AKOEYO

Princes & Kings

Isn’t it strange how princes and kings,
and clowns that caper in sawdust rings,
and common people, like you and me,
are builders for eternity?

Each is given a list of rules;
a shapeless mass; a bag of tools.
And each must fashion, ere life is flown,
A stumbling block, or a Stepping-Stone.”

― R. Leah Sharp

 

As a little girl, I would draw caricature pictures of suffering children. The pictures didn’t have any human resemblance. They were more like scarecrows. I recall my brother always making fun of me, reminding me of how terrible an artist I was and why I was wasting my time, but it wouldn’t deter me. I would passionately paint my drawings and get my card boards neatly packed for next meeting. At the Child Rights Club, we were told that we were making a difference in our community and in the world at large; that we were helping children we didn’t even know. I was happy to know this. That was why I could skip meals and stay awake to do the little jobs assigned to me. Over the years, I have continued to be passionate about making positive change.

It is important to know that everyone is a builder for eternity, but there are those who are laying stepping stones in order for the world to become a better place. Lee Sharpe had it summarized in his poem ‘Princes and Kings’.

This series, “What Would You Do for Change?” is aimed at examining our ‘change’ ideations and will handle case studies on community needs. Thus, we shall draw wisdom and build capacities to tackle real life situations as regards community development.

  1. It will consist of three to five questions in each part of the series.
  2. Any person may choose to answer one question/case per part.
  3. For people addressing more than one cases, each case should come as a different reply.
  4. Conceived cases or community problems can be dropped as replies in order to be presented in subsequent parts of the series.

 

WHAT WOULD YOU DO FOR CHANGE? PT 1.

In this part, we shall look into three cases. 

CASE 1:

As part of your community assessment activities, you and your team visit the leader of a community within the state of your residence. You introduce yourselves as Partners of Strategy and Innovation for Development (SI4DEV) Initiative. He explains how water scarcity is a major problem in the community and how wells are drying up or producing dirty water. He also narrates that the bore holes constructed for the public have all gone bad. On this matter, he asks for your strategy and innovation for solutions. What would they be? 

CASE 2:

Your team identifies a problem in which women can be used as drivers of change, maybe by educating their household on health and sanitation matters, by working towards family planning, by implementing  girl or boy child education, by learning skills for work and family support or more. You discover that women can be reached through market women because most women visit markets and have casual conversation with their customers. Thus, market women can be involved in awareness campaigns. How would you plan your activities in order to accomplish your target through the use of market women?

CASE 3:

You live at the heart of a city. The metropolis looks good. However, there are suburbs where slums exist. Visits to these suburbs tell you how pitiable the lives of residents of these areas are. Most worrisome is the fact that refuse are littered everywhere and stagnant waters breed insects and micro-organisms. The people suffer health problems resulting from environmental pollution. The community seems abandoned by the state government. As a concerned citizen and member of SI4DEV which has its focus on quality health and good governance, among others, what would you suggest should be done in this community to remedy the situation?

46 thoughts on “WHAT WOULD YOU DO FOR CHANGE?”

  2. Case 3
    I would raise a team of volunteers to conduct a planned sanitation exercise for the community.
    secondly, my team would schedule and meet with the community leadership to let them know that together we can organize the community to develop good sanitation practices like proper waste disposal.
    Thirdly, my team would explore ways to involve interested community members to join us on a monthly clean-up/sanitation exercise.
    Lastly, we would raise fund through available channels to buy waste bags and other easy to deploy sanitation tools.

  3. Case 3:
    I would raise an alarm about the health dangers of the situation through all media platforms. Take pictures of the environment and channel them to local media outfits – TV through I-report channel. Through this, the attention of the local and state government would be drawn to the problems. Secondly, while raising awareness, I would get to the community leaders, discuss and plan for sensitisation campaign, community education on effective waste disposal and management and the health implications of a dirty environment. One of such campaign activities will be, through the community leaders, set up weekly sanitation exercise where everyone in the community will engage in the cleaning of their immediate environment. Finally, I would seek partnership with relevant organisations for the effective waste management for the community

      1. Yes. That’s why I talked about working with the community leaders. Together with the leaders, we would recruit volunteers. Besides, the sanitation exercise is for everyone in the community to get involved. Finally, I mentioned collaboration and partnerships with relevant bodies for the work to be done.

  4. Each locations group need to come together for an action plan , in which it be will be well look into and must meet up with what is needed to bring postives change to the community they are and if maybe needs in going into a partnership with another Ngo`s that will be cool because it will enlarge the scope of the action plans.

  8. Case 3:
    I will first of all get the pictures and short videos of those locations, then make a call for sanitation volunteers using social media channels by posting those pictures and videos. Together with the volunteers, we will proceed to the community elders with a proposal of the sanitation plan before execution.

  9. Case1, I will use focus group discussion to generate more ideas on how to tackle the situation. After which I will sensitize them to form a self help groups with which they can reach government for prompt action. And I will also find out from them the causes of the situation so as to take measures

  11. Case 2. I will get some volunteers. The volunteers will be diverse in different local languages. People love visual. We will plan and perform a good drama that will attract people and at the same time pass our information across. Play music and recorded talks. Also we will do one on one talk. Have filers printed in local language. This will be done at different point or location in the market. Because most time market are always large.

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