Community Engagement and Mandela Day

Following the Mandela Day activities held in East London on the weekend of 31 July 2010, my thoughts have been on interrogating our understanding of community engagement. Mandela Day is an annual celebration of the life of Mr. Nelson Mandela, and a global call to action for people to recognize their individual ability so that they can make an imprint and change the world around them.

This change should be more than the expected human development. Mandela Day is an initiative that aims to give back to the communities in and around where we live. It is interesting to note that for some people, the idea of giving back and/or community engagement means charity. While there is nothing wrong with charity in its own right, that outlook is fairly limited when it comes to working with communities.

Communities, especially those in rural areas, have needs. Whether those needs are provided by the civil service or otherwise are immaterial. What does matter is how we approach these communities in an attempt to help address their needs. In many instances, those who provide this ‘help’ to these communities do so without substantive consultation. As a result, programmes that are aimed at uplifting the community end up not achieving their intended objective. A classic example is where a local municipality built a hall for its community. This hall was not a priority in as far as the community was concerned and ended up not being used and later vandalised. The local municipality then turned and labelled the community as irresponsible.

The municipality is justified in its response to the vandalism and the under-usage of the hall according to some people. I question whether these people who share the municipality’s outlook actually understand the communities they are working with. My point of departure here is very simple: in order for us to work better with communities, especially rural communities, we need to have a much better understanding of them. Such an understanding certainly does not include what we think is best for them. An organic relationship needs to be built with every community. This has many returns for those of us who are working with communities.

The sustainability of the various programmes rests with a good understanding of these communities and the challenges confronting them. The act of giving is a great one. Having said that, the act of giving is somehow different in the context of community engagement. When business or individuals give to communities, it is normally done through a ‘charity-case’ approach. The world at large resonates with this idea when it ‘dumps its unwanted goods’ in the form of aid to the needy.

This was evident at a Mandela Day event I attended in East London. People geared up for the painting of a crèche in Mdantsane. This was to ensure that the young children at this crèche have an environment conducive for effective teaching and learning. While this act is noble in its own right, I question whether all those who took part in this exercise understand what informed the volunteering of their time. My observations on the day revealed that while some people understood that they were volunteering their time to make the world around them a better place, there were some who approached the day as one where they donated their unwanted goods to someone else who is perceived as being in need.

The focus of Mandela Day shifted from working collectively to change the world around us to hand-outs and donations. While this may be the general feeling or sense shared by people on what community engagement means, a deeper exploration of this is needed. This will in turn help our efforts in working with communities.

Mandela Day is not a holiday – it is a day for all of us to opt in and show that we can all make an impact. With this understanding, it is then fitting to make each day a Mandela Day.