Act Together

The preparations are over. The program team has worked closely with the core group and interested community members to design a detailed action plan to mobilize the community around the health issue. Now it is time to put that plan into effect and launch the community mobilization program.

The specifics of how the plan is to be carried out were decided in the planning session at the end of the last phase, and you should assume that that plan is now being implemented as you carry out the four steps covered in this phase. In other words, the steps presented below concern what the external program team should be doing as the core group and the community carry out the mobilization effort.

In this context, it is remarkable how after so much participatory preparation, analysis, and planning, so many program teams neglect to play a role in the actual implementation of community activities. Perhaps it is because team members believe that once a plan has been developed, it will be followed. So they turn their attention to preparing for the evaluation. And it is true that some communities are able to implement their plans with very little assistance. But this type of community is generally not the kind in which many development agencies work. In some instances, program team members quickly revert back to more traditional roles of telling community members what to do and how to do it.

Defining your team’s role during the community action phase is an ongoing challenge that you will need to revisit many times. One of the best terms used to describe the program team’s general role during this phase is “accompaniment”. As we explore the steps to accompany community action, we will learn about ways to strengthen the community’s capacity to address health and other needs.