Transcript Chapter 7 - Routledge
Companion Lectures
For Progressive Community Organizing in a Globalizing World By Loretta Pyles
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2 nd Edition, by Loretta Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
organizations and social change
• The institutionalization of a movement, campaign, or social change endeavor can easily lead to bureaucratization that can silence the marginalized voices it was intending to amplify in the first place • Organizations originally intended for social change can easily succumb to the pressures of funding streams, the professional culture of the nonprofit world, and organizational maintenance. • In an era of a globalizing economy, “Market ideas have influenced these organizations’ vocabulary, program emphases, staffing patterns, funding sources, and their relationship with constituents” (Reisch, 2005)
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2 nd Edition, by Loretta Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7 maintaining a Social change climate in organizations • Create a work plan that outlines the larger issues the organization seeks to address, and collectively evaluate and reflect on annual goals using the organization’s political framework • Meet every week to make decisions as a group, inform each other about work, and assess workload and organizational capacities • Include journal writing and other methods for staff to communicate their personal work as part of collective movement building • Schedule dedicated days for staff political education, including taking turns facilitating discussions • Every three months, take time for team building and bonding • Take care of personal selves by monitoring pace of work, hours worked, and time off
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2 nd Edition, by Loretta Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7 fundraising and organizational decision-making • Determine the campaigns and projects that your organization wants to engage in, making sure that such decisions are accountable to the constituency. Then look for funding to do the work. Do not do it the other way around and have the funder determine your priorities. • If the funder is a private foundation, research who the financier is. Is the foundation part of a corporation engaging in oppressive social or economic practices? Are their values commensurate with your organization’s values?
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2 nd Edition, by Loretta Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7 fundraising and organizational decision-making (Pt. 2) • If the funder is a governmental agency, consider the political climate and agenda that the state may be trying to promote. Is the agenda commensurate with the values of your organization? • What kind of evaluation and reporting requirements are there? Are there resources available to build the capacity of the organization to evaluate the work? Is it be possible to do participatory evaluation, involving constituents in the process of determining what worked and what did not work?
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2 nd Edition, by Loretta Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
A leader committed to an empowering organization…
• Is willing to acknowledge his or her own power and privilege • Utilizes a transparent decision-making process • Is not removed from everyday struggles • Is committed to and models conflict-resolution processes when injuries and damages occur within the organization (SPAN, 2005)
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2 nd Edition, by Loretta Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
consensus decision-making
• Consensus is defined as agreement among a substantial number of members that is reached after group study and discussion. It is the sense of what the group supports. It is not a vote, not a majority, and not necessarily unanimity • Emerging from feminist, environmental and anarchist organizing, this kind of decision making requires a group of individuals who are committed to the values and principles of nonhierarchical organizing • Tends to be more successful in smaller groups
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2 nd Edition, by Loretta Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
group conditions that support consensus
• Principles of unity • Equal access to power • Autonomy of the group from external hierarchical structures • A willingness in the group to spend time to attend to process • A willingness in the group to attend to attitudes • A willingness in the group to learn and practice
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2 nd Edition, by Loretta Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
Challenges with Evaluating Social Change Work
• Cause and effect approaches and logic models assume linear nature of change and may not account for external factors • Climate of “ success ” in evaluation and funding can limit organizations ability to talk about failure • Research and evaluation is time consuming and may take away from the “ real ” work
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2 nd Edition, by Loretta Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
Community organizing outcomes
• Instrumental changes in the environment • Leadership development • Development of an organization ’ s resources and capabilities • Increasing public awareness Mondros & Wilson (1994)
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2 nd Edition, by Loretta Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
Principles for doing evaluation research
• • • Social change organizations should be involved in developing, interpreting and communicating the results of the evaluation and receive adequate support to carry out those responsibilities Evaluation should be designed to be useful in improving the work of grantees, the field, and others Evaluation should build the group assessment ’ s internal capacity for self-evaluation, and/or build on existing mechanisms for reflection and self-
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2 nd Edition, by Loretta Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
Principles for doing evaluation research (pt. 2)
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Evaluation should respect and acknowledge the context in which the organization is operating
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All the costs of conducting the evaluation should be fully funded
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Candor should not be punished, inside an organization or by funders
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2 nd Edition, by Loretta Pyles. New York: Routledge.
Chapter 7
Participatory Action Research
• Response to positivistic approaches to research (expertise, physical sciences and linear) • Roots in popular education and natural community action inquiry • Values constituent participation and leadership and the importance of leveraging knowledge into action • For some, the overall goal is to create community researchers, to advance the self-determination of communities to do research.
Copyright © 2014, Loretta Pyles. From Progressive Community Organizing: Reflective Practice in a Globalizing World, 2 nd Edition, by Loretta Pyles. New York: Routledge.