Project Showcasing

This posting shares the thoughts related to my project for providing some ideas about what I am interested to do in my project of 'Community Involvement against Corruption' especially for the community who do not have the access to the class discussion board.

Sharing the thoughts of my project

In my project, I am interested to work on controlling corruption especially from public service delivery organizations of developing countries. Corruption makes lives difficult especially for common people of the country. However, community awareness and their involvement about the reduction of this problem are at the minimum level in many corrupted countries. Observing the situations of the government service delivery agencies, I think that accountability can play vital role to control corruption. Therefore, accountability of the service providers towards the clients of the community needs to be emphasized. Collective action of the community can have great impact in this context. Here I am sharing my thoughts in this regard. I will be highly inspired to receive comments or suggestion in this matter.


Community engagement against corruption

In most developing countries corruption is deeply rooted in top down approach. Therefore consensus of common people is essential for combating corruption. In my project plan, as a government employee I was wondering how I can engage the community against corruption.

However, Pawar (2010) identifies useful view of community development (CD) within global context. From this article I come to know that I can use any combination from different CD approaches. In the context of Bangladesh I think that combination of state initiated and community led development approach can be effective for reducing corruption. In this approach state can play major role in large scale CD activity. It can make CD activities participatory and people centred. Again, communities can address their felt needs and issues in order to get effective outcomes. Moreover, community dialogue can be an effective tool to resolve this issue. Community actions can stop an action that the community thinks undesirable and even it can initiate actions for resolving issues.

Community involvement against corruption

Combating corruption in a developing country is a challenging task as it is deeply rooted in different forms. In my project, I am thinking about the combined development approach (community initiated and state led development) for project action. I believe that awareness of common people is the key against this issue. Public officials have shown less accountability towards their stakeholders in developing countries. So community involvement is necessary in participatory approach. Advocacy and collaborative planning could be useful tool in this regard. Both of them could allow citizen voices to be heard in development activities. Again, community mobilization is important as it gets people involved directly on a specific problem. For a successful action plan, effective monitoring and evaluation are must. However, common people are less interested to be involved in this phase. Therefore, community involvement in the monitoring and evaluation phase should be emphasized for effective project plan.

Hopefully by doing so, more cohesive strategy for social change can take place. Any opinion or suggestion will be appreciated.

Networking and community development

Networking is a tool for connecting community. It enhances mutual benefit both for the organization itself and its stakeholders. Particularly it is useful for managing complex situations. I am utilizing this tool in my project plan. According to Westoby and Owen, network involves people eager to act communally in order to create desired social change. It increases spaces for community interaction. It helps building relationship among community members. It underpins the trust and ties between the organization and its clients.

I am trying to engage community people within my organization (first order change) and outside the organization (second order change) through networking. Most importantly, networks work effectively if information exchanges properly. 'Right to information act' can be useful mechanism for exchanging information effectively. Effective networking can be achieved if connections are made strategically for collective action. However, it is a challenge to get collective responses against shared problems through networking.