Reflection

Planning and implementing a community development (CD) project this semester have been really challenging for me since I’ve never done one before. I have learned a lot from actual experiences and sharing experiences with other classmates.

Planning required a lot of analysis, including the system I work with and risks, and required holistic view. Implementation has been more challenging (please look at previous post about progress and challenges). Through this project, I could have opportunities to put theory, which I learned in CD classes last semester and this semester, into practice. I could achieve Micro Method to some extent but haven’t been able to reach Mezzo Method in practice. It requires commitment, time, a lot of listening, careful observation, patience and flexibility. I learned building a “purposeful relationship” is essential in CD not only from the classes but also from my actual experience.

Reflecting the process on blog has been also new to me. I could enjoy when I have time to update. Blog is open to public so I need to be careful what I post and it requires a lot of time. I couldn’t engage the people from community here unfortunately. However, fortunately I could get feedback from my classmates and other friends outside class at UQ, and friends in different parts of the world. It’s been wonderful experience that we could share valuable experiences and thoughts, and interestingly I found out that my friend who studied completely different subject from CD is interested in CD through the comments on blog :)

Thank you very much for my friends and classmates who have become followers here, have visited here leaving comments and sharing experiences and thoughts, and have encouraged me :)

Love, Hisayo

Image Source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lrargerich/3203435803/ (creative commons license)

Progress and Challenges

Actions I’m taking since project has started:

• Having dialogue with several stallholders and building relationships (Micro Method)

• Finding out more about common concerns and opinions about the issues through dialogue

• Trying to form an action group (Mezzo Method)

• Research about public view on South Bank market and other markets in Brisbane

• Finding out the approach community can take for revitalisation of market

Progress made:

• Built relationships with some stallholders

• Found out the details of common concerns and opinions about the issues from stallholders I had dialogue with

• Did desk top research about public view on South Bank market and other markets in Brisbane

• Found out some specific actions community can take from dialogue with stallholders and desk top research such as upgrading website for the market and cooperation between markets and other business around the market

Challenges have been:

• Time limitation – the time I could have dialogue with stallholders has been limited to weekends when stallholders come to market and the time for each dialogue is also limited

• Engagement of stallholders – this is related to time limitation and difficulty to have dialogue with many stallholders together at the same time

• Difficulty to form an action group – all the stallholders I had dialogue with have desires for the revitalisation of market but many seem not willing to be involved for action due to different reasons such as limited time availability and risk of having conflicts with other stakeholders such as management company and police


Image Source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jrtpickle/4158571134/ (creative commons license)

Beauty of the market

In the previous post I talked about the article I read. This post is also related to it.

In the article de Carteret (the author of the article) (2008b) quotes a person who works in the market at Traralgon in the Latrobe Valley: "We like to make some extra cash but we all love chatting away with mates we'd never see otherwise; we chat, swap experiences and advice on all sorts of things" (quote in de Carteret 2008a cited in de Carteret 2008b: 506). This shows that stallholders at the market not only run the market for economic interests and purposes but they also enjoy the social aspect of the market.

This situation is relevant to the South Bank market too. When I had dialogue with one of the stallholders, she said “We talk to each other and look after each other”. In addition, my house mate, who is one of the stallholders, also enjoys talking with other stallholders and sometimes invites them for dinner after the market or other times to chat about not only market but also what is happening in their daily lives. From my observation and dialogue I had with some stallholders, I can see they know each other relatively well and the connections among them seems to be well-established. Moreover, stallholders and customers can build relationships as well. My house mate loves to invite even customers for drinks and meals and he makes friend with them. In fact, one of them now works with him at the market!

I think this social aspect/capital is the beauty of the market and I want to promote it more as a way of revitalisation of the market :)


Image Source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonivc/416853172/ (creative commons license)

References

de Carteret, P. ed. 2008a. Peripheral vision: women’s stories of home in Gippsland, Churchill. Victoria: Monash University.

de Carteret, P. 2008b. ‘Diverse pleasures: informal learning in community’, Australian Journal of Adult Learning, 48 (3): 502-521.

Community, Social Capital and Market

I’ve read an article Diverse pleasures: informal learning in community by Phoenix de Carteret (2008). She looks at social dances and local markets as “a nexus of people, place and purpose” (de Carteret 2008: 502) and as places of community where active participation in these activities engages considerable informal learning. Firstly, she explores the concepts of community and social capital, and then examines informal learning.

Since my project is about market, I reflect on the parts of this article which are relevant to the project and market. I found the definition of community, three types of social capital and her argument about market are relevant and useful.

