Link people

If you are going into a new community, you usually need somebody who is already there to give you a start. In fact, you might find yourself selecting communities based on whether or not you have good link people there, so that's why it's such an important factor to consider early. Your link person could be:

• a friend who has moved into the area
• a relative
• a friend of a friend
• a member of your organization who already lives or works there
• people in another organization that is sympathetic to your goals, or
• an official or local leader whom you can contact through official channels.

 

Do you always need link people?

Perhaps not. A few gifted individuals can create their own contacts from scratch. (See below for more.) Some projects are more institutional and don't need much person-to-person loyalty. For example, they depend on media advertising to create a constituency. Some programs offer help that is more like a business deal; business contacts might be very helpful, but perhaps not essential. Some aid programs have sufficient incentives for people to participate.

 

What do link people do for you?

The first thing they do for you is to allay suspicion. This is essential in a tight-knit community where strangers are conspicuous, especially if they are from another race. If you are visiting a friend, you have a legitimate reason to be there and to meet people.

You can learn a lot in a simple discussion. Link people can tell you about local culture and demography, tell you how to get somewhere to live, tell you how to get language help, and be a friend when you need one.

They can also start your personal network. This includes introducing you to their friends and neighbors, telling you who the gate-keepers will be for your CD program, and perhaps introduce you to them.

 

What possible problems can link people bring?

They can only introduce you to their network. While it may be extensive, it might also be limited. Some prospective link people may be marginalized by some kind of social stigma, especially if they are of the lower classes or have a bad reputation for some reason.

In some communities, disability can carry a social stigma. A disabled person might give good access to the disabled community and their immediate families, but poor access to the mainstream community.

If you depend completely on a link person, they can have too much feeling of ownership of your CD project. These problems may be compounded if the link is through local government officials, who may have the power to force their own way. In practical terms:

• They may feel you owe them a debt of some kind.
• They may feel that they should control what you do, and may be able to exercise it.
• They may want right of veto over who will be helped by your project.
• They may feel that they are first in line to take over when you appoint indigenous leadership. After all, of all local people, they contributed most at the beginning and are probably the only local people who know the whole history of the project.

Too often, the link person who is door into a community becomes the project's main problem later on. The following suggestions may help you to prevent problems:

• Create a panel of local leaders.
• Try to avoid using key link people's houses as a long-term base of operations.
• Have more than one link person.
• Have a clear organizational policies in place beforehand on matters of control, ownership, and indigenous leadership.

 

What if you don't have link people?

lf you need a personal local network and don't have link people, you might need to go through the long process of developing your own link people and building some local credibility.

1. Consider starting in a town or city for these reasons:
1. City people are generally more open to new ideas, because cities are almost by definition places where people with different ideas meet.
2. Strangers are much less suspicious in cities
3. Cities have good communications with surrounding areas so are good bases for working in local rural areas
4. Cities normally have better facilities, which your organization may need.
5. In many countries, some tight-knit lower-class city communities actually function more like rural communities, especially if they comprise rural people who migrated to the city looking for employment. That is, your access to these people may not be as easy as to other people in the city, but may be better than by direct access to rural people.
2. Some people have conducted a series of visits to local leaders.
3. One person in a city simply started by visiting all their neighbors, then expanded their network from there.
4. One worker simply visited roadside stalls regularly, made friends with the owners, then visited them in their homes, then was introduced to many other people in the community.
5. One person sat in coffee shops all day and made friends whom they could follow up afterwards.
6. One person started institutionally by sponsoring children's education, but then built a network by visiting the teachers, parents and relatives of sponsored children.