NGOS AND DEVELOPMENT

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Globalization of Media MCM404

Lesson 19

NGOS AND DEVELOPMENT

Text of one handout for students

Note: This handout which is titled: "Working with the poor" is meant to provide students with a

background to the specific social context in which attempts can be made to form small, non-official

organizations that are also called: "community-based organizations" (CBOs) and which are the smallest

versions of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The text of this handout concentrates exclusively on the sociology, the psychology and the organizational

technology relevant to that segment of society which has the lowest levels of income i.e. the poor and / or

the poorest, who most need and deserve support in development but who are also the most difficult segment

of society to work with in the conventional sense.

The handout is a chapter in the book titled: "Storms and Rainbows" by Javed Jabbar published by Summit

Media and Royal Book Company, BG-5, Rex Centre, Zebunnissa Street, Karachi 74400, Tel: 5684244,

5653418, e-mail: royalbook@hotmail.com.

Working with the poor

Social mobilization, in the context of development in general and South Asia in particular refers to the

process by which the poor and the disadvantaged segments of society are sensitized to the full range of their

human, civic, social and political rights.

They are also made aware of their responsibilities, despite being poor and disadvantaged. The poor should be

informed about case studies from other approximately similar situations in which people sharing the same

problems that they do were able to initiate change for the better in their lives through new forms of

organization and collective action.

The most deprived segment of society has to be persuaded to either refine or strengthen any existing

community organizations which already exist amongst the poor and disadvantaged or facilitated to establish

new organizations that will harness their shared energies towards collective betterment.

Once the poor have decided on the particular organizational form they wish to use, they have to be trained in

the crafts and skills of establishing and operating effective organizations of the poor, including the

methodology of how to present their perceptions and their proposals seeking the alleviation of their suffering,

to the relevant and selected target groups in society which can extend support to them.

In the context of demographic location, the poor can be concentrated in a particular, geographically defined

area or, equally, be scattered or spread over an entire province of our country. But as social mobilization in

this context refers to the poor and the disadvantaged, it would not apply to areas where the rich and the

upper income groups reside, though it would be helpful to also engage them in a larger alliance.

Social mobilization has a comprehensive and all-embracing connotation and suggests that, by the use of the

word; "social", the process applies to the totality of a given community's existence. This indeed normally is,

and should be the goal of social mobilization i.e. to have a pervasive and far-reaching dimension.

However, there are instances where the crucial early and formative phases of social mobilization have taken

place through limited and selective "entry points" such as through the provision of only one or two services

which are desperately needed by the poor for sheer survival alone. Such early interventions can be of an

urgent, "life saving" nature, where the poor are faced by famine or drought or epidemics. Those promoting

social mobilization in such an area, either from within the poor or from external groups, bring emergency

relief and, in the process create a relationship of rapport and trust with the community.

Nevertheless, in its basic sense, social mobilization demands a "holistic" approach rather than a sectoral

approach which deals only with parts of the problem as opposed to going to the core of the issue which alone

would tap the potential of any group.

Globalization of Media MCM404

The poor investigate their own reality by living it from day to night every single day of their lives. But it is

only when they create a separate, and in a sense, a detached and eternal entity which perfectly mirrors their

conditions and which would be a truly participatory organization of the poor. It is only then that the poor

acquire, and are able to use a "scientific" approach towards changing their conditions.

In forming an organization it may be unavoidable for the poor to be initially dependent on, or to be led by

money and inputs delivered from an external source. This is not an ideal condition but, in the kind of

deprived environment in which they live it may be unavoidable.

The crucial phase comes when, by using Participatory Rural Appraisal or any other similar process, the poor

become more conscious of their condition and their resources. The organization of the poor is able to make

the transition from exclusive dependence on an external source for inputs and money towards a partial

dependence only, while commencing to generate its own resources.

It is like helping a person who has been lying flat on the ground for too long and whose blood circulation and

muscle tone are not used to standing up and walking. In such a condition, being helped to stand up and to

take the first few steps is an absolute necessity to initiate movement. Once the blood begins to flow and the

muscles begin to support action, then the body is able to walk without support.

The crucial test is for the process of collective investigation of reality to remain consistent and strong as the

spiral moves through mobilization, conscientisation and organization.

Despite efforts to empower the poor there is an inherent tendency for the poorest of the poor to get "left

out" or be bypassed because they lack even the most basic attributes that are necessary for any external

stimuli or input to be effectively applied.

To attempt an analogy to explain this phenomenon: the poorest of the poor can often be like a blank flat

wall. When an organizational initiative seeks to take place, there is no nail or hook embodied in the wall or an

indentation of any kind on the basis of which any new element can be made to inter-act with the wall. With

neither literacy, nor health, nor much hope for change, the poorest of the poor may often be steeped in

apathy so deep that it becomes difficult to mobilize them in any sustained manner.

Similarly, so very much at the bottom are the poorest of the poor that to expect them to be, or to become

self-reliant in what is known as a "reasonable" period of time becomes unrealistic. Perhaps the only

consolation is that, just as in the "trickle down" effect by which prosperity is supposed to go from the rich to

the poor, it may be possible for some alleviation of poverty to go from the poor down to the poorest.

Thus, in a curious way, it may be better to begin by working with the poor and strengthening the organization

of the poor before reaching down or up! to the very poorest. We can only reach the peak of Mount-

Everest if the camp at the highest level of the mountain is firmly secure. In recent years, the support system

has begun to be sensitized and re-oriented.

This is inevitably a slow and difficult process of change because the support system is operated by

bureaucracies or officially supported systems that have a pre-cast approach to the poor.

Whether this is expressed through the "bricks and mortar" approach of the support system that prefers to

construct buildings and place the rudiments of a health delivery system inside the building and wait for the

poor to walk towards the building and get "health", or whether it is the traditional educational system that

imposes curriculum and text books containing messages and text that have little to do with the reality in

which they live, the support system is a large, multi-faceted structure controlled by forces at a great distance

from the poor.

Nevertheless, due to a variety of factors including advocacy by NGOs in the media, the general and visible

increase in disparities and in poverty, the work for relief done by NGOs the support system has begun to

become more sensitive to the reality of the poor as is evident in the willingness to consider and implement

new programmes for out-reach services, microcredit and mobile health-care.

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