Planning community education

Community development almost always involves changing people attitudes and thinking, so community education usually plays a major role. In fact some CD projects are primarily or even only community education. Community education projects can be large or small, for example:

• One-on-one problem solving or advising
• On-job training
• Posters and handbills
• Counseling
• Training individuals
• Providing information materials
• A series of information sessions in various locations
• A single event, such as an information stall in a shopping centre
• A multi-session education and skill development project
• Seminars and conferences
• A complex, large scale education campaign involving mass media
• A combination of the several of the above.

 

Main steps

Plan how you will provide the new program

1. What is the purpose of the program?
2. What you want to teach and how will you know whether people have learnt it?
3. What is the best medium to communicate your message to people?
4. Why shoudl they be interested? What can you do to attract their attention and commitment?
5. Are there specific factors in your context that will require you to adapt you program in certain ways? (For example, learning difficulties, remote communities, transient populations, etc.)
6. Will you treat people as members of the public, program participants, students, or on-the-job trainees?
7. If you treat people as students, how often will you meet? Where? What weekly meetings will you hold? What reading will you require (if any)? Will you require any written work?

Preparation. Define the issue of the target group that you specifically want to address trhough community education. Consult with key people and organizations (e.g. people in the target group, other relevant organizations, funding bodies, community support groups, the media) to identify priorities and goals to address the issue, and develop a plan.

Then gather the resources you need, e.g. educational materials, equipment, staff skills, time, space, venue, funding. The resources that you will need will vary according to the project. You will also need to prepare culturally appropriate marketing materials.

Plan your documentation. Do you need any extra policies and procedures? What records will you need to keep? Where will you get materials. You might need to delegate people to write or gather basic documentation for delivery, e.g. notes, posters, resource materials, handbooks, etc. You can even modify the On-job Instructions for your program if necessary.

The pilot project stage. In any case, the early stages act like a pilot program. The group needs to be small enough for problems to be easily identified and resolved. The group needs to be big enough to be viable and to provide wide enough experience for future development. Staff get some experience during the first year, making you well-placed to increase numbers in the next iteration.

Run the education project. Distribute materials to your target audience and any others who need them. They should match the issue, the context and the audience. Then encourage people to participate fully in the project and to express their views and feelings about it. Use their feedback to make any necessary adjustments to the project to better meet the needs of the target group.

Review the project. Assess it against the planned goals and objectives. Your evaluation may use feedback material, discussions with stakeholders, organizations and other participants, and/or discussion with colleagues. Put your project outcomes and evaluation results in writing and discuss them with key people and organizations to decide on any changes and future directions.