How Grassroots Organizations are Sustaining Community Engagement
Systemic change doesn’t happen overnight but results from years of firm persistence. For grassroots organizations, keeping communities engaged – and hopeful – through the often tedious and slow journey in the process of change is both a challenge and at the heart of our work.
How do you keep communities committed and involved when progress might sometimes feel hard to come by?
For our first Building Community Power Learning Circles event, we put this question to two grassroots justice organizations to explore practical methods they apply to build and sustain a critical mass of people pushing for change together.
The session featured Ruth Kaima from the Centre for Human Rights Education, Advice and Assistance (CHREEA) based in Malawi and Messan Kounagbe from Justice and Prosperity for All (JP4A) based in Benin, in a virtual discussion on Legal Empowerment Strategies to Sustain Community Engagement and Unity – to learn from each other how communities most impacted by injustice are organizing and sustaining community engagement to confront injustice.
CHREEA works with small street vendors who operate outside formal markets. Because they’re labeled as illegal, these vendors face frequent abuse—arrests, harassment, extortion, and sometimes even violence or sexual abuse. Courts rarely protect these vendors, treating them as lawbreakers without considering the conditions that push them into street vending.
JP4A supports indigenous communities in Benin who settled on water either due to displacement or to sustain their fishing and farming livelihoods. These communities live in constant fear because of forced evictions without compensation or resettlement and restrictive fishing laws that criminalize local livelihoods, leading to arrests and equipment seizures.
These organizations are building community power among marginalized communities to not only fight police abuse and forced evictions but to change laws and put an end to this abuse.
Over the course of 90 minutes, we delved into lessons learned from the first-hand experiences on building strong relationships with communities, sustaining engagement and momentum and balancing long-term systemic goals and urgent community needs.
Here are the key takeaways:
We know that when a small-scale trader is facing arrest or small fishermen communities are facing evictions, they need help now. Acting on people’s present needs shows that their needs are a priority.
As Ruth from CHREEA in Malawi notes, “We must remember that the issues we are confronting are deep and have existed over the years. We might not win deep systemic change today but at the same time what can we do today to make communities’ lives better as we slowly drive for systemic change?”
At the same time, it’s important not to lose sight of the long-term vision. Keep reminding the community where you’re headed—and how each small step fits into the bigger plan.
The process of change is not linear and there is no one recipe to solve issues. To consolidate momentum, demonstrate resilience and keep energy up, an adaptable approach is key. Shift and readjust strategy as issues change. If dialogue is getting you nowhere, don’t be afraid to pivot to more assertive tactics – try other strategies such as legal action, media outreach or direct protests that may get you to your goal quicker.
Involve your community in making big decisions where your strategy has to change. Let them help plan, track progress, and adjust strategies as needed. When people feel like co-owners of the campaign, they’re more likely to stay engaged for the long haul.
Flexibility in leadership is also powerful in sustaining the movement. Try to find a balance between relying on people and letting others come to the fore.
Flexibility also involves adapting to community schedules by engaging communities at times that suit them and respect their daily activities. JP4A organizes community presentation sessions in the evenings when people are less occupied by work.
There are seasons to every movement and more often wins are not achieved in isolation. This is why we need to walk together with allies and lean on the unique strengths they can add to our movement.
Strategic allies can amplify your message and open doors that are not immediately accessible to communities. These allies can include media, organizations, government officials or individuals who can offer resources, advice, or support. It is also important to link these allies with community leaders.
Even as we attempt to grapple with the dilemma of sustaining community involvement, there is no one strategy that will guarantee community participation in the process of change. But the above guiding values can help towards equipping organizations and communities with useful processes that have proven successful for organizations over the years.