Definition of Community
She looks at different definitions of ‘community’ and especially focuses the definition by Ife and Tesoriero (2006). It is understood as a form of social organisation with following characteristics:

• Group interaction among individuals

• Identity and sense of belonging

• Obligations involving active participation

(Cited Ife & Tesoriero 2006 in de Carteret 2008: 508)

Three Types of Social Capital
Social capital is understood as networks of relationships characterised by reciprocity and mutuality (Putnam 2000). de Carteret talks about three different types of social capital that Townsend (2006) argues. This reminds me that we also discussed social capital and its three different types in the workshop of another community development course last semester. These are the same ones.

• Bonding – ties between homogenous group; i.e. hobby, class, language

• Bridging – links between heterogeneous groups; i.e. different groups of hobbies

• Linking – connections between people and groups of different hierarchical levels; i.e. political connection

(Cited Townsend 2006 in de Carteret 2008: 508 and adapted from Westoby 2009)

Market
She argues markets as place

• Which often derived from the interests of the local

• Which Involve active participation of stallholders and customers

• Where people have opportunity to encounter new perspectives

• Where people can exchange information in lively conversations

• Where people have chances to experience all three types of social capital


Image Source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tkswayze/4238380323/ (creative commons license)

References

de Carteret, P. 2008. ‘Diverse pleasures: informal learning in community’, Australian Journal of Adult Learning, 48 (3): 502-521.

Putnam, R. D. 2000. Bowling Alone. The collapse and revival of American community, New York: Simon and Schuster.

Westoby, P. 2009. ‘Re-thinking community for the purposes of community development’ in workshop 1 for SWSP 7093 (27th July, 2009). Brisbane: University of Queensland.

Put theory into practice

I have been trying to put theory I've learned in classes into practice for the project last several weeks.

First difficulty I faced was dialogue. When I learned dialogical method (please see previous post about dialogical CD method), I also had a chance to practice dialogue with the classmates in workshops at that time. Since I did it with my classmates, it was not too difficult. Also, I experimented outside class and dialogue goes smoothly with my family, friends and somebody I know. However, in reality it is challenging to have meaningful developmental dialogue with people who I don’t know well when I talk as a community development worker. It is difficult to get to the third movement. Dialogue moves from first movement (presentation) to second movement (response), and often second movement doesn’t move or develop to third movement (response to the response) and instead go back to first… I normally don’t have problem talking to people who I don’t know well and I enjoy conversation, but fear and a lot of thinking come in when I do it for community development purpose. Practice, practice, practice!


Image Source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/samanntran/4103203231/ (creative commons license)

Dialogical Community Development Method

In the project, I'm utilising dialogical community development (CD) method which I learned in another CD class I took last semester. This is really inspiring and useful method for me since I was (and still I'm) new to CD study and its tools.

Dialogical CD method explained here is introduced by Peter Westoby and Gerard Dowling (2009). There are four levels in this method; (1) Micro Method: building purposeful relationships, joining with others, bonding, (2) Mezzo Method: strengthening groups, banding, (3) Macro Method: forming of organizations, structuring the work, building, and (4) Meta Method: linking organizations, structuring the work beyond the local, bridging (Westoby & Dowling 2009: 63-66). This project focuses on Micro and Mezzo Methods.

Micro Method and Dialogue
Micro level focuses on building purposeful relationships through dialogue (Westoby & Dowling 2009). What is dialogue? Smith (2001) explore what dialogue is and the purpose of dialogue by looking at arguments of four people; Paul Freire, Hans-George Gadamer, Jürgen Habermas, and David Bohm. Firstly, Paul Freire defines dialogue as “the encounter between men, mediated by the world, in order to name the world” (Freire, quoted in Smith 2001: 1). Secondly, Gadamer explains dialogue as “a process of two people understanding each other” (Gaadamer, quoted in Smith 2001: 2). Thirdly, Habermas argues for an ‘ideal speech situation’ that is a situation where there is an effective equality of chances for each person to take part in dialogue (Havermas, cited in Smith 2001: 4). Fourthly, Bohm argues that the process of dialogue is a process of ‘awakening’ and it requires a free flow of meaning among all the participants (Bohm, cited in Smith 2001: 6). The arguments of these four people and Martin Buber, who are also influential for the argument about dialogue, emphasise the points that dialogue is a process of leaning and creative participation, and that requires trust, respect and appreciation (Smith 2001).

According to Peter Westoby and John Owen (2009), and as interpreted by Kelly and Sewell (cited in Westoby & Owen 2009: 4), Buber identified three connected and enfolding movements in dialogue (cited in Westoby & Owen 2009: 4). Westoby & Owen explain that dialogue moves from ‘I’ (first movement) to ‘You’ (second movement) to ’We’ (third movement) and establishes mutual or developmental relationship as suggested by Buber (cited in Westoby & Owen 2009: 4). First movement is an interaction when one person presents himself/herself to another person. He/she introduces who he/she is and why he/she is here. Second movement is when there is a response from the other to first movement. Third movement is the response to the response. This process requires careful attention to listen what is being said and to make connection with what is being communicated. Buber argues that true dialogue goes through these three movements flowing reciprocally. Westoby and Owen suggest that it is important to hold own agenda but also interact with the other’s agenda. Holding one's own agenda too tightly prevents an effective first and second movements and possibility of third movement (Westoby & Owen 2009).

