Transcript Community Immunity Health Promotion Summer School June 24
Tools to Strengthen Community Resiliency Health Promotion Summer School
June 24, 2008
A presentation by
Roya Rabbani Lorna Heidenheim Self-Help Resource Centre
www.selfhelp.on.ca
Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition
www.ohcc-ccso.ca
Tools to Strengthen Community Immunity OBJECTIVES
• • • • Introduce the concepts of community resiliency and its relationship to social capital; Identify factors contributing to community resiliency Relate skills and structures for self-help/peer support to building community resilience Emphasize skills and structures for community development to building community resilience
Agenda
1. What is community resiliency? 2. Components of community resiliency 3. Self Help and Mutual Aid Strategies 4. Community Capacity Building for Resiliency 5. Reflections
Learn from experience and build future capacity Self-organize and regulate Work together to build resiliency
Community Resiliency
• • • • Ability to bounce back after an adversity Ability to learn from the negative experience to respond more effectively in future Ability to create balance between risk factors and support/coping factors Resiliency is a dynamic process
A resilient community
…is one that takes intentional action to
embrace the personal and collective capacity of its citizens to respond to and influence the course of social and economic change.
The Community Resilience Manual Centre for Community Enterprise
The Four Dimensions of Community
• Ability to self organize • Ability to work together
PEOPLE RESOURCES ORGANIZATIONS
• Ability to do things differently • Ability to build capacity
PROCESS
Joachim Abby
72; retired; lives alone with 34; New to Canada; waiting for family to join; no immediate family close takes ESL; Nostalgic for by; ex-smoker and is overweight; Loves to tango past; unsure about and chat; fluent in French; future, lives in high-rise is warm and friendly; building in suburb; uses volunteers to socialize; has services for some a constant phobia of dying needs but in a alone; Despite her disconnected way; with appeared cheerfulness, all his skills feels feels lonely and useless. worthless.
Pansy
51; factory worker; suffers form undiagnosed chronic pain; single parent; one of her children is autistic; gets help from various services, but feels completely alone; no one seems to understand what she faces.
They live in the same community identified as high risk, prone to crime, child poverty, unemployment, alienation, dilapidated dwellings, cultural and racial tension, etc…..
Building Capital, Building Resiliency
Using mutual aid/self-help PROCESS to work with PEOPLE
How to develop trust?
“Social capital refers to those stocks of social trust, norms and How to agree on norms?
networks that people can draw upon to solve common problems.” What type of networks?
The Burning Question: What does Mutual Aid/Self-Help have to do with Social Capital?
MASH builds Network of Support
People who share same experience and face the same difficulty, can become each others’ source of strength and support. Self-help groups are mechanism to create networks of support. Seeing your peers succeed in dealing with a difficulty in life, creates a sense of efficacy.
Social capital refers to the norms and networks that enable collective action.
MASH enabling Collective Action
Self-help groups give people a sense of connectedness and strength. By its very nature, group work, when based on capacity building and skills development, is enabling and leads to collective action, which in itself is empowering.
MASH works based on Norm of Reciprocity
Self-help strategies enable people to communicate norms and rules conducive to respect, mutuality and reciprocity. By sharing leadership and responsibilities, people creates norms and strategies to work collaboratively.
Community Mutual Aid/Self-Help Groups
What can they do to build community resiliency?
• • • • • Gather and unite people around the issues; Provide opportunities to build capacity through shared leadership; Increase self-efficacy by opportunities for modeling, peer mentoring and group work; Motivate individual by giving them a communal responsibility; Connect people to each other, organize them around issues and broaden their network
Self-Help Strategies: Key Elements Experiential Knowledge
Validate their knowledge of issue, concern, problem, etc.
Gather people around same concern to create networks of support
Supportive Communities Self-Help Strategies
Enable them to work cooperatively by sharing responsibility/leadership
Shared Leadership
Structures that support MASH
• • • • • Organization with clear commitment to people participation Policies and procedures to facilitate people participation Ability to work with diversity Willingness and ability to build peoples ’ capacity Willingness and ability to have different service delivery model
Building Community Capacity for Resiliency
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Indicators of Community Resiliency
People
Diversified leadership Visionary leadership Community participation Community Pride Optimistic about Future Spirit of co-operation Sense of attachment Self-reliant Belief in education
Organizations
10.
Variety of NGO’s 11. Partnerships
Resources
12. Diversified Employment 13. Local Ownership 14. Plan to increase LO 15. Economic Diversification 16. Seeks external resources 17. Aware of competitive position
Process
18. Community Plan 19. Participation in vision, goals 20. On-going action 21. Regular evaluation 22. Actions guided by Plan 23. Inclusive approach
Mapping Community Resiliency Assets
Natural Human Built Institu tional Social
Distribution of Resources
Equity, Equality, Access • • • • •
Changing Demographics Power & Privilege Access and Choice Policy and Legislation Embracing Diversity
What is the aim of the Tool Kit?
To assist organizations in becoming more aware of and responsive to the populations that they serve.
Who is the Tool Kit for?
Small to mid-sized, volunteer based, not-for-profit community organizations, with lessons for larger organizations and institutions
For More Information
Ontario Self-Help Network (OSHNET): Shared Leadership Handbook www.selfhelp.on.ca
Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition: From the Ground Up, Inclusive Community Organizations www.ohcc-ccso.ca
The Community Resilience Manual: Centre for Community Enterprise www.cedworks.com/communityresilience01.html