| Detailed Overview of CEN |
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The Community Empowerment Network (CEN) assists rural community members within developing countries to acquire the skills, attitudes, and resources to lift themselves out of poverty by capitalizing on information and technology. While many recent development approaches have emphasized technology, experience has shown repeatedly that technology alone is not a solution to poverty. Technology and information serve as development tools only insofar as community members are able to use them in a successful and meaningful way. Technology can be a valuable tool in poor rural communities when applied to developmental objectives such as reaching markets for locally made goods, sharing ideas among communities, facilitating the implementation of projects, and accessing information on topics such as health, agriculture, or income generation. CEN empowers community members to utilize technology to achieve their own development objectives. In This ArticleDevelopment Challenges in Rural Communities Although each community is unique, many rural communities throughout the developing world share common challenges. Due to their remote location, the members of rural communities consistently face limited educational opportunities, access to health care services, infrastructure and communications, and opportunity for employment. Due to such conditions, these people have for generations relied primarily on others for their well-being, such as from the patrón land-owner, the government, or NGOs. This cycle of dependency often inhibits a community's ability to take on its own development projects. Regardless of how well-intended outside agents might be, they have different agendas than the communities, and the communities are at their mercy. Dependency has consistently been a major obstacle to development, reinforcing an "I can't" mentality among the rural poor - a feeling of helplessness where people believe that they are unable to control their own lives. On our recent visit to Suruacá in the Brazilian Amazon we observed a characteristic instance of this all-too-common mentality. During a meeting with a women's group, we asked the women why the modern kitchen, which was built with funds from a German foundation, was not being used. They responded that they were interested in using it to make fruit candies, but that they had not started because they were waiting for somebody to come and help them. They knew how to make the candies, but didn't know where they could sell them, so they felt they needed outside help. The women were in a much better position than any outsider to work around these obstacles. What they needed was to conduct some research and investigation locally, such as seeking out and talking with neighboring communities that had experience making the candies or talking with local store owners about marketing their idea. However, the women were missing the skills and self-confidence they needed to make use of available resources. Similarly, many rural communities around the world have ambitions to create small businesses, start organizations, or plan projects, but they get stuck because they feel they won't be able to succeed on their own. CEN works to overcome this "I can't" mentality that has inhibited so many from taking charge of their own community development. Our Methodology Electricity and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) can be important tools in breaking this cycle of dependency. If utilized effectively, ICT can empower users and their communities with access to information that helps them make well-informed decisions and take effective action to solve their own problems. Improved communications can also help communities share their solutions with other communities. ICT access alone is not enough, though. Communities need to develop skills to utilize the technology and apply information. Key skills include leadership, communication, organization, research, and project management. When people put these skills to practice in a meaningful way, they gain a feeling of empowerment. The "I can't" attitude becomes "I can", breaking down a major obstacle to development. The methodology CEN developed combines three primary components to help communities acquire skills they need to become more independent:
A positive mentorship role with rural communities is critical for our efforts to be effective. The first step of the mentorship process is to investigate what issues communities identify as meaningful. In our experience, prominent issues have included health, infrastructure development, and small business development. As communities bring specific problems to our attention, we then determine the knowledge and skills that communities need to address the problem on their own. We work with the community members to create a plan that will not only help them solve the specific problem, but at the same time will help them develop the skills and confidence to independently address similar problems in the future. While our role may include providing ICT and electricity, our primary focus is to foster the skill-development needed to get the most out of the technology investments. In order to help community members develop these skills, CEN mentors them as they undertake projects of their own design, which are relevant and meaningful to their everyday lives. As a mentor, we help them develop methods of inquiry to explore the questions they truly care about, and encourage them to develop a sense of ownership of their projects. Our "learning by doing" approach means that learners not only acquire knowledge about the project topic, but also develop a wide range of skills which are critical for them to manage their own development. In the process, communities adopt an "I can" attitude as they witness the concrete results of their efforts. Recently, a group of four Brazilian men approached us for help creating a business plan. Rather than creating it for them, we guided them through the process by asking some critical questions that led them to produce the business plan themselves. Helping with this specific request was a start, but as we worked through this problem we determined that the broader goal was for community members to develop the skills necessary to be able to start and run businesses independently. Through discussing the interests and ideas of the group, we determined that organizing a basic business course open to all community members would help them develop the business skills they desired, such as management and marketing, as well as exploring their interest in a rotating community fund. Similarly, community members have approached CEN with very specific health concerns, such as a high incidence of back or vision problems. We addressed these health concerns by providing relevant information via the community information portal. We also helped to put community members in touch with local resources that they can approach to acquire glasses and specific health care needs. Ultimately, we don't want the communities to rely on us for help with every new health problem as it comes up. Rather, we seek to help the people we work with to develop skills that will allow them to address health concerns on their own. This may mean developing workshops on research skills or courses on more