What does it take to make changes in the community you have been living in for the past many many years. Well to answer this question, we have to ask why the change? This will then lead us to discuss about the present reality.All these sound heavy and complicated but yet it is not! Imagine your present community with all its imperfections and also the positive aspects. Then think about the ideal or dream image of your community.
If the the image is quite different from the present reality then its time to start thinking of how we can make the dream become a reality. Now you are planning an organising process.
It's actually like cooking...
| Cooking a Dish | Organizing a community |
| You select a recipe | Identifying an issue |
| Imagine the end product | Projecting your dream |
| Start to make a plan based on your intended output | Analysis and strategizing for action |
| Then you start to identify the ingredients, and start to shop for them | Identifying strengths and weaknesses in the organising process |
| Finally you put all ingredients together and start to cook! | Taking action |
| Sometimes the final dish needs to be adjusted by adding salt, pepper or sugar or even to revise the recipe. | Reflection, evaluation and then plan action again |
Recently my organi
sation PERMAS who has been working with urban poor communities in Malaysia for the past 20 years has been involved in a community called Kampung Railway (former railway workers housing and staff quarters). They are being evicted now to make way for commercial complex and hotel which are being constructed to give the are anew facelift!
sation PERMAS who has been working with urban poor communities in Malaysia for the past 20 years has been involved in a community called Kampung Railway (former railway workers housing and staff quarters). They are being evicted now to make way for commercial complex and hotel which are being constructed to give the are anew facelift!
The people have banded together (especially the younger members) and trying to negotiate for appropriate compensations especially alternative permanent housing. In the course of this struggle, they have faced many difficulties as expected, for instance a divided local community, political party interventions, an uncooperative city hall, and a desperate & powerful housing developing company with many strong connections trying to shake the community.
The key for the people to stand in this struggle is exactly that... "TO STAND TOGETHER"! They need to learn how to work together and go through a crash course on how to negotiate with the city hall, the railway department and the housing developer, all in the span of a few weeks or months.The only thing that will hold them back is themselves. An organising process that fails is usually attributed to the disunity and unwillingness of a community to fight for their rights and seeing the process to the end.
But once the people have tasted the fruits of being organised and empowered, nothing can stop them, its like they have been given a new set of eyes, they will see and feel things differently. After all to build a new community, we have to be brave to dream and make sure it becomes our reality.by TAN JO HANN, President, PERMAS Malaysia
