Know Your Goals
What Do You Want to Achieve?
by
Phil Bartle, PhD

Training Handout
The aims and objectives of being a mobilizer

 One of the slogans we use in management training is, "If you do
 not know where you are going, then any road will do." (See
 "Slogans.") This applies to you, too, in preparing for
 mobilizing. It is easy to run around, looking busy, arranging
 meetings, getting latrines constructed, talking to community
 leaders, moving advocacy groups, stimulating action, without moving
 forward in accomplishing genuine community strengthening. You need
 to clarify your goals, first to yourself, then on paper, then to
 those around you.

 Here you should begin writing in your journal, or the section of
 it you have set aside for goals and concepts. You must set them as
 your own goals, not think of them merely as a list of someone else's
 ideals.

 The goals of mobilization to develop a community may vary from
 person to person, community to community. Nevertheless, there are
 common elements. These include: poverty eradication, good
 governance, change in social organization, community capacity
 building, empowering low income and marginalized people, and gender
 balance.

 As you go along, reading this hand book, engaging in
 mobilization, you will see that each of these goals becomes more
 interesting and challenging, the more you know. Go back to your
 journal often to update, refine, and add details to all these goals.
 Poverty reduction, for example, is more complex and challenging
 when you work with it, in contrast to just listing it. We learn to
 avoid "poverty alleviation" because that merely temporarily
 alleviates the pain and discomfort, and does not lead to a durable
 solution. Poverty is not merely the absence of money (as you will
 see later in these handbooks) and attacking the causes of poverty
 means fighting apathy, ignorance, disease, and dishonesty. That is
 only one example where your understanding of the goal expands
 through experience.

 Similarly, good governance does not simply mean strong leadership
 and efficient administration. It also means transparency, people's
 involvement, trust, honesty, and a vision for the future. You will
 learn, also, that you can hardly expect community leaders to be (or
 become) transparent in their use of community resources if you
 yourself are not transparent in your community activities.
 Look in the: Glossary of Key Terms, for introductory discussion
 about these goals (poverty reduction, community
 development). Compare them to your notes in your journal.

If you copy any text from this site, please link it back to
 http://www.scn.org/cmp/

Updated: 2003 March 23