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| MAYA (Movement
for Alternatives and Youth Awareness) a Karnataka- based development organisation
working towards the eradication of child labour, has begun to see patterns
in the different issues it addresses, be it the status of the Govt schools,
the functioning of anganwadis (Govt-run preschool facilities), or the
process of learning among children, youth and adults. The organisation
now seems to understand that there are different factors that work in
concert resulting in the visible manifestation of the issue; therefore,
in order to be effective in the long term, MAYA's approach and interventions
seek to address structural dimensions of the issues.
This research study discusses one such structural issue- that of community ownership- found to be completely absent in most institutions and spheres of activity associated with the poor. Among other aspects, the lack of any forum for articulation or accountability of the State to deliver quality services is understood to have been a critical factor leading to this alienation of communities from such institutions. MAYA's experience that without true community involvement and ownership, the impact of any initiative is only transient seems to indicate the essentiality of community ownership for any process seeking social transformation. The organisation is beginning to perceive that mustering community support in a programmatic manner contributes little to building the inherent capacity and sustainability of community initiatives. Consequently, though MAYA was addressing issues of participation for the last many years, its understanding now seems to find greater relevance in the context of community ownership.
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This study explores MAYA's approach and framework of community ownership, and presents the valuable lessons learnt from its experiences of facilitating the initiation of community-run preschool facilities for children, over the last five years in various urban slums and low-income settlements in Bangalore city and in a few rural clusters within Bangalore Rural District. MAYA perceives that this approach bases itself on certain fundamental principles to understand the significance and process of community ownership; which may therefore be considered as a framework that can be applied in different situations, rather than as a ‘model’ to be duplicated. Since the momentum of the initiative is determined by the demands and interests of the community, the ongoing processes can best be described as 'evolving' in nature; shaped by the circumstantial and situational requirements of the community. However while having said that, the journey thus far has been a learning process, which is worth sharing with a larger readership. |
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