African Christians Organization Network

African Christians Organization Network   adapted the following strategy to promote community benefits based on available resources and practices that are both effective and locally sustainable. These two characteristics, when standing alone, have little value.  To achieve significant impact at the community level, we have applied both of them.  Expanding these practices to neighboring communities and further reducing use of forest wood are the current focus.  The strategy to achieve effective and sustainable benefits rests on seven key project components, which are described below. The first component-presented (Integrated programming) is primarily concerned with effectiveness.  The remaining six (Full community participation, use of community participatory methodologies, appropriate and environmentally safe technology, gender fairness, targeting of children’s pedagogy, and partnership/with applicable government of Kenya departments) are all primarily concerned with the sustainability benefits.  Full Community Participation in All Project Activities   To ensure full community participation and strong sense of local ownership, ACON used   three key elements: the use of the PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal); community implementation of activities; and cost sharing.  Use of PRA- PRA is a recognized methodology for facilitating communities to fully participate in and control their own development.  It is a non-literate based methodology that insures all community members can, regardless of their educational background, fully participate.  This is especially critical in traditional societies where often the most influential community members are non-literate elders and where female literacy rates are lower than that of males.  To further ensure that PRA activities are fully accessible to all community members, the methodology emphasizes the use of locally available materials.  Project staff simply facilitates community members through a self-directed process of problem identification followed by identification and analysis of locally feasible interventions.  PRA continues to be used extensively during initial community mobilization activities.  This is to ensure that fully community participation in decision-making occurs at the immediate start of each village’s activities.  Communities select representatives (PRA teams) to use participatory tools –such as community mapping, transect walks through community, household discussions, timelines, and collection of technical data, local institutional analysis, problem ranking and decision-making matrix –to thoroughly investigate and document results for the whole community, local needs and capacity to intervene. The key element here is the immediate and full involvement of the community in the decision making process.   Utilization of Community Participatory Methodologies   As the above section noted, PRA is a core programme methodology.  The project also emphasize two additional interactive, participatory methodologies, the UNDP/World bank’s Self-esteem, Associative- strength, Resource-fullness, Action-planning and Responsibility (SARAR) methodology,  and the Child- to –child methodology.  Project staff utilizes PRA methodology when facilitating community members on project activities while SARAR methodology and concept is utilized in building communities capacities in management of alternative energy resources and facilities. PHAST process is used in facilitating hygiene promotion in the community. Both PHAST and SARAR process enable community members to identify problems and provide feasible responses.  This provides critical assistance to community volunteers with limited educational and teaching background to become facilitators.  The use of this non-directive mode of communication facilitates the community change process.  A primary school program advocates the use of improved efficient cooking stoves and biomass fuel briquettes instead of wood for households.  Such early Childhood education engages the children in the participatory process.  This methodology emphasizes the use of fun, interactive activities such as mimic, games and singing as means of teaching children both basic health messages and the means of effectively sharing what they learn with their friends and family.