FUNDAIA CRETINĂ DIAKONIA Cluj-Napoca, Romania FUNDAIA CRETINĂ DIAKONIA Cluj-Napoca, Romania Together for life Community development MERA__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dr. Arthur Sárosi

Social programmes in Mera  1997 – the first contact with Mera: the physicians of the foundation vizit the patients in the village  1998 – inauguration of a GP surgery  2001 – the social programme for children starts its activity in close colaboration with the local school, the Reformed church and the GP surgery  2002 –Mera Village Days I. FUNDAIA CRETINĂ DIAKONIA FUNDAIA CRETINĂ DIAKONIA Together for life

Social programmes in Mera  2002 – opening of a social counselling office in order to support people from disadvantaged social groups in obtaining identity cards and birth certificates  2004 – we start the building of the multifunctional Diakonia house  2004 – the community development in Mera starts with the founding of a Community Development Committee. FUNDAIA CRETINĂ DIAKONIA FUNDAIA CRETINĂ DIAKONIA Together for life

FUNDAIA CRETINĂ DIAKONIA Main sponsor : D.W. Baden MERA Building of the Diakonia House Together for life

Positive effects  Founding of a footbal team – colaboration of different groups  Co-opting of new groups: active participation of the women and the youth  Raising awareness of local values - renovation of the traditional ingraved wooden gates or installing of new similar ones  Founding of the Association „Kankalin“ ment to represent the interests of the community FUNDAIA CRETINĂ DIAKONIA FUNDAIA CRETINĂ DIAKONIA Together for life

What have we learnt from the activity of community development?  to understand that the process itself plays the most important role in which the members of the community learn to colaborate with each other in taking and executing decisions;  to follow the process of community development with patience and wisdom; FUNDAIA CRETINĂ DIAKONIA FUNDAIA CRETINĂ DIAKONIA Together for life

 to help the villagers to change their resigned mentality “it is impossible”, “we cannot”, “we are not able”;  to avoid any intervention without having asked the opinion of the villagers;  not to take over tasks that could be fulfilled by the community. FUNDAIA CRETINĂ DIAKONIA FUNDAIA CRETINĂ DIAKONIA Together for life What have we learnt from the activity of community development?

What is a community? 1 Community is: a network formed by relationships among persons, groups, networks, traditions and models of behaviour made up by people sharing: - physical neigbourhood, - similar socio-economic conditions or - concepts and common interests.

Though:  People living in the same community and having the same interests and living conditions do not necessarily think and feel like a „community”.  Each person belongs to different local communities or group of interests, the meaning of which can change in the different phases of life. The different communies can lead into different directions.  Even in communities that seem to be „united” can appear conflicts of interests that need to be solved.  It is incorect to beleave that a community means always something positive: some communities can be depressing and repulsive! All these aspects have to be taken into consideration by the persons implied in activities meant to develop a community. What is a community? 2

Obligations & values of a community development programme 1  Social rights – to raise awareness of the fact that each individual has the right to an income, decent living conditions, education, medical care and a safe environment; to respect and enlarge the civil and human rights and to facilitate the development of a pro-active attitude among the different groups.  Participation – to facilitate the development of a democratic engagement in domains influencing their life, citizenship and independence by giving them power, skills, knowledge and experience.  Equality – to combat the discriminative and marginalizing attitude of persons and institutions.  Learning – to recognize and appreciate the skills, knowledge and experience that enable a person to contribute to the solving of social, economic, politic and ecologic problems.  Cooperartion – to implement activities based on the mutual appreciation of the different cultures.

 to fight against discrimination and aggravating procedures of organisations, institutions and communities;  to appreciate the skills, knowledge and experiences accumulated in a community and to use them in order to produce changes;  to consider a priority the treatment of the problems of persons facing poverty and social exclusion;  to facilitate the access of all groups and persons to information and opportunities;  to influence the politics and programmes in the benefit of the communities. Obligations & values of a community development programme 2

 to encourage the founding of networks and relations among communities and organisations;  to develope an attitude and guidelines to protect the environment;  to sustain social initiatives meant and able to produce lasting changes;  to evaluate the accomplished activities, reflecting upon them. Obligations & values of a community development programme 3

Identity and motivation 1  the most important human resources beside our team are the stakeholders accompanying the process.  For a creative and successful work we have to consider: - the own identity and its transformation under the influence of socialisation, migration and vocational training; - our motivation and what we expect from our work and domain of activity;

We are confronting with 3 dimensions: universally recognized the norms of universally recognized the norms of expectations, values and normsour team members (our own mission) expectations, values and normsour team members (our own mission) Expectations, values and norms identified during the socialisation and confirmed by the stakeholders accompanying the process Identity and motivation 2

Phases of the process of community development 1  The reality is chaotic but the major phases of the activity of community development are: - to be present (periodic task); - to obtain and collect information; - to identify the formal and informal actors ; - to analize the circumstances and to identify the persons interested in producing changes (or in the contrary could be an „obstacle“);

 the action phase: - to identify the groups and persons we will work with; to form new groups; - to analize and settle the objectives together with the team; - to develop and implement the plan; - to form networks and initiate partnerships; - to evaluate and celebrate the success. and always: develop ownership! Phases of the process of community development 2

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