Community mobilization is an attempt to bring both human and non-human resources together to undertake developmental activities in order to achieve sustainable development.

Process

Community mobilization is a process through which action is stimulated by a

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, ...

itself, or by others, that is planned, carried out, and evaluated by a community's individuals, groups, and organizations on a participatory and sustained basis to improve the health, hygiene and education levels so as to enhance the overall standard of living in the community. A group of people have transcended their differences to meet on equal terms in order to facilitate a participatory decision-making process. In other words, it can be viewed as a process which begins a dialogue among members of the community to determine who, what, and how issues are decided, and also to provide an avenue for everyone to participate in decisions that affect their lives.

Requirements

Community mobilization needs many analytical and supportive resources which are internal (inside the community) and external (outside the community) as well. Resources include: *

Leadership Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...

* Organizational capacity * Communications channels * Assessments * Problem solving * Resource mobilization * Administrative and operational management

Strategies

The

Centre for Disease Control The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...

envisions that strong healthcare initiatives will be readily owned by a community if the leaders ("grass tops"), the citizens (" grass roots"), and youth are fully

engaged An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

in mobilizing the community, educating stakeholders, and implementing

evidence-based Evidence-based practice (EBP) is the idea that occupational practices ought to be based on scientific evidence. While seemingly obviously desirable, the proposal has been controversial, with some arguing that results may not specialize to indiv ...

interventions. To this respect, 14 strategies guided by best practice have been reported (Huberman 2014): 1. Secure strong leadership 2. Establish a formal structure 3. Engage diverse organizations, community leaders, and residents 4. Ensure authentic participation and shared decision making 5.ensure authentic and productive roles for young people 6. Develop a shared vision 7. Conduct a needs assessment 8. Create a strategic plan 9. Implement mutually reinforcing strategies 10. Create a fundraising strategy 11. Establish effective channels for internal communication 12. Educate the community 13. Conduct process and outcome evaluations 14. Evaluate the community mobilization effort separately

Implications

"Community mobilization" is a frequently used term in developmental sector. Recently, community mobilization has been proved to be a valuable and effective concept which has various implications in dealing with basic problems like health and hygiene, population, pollution and gender bias.

References

{{Commons category, Community mobilization Community organizing Community