Learning4aChange

These are the notes of a newbie, or someone with less on-the-ground experience as the attendees here, so it may not be a complete perspective but here goes:

I am an internet professional and a volunteer-at-large with an interest in raising awareness of mental health and the stigma related to it in the South Asian community. On July 10th at UBC, Isabella Mori and Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega are organizing a Mental Health Camp, which is a community-driven conference focused on the theme of "silence." Taking inspiration from that, and from personal experiences, I would like to collaborate with people in the South Asian community to organize a similar conference to bring together people to have important discussions on how we can learn, empower, collaborate and change.

The workshop I just attended was called Learning4aChange, facilitated by Anne Docherty from the Storytellers' Foundation. The discussion focused on the role that learning plays in helping people change. The issue at hand is that community development organizations view themselves as agencies that provide services but not as organizers of change and this has caused tension about what role community developers play.

The workshop attendees were divided into groups to discuss and contemplate on four issues:

1. Learning is not valued in community development organizations. As soon as things get busy in providing services, learning stops.
2. Without a change framework, community development organizations are too busy reacting to symptons and not solving the root causes.
3. Community development organizations see themselves as service providers rather than as agents of change. There is a persistent focus on the funding and the mandate rather than the actual needs of the community.
4. Charity is still the main model of community development organizations. Agencies are still working for people rather than working with people to empower/collaborate.

Some quotes (paraphrased) that stood out for me were also:

• "Providing services without learning, reflection & framework for change is helping people live with injustice, not to overcome it."
• "In community development efforts, in order for learning to be truly valued, it needs to be an explicit, consistent part of the process."
• "The way community developers work often is keep our heads down, doing good work, keeping our jobs but not looking up to see how change could be created."
• (The Learning4aChange website was showcased and the workshop attendees praised the effort of sharing the resoures in an open way) to which the response was "At the end of the day our goal is to create social change and we can't accomplish that without sharing."
• "You own not the work you do but how you do it, and how the Learning4Change project is working is commendable."

I am still digesting all the great insights from this workshop and trying to understand how they can be applied to my goals and my volunteer work. Hopefully they provide inspiration for you!

-kulpreet singh
Website: www.kulpreetsingh.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/kulpreetsingh