COMMUNITY ENTRY
Community entry may be referred to as the process of initiating and sustaining working
relationships with community members which may culminate into sustainable projects.
It involves the application of various procedures and tools of community mobilization,
identification and recognition of local leadership and reaching and working of community
members.
Steps in community entry
1. Collection of secondary information and Mapping out of the community with key
emphasizes on different aspects of the community.
This can be done through the use of various tools such as transect walks, observation,
focus group discussion, interviews, social mapping and contacting of local leaders.
2. Conduct a stakeholder analysis to establish key persons within the community who may
be crucial in achieving the objective of the proposed assignment.
3. Interact informally with key informants identified higher. The key informants could be
people with influence within the society.
4. Arrange to meet with the key community leaders first as an individual then as a group.
Before the group meeting, clarify on the role of your team. It is very important to
recognize the position and roles of the community leaders in order that they will help the
external entities to develop ways in seeking their co-operation and support for
programme Implementation. In meeting with chiefs and their stool/skin elders, it is
important to schedule meeting, times to suit the convenience of the traditional leaders.
5. Follow protocol;
I. Meet the chief first and discuss your mission e.g. to know the history of the
community and new health programme.
II. Meet elders also if possible.
In the community, leadership lies in the hands of a hierarchy of persons ranging
from chiefs through town/village chiefs, clan/lineage heads to family heads. Apart
from the chiefs and elders, there are various interest groups and personalities in
every community who must be identified to serve as contact persons in working
with the community.
6. At the group meeting, agree on date, roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders, venue,
time, agenda and other logistics for the open community meeting after obtaining their
support for the programme.
7. Conduct the open community meeting on the site to share programme goals and
activities. A major outcome of the meeting is an understanding of the project and issue
to be solved. During the community meeting, discussion and decision making takes place.
This will culminate in the initiation of community projects and evaluation
The development process should be participatory with an objective of sustainability.
Community Entry “Do’s”
1. Listen more than speaking. Move slower than fast to understand and be understood and
accepted.
2. Seek out answers to questions in respectful ways.
3. Seek out a trusted and knowledgeable ally to be your cultural mentor.
1) Ask for help from reliable community resources to understand: Major groups, sectors,
and networks
2) Organizational and community structure
3) Formal and informal leadership - who are viewed as “spokes people” and the “elder
voices” or keepers of wisdom and knowledge
4) Important values, practices, rituals, people, places, resources, attitudes, knowledge, and
behaviors
5) How respect is defined and practiced
6) How is service and helping others understood and lived out, what are the traditions of
service
7) What are the “non-negotiables”
8) The history of the community – economic, diversity, social, political, major conflicts and
struggles, major successes, significant cross-cultural, cross-group collaborations
9) Current significant cross-cultural, cross-group collaborations
10) What is the rhythm of a day, week, season, year in the organization or community
4. Commit to suspending one’s assumptions. It is important to resist making quick judgments
and overgeneralizations. Keep focus on the fact that one’s lense is one’s lense.
5. Understand that relationship building is key to almost everything related to one’s service
project. Share oneself in ways that earn and garner trust, respect, and confidence
6. Address cultural differences in ways that are not diminishing to anyone or group.
7. View one’s time in a community more as a privilege and special opportunity than as a right.
