost inevitably, the attendance at meetings will be high initially and then fall as the meetings become dull and routine. Each meeting should offer some particular issue for discussion which will captivate the members, or there can be a special person invited to address the meeting, or there can be a fisheries education exercise.

• Personality clashes can weaken or even be the death of community organizations, as very few people have the time or the energy to come to meetings which are nothing more than a collection of individual ego trips. For community organizations to be strengthened, ways have to be found to neutralize these personality problems. The problem people need to be spoken to and shown how their behaviour is affecting others. Special training may be needed to be able to handle these cases.

• Financial irregularities can affect any organization. To address this problem, there should be suitable training on financial accounting, there should be frequent financial reports to the members, and there should be a bank account where all organization funds are deposited.

• Meetings should be an opportunity for informing the members and community about what is happening and planned. Any hint of secrecy should be absent from a well-run organization.

• Stay in touch with each other. Every opportunity should be taken to provide information to members, such as a newsletter. Representatives of the organization to the larger co-management organization should report to the membership not just the leadership.

• Act more, meet less.

• Keep time demands modest.

• Provide social time and activities.

• Work in pairs to improve communication, make work less lonely and ensure tasks get done.

• Provide skills training.

9.5. Evaluation

Evaluation is used to measure the success or failure of the organization to meet its goals and objectives and the reasons why. Monitoring is a continuous process of gathering information about the organization and its management. The membership of the organization, as well as community members, should be involved in the monitoring and evaluation. Evaluation should be an iterative process which leads to modification and improvement of the organization to better suit the needs of its members and current conditions. After each activity has been implemented and completed, the evaluation should ask:

• What has been accomplished?

• What still needs to be done?

• What was done well?

• What could have been done better?