Mezzo Method
The aim of Mezzo level is moving private concern to public action and forming of participatory action group. This level starts from sub-community and tries to build block of sub-community through ‘0-1-3’. This is the basic structural unit for social action and networking is important in this level (Westoby & Dowling 2009; Westoby & Owen 2009).

The dialogical method explained above will be used to build trust and purposeful relationship with stallholders and strengthen the connection among stallholders.


Image Source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/romulofotos/3501936770/ (creative commons license)

References
Smith, M. K. 2001. ‘Dialogue and conversation’. The encyclopaedia of informal education.

Westoby, P. & Dowling, G. 2009. Dialogical Community Development with depth, hospitality and solidarity. Australia: Tafina Press.

Westoby, P. & Owen, J. 2009. ‘The sociality and geometry of community development practice’. Community Development Journal. Advanced Access Feb 2009.

Community Development and collective action

Before I start talking about the progress of the project and reflections, I would like to share important concept of community development (CD) and collective action.

Margaret Ledwith (2005) argues that “community development begins in the everyday lives of local people” (Ledwith 2005: 1). Similarly, Carmel Daveson (2000) argues that CD is “a way of working based on values, which facilitates changes in individuals, groups and communities as people become actively involved in the issues which affect their lives” and “a way of working which focuses on the relationship between individuals and groups, and the institutions, which shape people’s everyday experience” (Daveson 2000: 38). Ledwith emphasise this is the core context of sustainable change and it involves a process of empowerment and participation. Moreover, she explains that empowerment engages a form of critical education that helps people to question their reality, and this is the important foundation of collective action and the values of participatory democracy is at the base. She argues that CD is a process and this process is based on confidence, critical consciousness and collectively (Ledwith 2005: 1-2). Collective action, which is crucial in CD, is defined as “the process by which people join together to bring about change” (Ledwith 2005: 7).

Image Source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/beija-flor/230554907/ (creative commons license)

References

Daveson, C. 2000. ‘From Private Concern to Public Action’. Culture Matters Magazine. Issue 1. pp. 38-41.

Ledwith, M. 2005. ‘Opening thoughts’ in Community Development: A critical approach. Bristol: Policy Press.

Why South Bank Market?

South Bank weekend market is a special place and community for me since it is where I found my housemate and a house when I was homeless just 2 days after I arrived in Brisbane!

I still clearly remember how it happened. Student accommodation was fully booked and I was staying at a backpacker in West End. The day I arrived in Brisbane was on Friday and the agency I called asked me to call them back on Monday. Nothing I could do for the weekend so I decided to enjoy the weekend. I asked receptionist at backpackers if there was something interesting happening on weekends. He gave me a map of city and explained where I could explore.

I walked from West End to South Bank and found the market. I love markets so I was really happy to find it :) At one of the stalls I dropped by, I started talking with the owner. The lady asked me if I were on holiday. I told her that I just arrived here starting uni from Monday, but no house to stay. Then, she gave me the information about another stallholder who was looking for a student housemate. Networks of the people are amazing!! So I went to see this person and told my story. Surprisingly, I could visit the house soon on the same day and I really liked it. House, location, housemate, everything was perfect and I moved in there on Sunday!! It was miracle how quickly I could find a house :)

This is how South Bank market and people I met there became special to me!

Hello! Welcome to my blog :)

Hello, thank you for visiting my blog! It is for the first time to have blog, so I'm a bit nervous but at the same time excited!!

I'm currently studying Master of Development Practice at University of Queensland (UQ). One of the courses I take this semester is called 'Community Planning, Engagement & Governance'. It is the course I study about Community Development (CD) and have the opportunity to put what I learn in workshops into practice. I had second workshop today and it is the fascinating course!

As a practical learning process, next a few month I will work with community with the challenge of moving from private concern to public/collective action. This is the space for me to develop/strengthen connection with the community I'll be engaging with, to develop my thoughts about CD and to reflect the action process.

Although I studied some other courses about CD at UQ, it is for the first time to actually implement the project. So comments and advices are much appreciated :)

It is personal thing but it was a very special day for me. My family and friends gave me a lot of blessings and I again realised that I’m so lucky to have such wonderful supportive people around me. People cannot live by themselves and we need connection with others. I would be really happy if I could contribute to the society to make connections/build relationships that can make more people happy :)

Here my new challenge starts on my special day!

Love & Peace