general health topics. Establishing telecenters and information portals Due to their isolation, rural communities often have limited access to the information needed to compete for resources. Computers and the internet can facilitate access to this information if applied effectively. CEN works with communities to determine what information interests them and then establishes telecenters and information portals according to their needs. So far, we have used portals to provide information addressing a number of community interests, including specific health concerns such as HIV/AIDS, back problems, and vision problems. We have provided teachers with resources to help them teach math and Portuguese language skills. We have also provided community groups with study material on cultural and environmental topics of interest in the Amazon. Oftentimes, low levels of education and inexperience with many types of information – especially in written form – are obstacles to using information effectively. CEN organizes workshops in which community members learn how to utilize the info center and also develop writing and other communication skills. Also, we make sure that the information in the portals is presented according to the skill level and educational background of the target audience. Facilitating community networks Many remote communities, particularly those within the same region, face similar challenges. Some communities have met considerable success addressing specific problems; however, their isolation has prevented them from sharing their solutions effectively with others. By sharing ideas and experiences, communities have an alternative to relying exclusively on outside "experts." Chat, online forums, and email access can help tremendously to facilitate the sharing of ideas between remote communities. We have discovered, however, that while electronic communication can be very effective where personal relationships already exist, it can be very challenging for people who are not accustomed to using the telephone – much less written electronic forums – to engage with strangers from communities they have never visited. Organizing periodic workshops and exchanges between communities has proven an effective way to help communities begin a dialog with each other, which can then be maintained and broadened by electronic communications. Our methodology is innovative Capacity building and even the use of ICT to reduce the cost of delivering training in isolated areas is not new. The unique aspect of our program is to use these and other tools to provide the skills and other resources communities need to access and harness information to learn to discover and implement solutions so they become more self-reliant. Soft skills are the core building blocks upon which residents “learn how to learn.” They are also the skills individuals use to access, filter, adapt, and apply the information available in an information society to address their particular needs. Our methodology, which is based on Project-Based Learning (PBL), is more effective for teaching soft skills than traditional classroom methods because it better facilitates learners’ internalization of complex and multi-faceted subject matter. PBL is a learning methodology designed to guide learners towards a certain skill and/or content that is specifically relevant to the learners’ goals and interests. In PBL, the process of learning is focused on the learner; the instruction team is responsible only for guidance and management of the final initiative. A mentor provides advice, shares knowledge and experiences, and teaches using a low-pressure, self-discovery approach. The overall goal of the process is to drive the learner to develop a habit of self-education and create a culture of independent learning. The PBL approach is a dynamic process that is not predetermined but, rather, evolves over time through a continuous dialogue with stakeholders in order to properly align the program with their local needs and realities. Although Brazil is a pioneer in PBL theory, it has rarely been applied outside of schools there. One notable exception is the Program for the Future (PPF), which successfully uses PBL to improve the employability of at-risk urban youth. PPF learners use the skills they acquire not simply to find a job,but also to become excellent employees and citizens. We will apply a similar approach to address the needs and realities of isolated rural areas. This has rarely been done in Brazil or elsewhere. This approach requires frequent consultation between learners and facilitators, and can be costly. These costs would be prohibitive if provided on a large-scale basis in remote areas, and so we will reduce delivery costs by incorporating ICT as a complement to in-person delivery of the curriculum. We will experiment to find an appropriate mix of personal, workshop, and ICT-based delivery which will minimize delivery costs without lessening the effectiveness of the program. Keeping the incremental costs of delivery low will be critical to the eventual scaling of the program in the future. We believe that helping individuals and communities become more self-reliant in resolving their problems by equipping them with the skills and other resources they need to harness information is a strong basis for lasting social change. Our approach promises to be more successful than others, because it chips away at many of the barriers faced by isolated and poor societies and allows them to effectively exploit many the resources available to the developed world. Future Plans In 2009, we intend to replicate Phase 1 of the cCLEAR Program in a new set of communities in the region through another local partner, and to implement Phase 2 in the original Rio Tapajós communities as well as the community of Xixuau . Phase 2 includes an integrated entrepreneurship development program. We will work with the communities to leverage the skills they have learned in order to generate additional income. Although entrepreneurship development has been an important emphasis to our programs since CEN started, we intend to enhance opportunities available to the communities by improving access to markets and capital through this integrated entrepreneurship development program. By 2010, we hope to replicate to other regions, such as Mozambique or South Asia, where we have received a lot of interest and there are many potential synergies with our current work. We also hope to disengage from the original communities through Phase 3, while leaving behind a sustainable infrastructure. Our work will scale by partnering with select local organizations that have compatible values and have gained trust with communities in the region. We will work closely with the local partner on the first set of implementations, help them adapt our methodologies to local realities, and build their capacity. After a defined period, we will disengage this intensive level of interaction, but leave behind an infrastructure, including social networks, to ensure their success at replicating the methodology throughout the region they serve. It is an exciting time for the Community Empowerment Network as we look forward to reaching more communities and continue to improve our methodology. We hope that you will support us and become a part of our efforts to empower the rural poor! |