Community Empowerment:
HDF follows the Human Development philosophy of “helping people help themselves,” rather than creating a culture dependent on handouts. The basic premise is that the people are quite capable of finding solutions to their own problems and charting their course for a better life, given the opportunity and enabling conditions. As Fred Shaw says, “The best people to provide solution to a serious, chronic problem are the people who have the problem.”
To that end, HDF works in partnership with the communities. We have trained social organizers who are trained in working with the communities at the grassroots level. When a decision is made to start a project in any location, the first step is to have meetings with the local activists, both men and women. They are asked and provided help to form “Development Organizations.”
Development Organizations (DO) are the backbone of the HDF Project Pakistan model. They are responsible for administering and running the project with the help and guidance of the HDF staff. The salient features of these organizations are:
- Participation by both men and women. (So we have male and female DOs.)
- Participants agree to follow a set of bylaws when they agree to become a part of the DO. In most cases, many people in the project area cannot read, so the bylaws are read to them and translated in their native language.
- They have to sign or put their thumbprint to become part of a DO.
- These members then elect a president and secretary.
- The president and the secretary are asked to attend a Community Management Skills Training (CMST) workshop.
- The secretary needs reading and writing skills whenever possible.
- Out of these DOs, members for health committees and parent teacher associations are chosen.
- These development organizations not only administer and maintain the credit program, but they also encourage the members to save. These savings are later used for internal lending.
Another side benefit of these organizations is that people learn to sit together and discuss their other problems and issues openly. This generates a feeling of empowerment and self help within the community.
Once these organizations mature, they are asked to develop an umbrella organization at the village level, called Village Development Organization (VDO) and the next step up is the formation of a Unit Development Organization (UDO) at the unit level.
Many of HDF DOs and VDOs have registered themselves as Citizen’s Community Boards with the local government. Many of them have been able to get projects approved for their communities worth several lakhs of Rupees.
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