CEN Provides Tools for Communities They Serve But Doesn't Drive Their Agenda

EmpowerBlog > CEN Provides Tools for Communities They Serve But Doesn't Drive Their Agenda

angela-conversing-with-change-agents-6_web

Angela meeting with cCLEAR participants

CEN tries very hard not to drive the agenda of others but rather to give them the tools so they can meet changes on their own terms. A good example would be something I heard from a leader in one of the communities. He said, he knows their way of life is changing, but they don't want to just become a copy of what they see in the cities. They want to change on their own terms.

By contrast, in a community across the river, they have reacted to the opportunities provided by the electricity that just arrived there, by attempting to duplicate what they've seen in cities. In the process, I might add, they've destroyed a lot of social fabric, but that's another story.

We did not tell participants what the objectives of the projects they select should be. While all the projects that they picked were income generation in nature, many of the participants (particularly in the first community) did not necessarily want to earn more money. Some just wanted to learn something new. Some wanted to earn a little money. Others did in fact want to start a business. It's up to them to decide.

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Last Updated on Monday, 20 December 2010 09:39