Organisational Development: Capacity-Development/ Strengthening for Organisations| Module 1: Community Mapping

Organizational Development and Capacity-Strengthening for CBOs (Community-Based Organisations and RLOs (Refugee-Led Organisations)

Module 1:

Community Mapping

What is Community Mapping? Definition/ Term Clarification

• Community – a people who identify as a group based on similar interests or conditions/ situation. People could identify as a community based on:
• Their physical/ geographic location
• Affiliation/ beliefs: Religious, political, social, ideological, economic, sexual orientation, racial, ethnic, other backgrounds, etc.
• Mapping:

Identification of features, characteristics/ traits of something. It may, to some extent, include the individual assessment of those features/ characteristics/ traits depending on the intensity of the mapping process by the different stakeholders

• Community Mapping:

Identification of features, infrastructures (roads, hospitals, schools, etc.) and institutions and stakeholders within a context

• Community Mapping for CBOs and RLOs:

Identification of the locations and contexts within which they work, as well as the identification of the features (from physical infrastructure to institutions and stakeholders within that context.

Reasons for Doing Community Mapping

• Identify/ recognize/ acknowledge the physical infrastructure and social infrastructure (institutions of social groups that are doing one thing or another)
• Identify the role (positive, negative, and in-between) that each of the physical or social infrastructure play in the individual and collective lives of the people within the community being analysed
• Identify (draw a direct connection or infer) the role that the physical and social infrastructure play in the working dynamics of the stakeholders/ focus organization in the community
• Identify how, why, and with what impact the organizations/ stakeholders working in this context interact with the physical and social infrastructures of the community

How to Do Community Mapping: The Process

• Identify the community

• Physical Community:

• If it is a community within a physical/ geographical location, have the present stakeholders/ participants doing the mapping:

• Brainstorm on different locations/ communities (in the event that there are multiple areas where they are interested in or work (with to work) in
• Identify which of these areas to start working on
• Sketch the boundaries of the area (this does not have to be to scale)
• Identify and mark key/ major infrastructures within the boundaries of the area (this could be main roads, shopping malls/ markets, major schools/ hospitals/ religious structures, etc.)
• Start inserting symbols for other infrastructures: this could be feeder roads and all other infrastructures including institutions
• NB: Always have a KEY at the side of the community map to show what each symbol in the map stands for

Social Community: How to do  Mapping

If it is a social community (people identifying as one based on their beliefs, ideologies, affiliation, or other social identities), have the present stakeholders/ participants doing the mapping:

Brainstorm on different social communities (in the event that there are multiple communities

Choose which of the many communities they mentioned that wish to start with / focus on

Identify the characteristics of community they wish to map

Continuation of Community Mapping

Systemic Analysis: connecting the issues within the community system

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Systemic Analysis

Sample Systemic Analysis of Community Conflicts in X Country

Systemic Analysis: Definition

• System: a complex physical or social structure that has different parts, all of which are interconnected in one way or another
• Analysis: in-depth investigation/ assessment or scrutiny of something
• Systemic Analysis:
• Investigation and in-depth scrutiny of the different parts of a systems to understand their connection, hence the impact of some parts on others.
• Systemic Analysis can be the investigation of a physical system (such as an environment, machine, location, etc.) or social systems such as work-places, communities, etc.
• CBOs and RLOs Systemic Analysis:
• Analysis of the complex dynamics (issues, infrastructure, stakeholders, etc.) of the identified community/ context where the CBO(community-based organization) or RLO (refugee-led organization) works.
• This process is undertaken to understand the complex dynamics of the identified community so that the CBO/ RLO can plan and implement their work from a point of knowledge (we will cover Strategic Planning in the module: Strategic Planning)

How to Do Systemic Analysis

• Brainstorming (pop-corn ideas):
• Term-Clarification:
• Drawing Connection:
• Indicating Cause à Effect:

1. Brainstorming (pop-corn ideas): the present stakeholders/ participants must all be given a chance to share idea(s) of a part/ issue of the system they have agreed to analyse (system identified during the community mapping done in the morning during the first session)

• For a small group, the facilitator can ask each participant to share his/ her idea (issues/ parts of the system) verbally. The Facilitator writes each idea on its own card and puts it (no particular order) on the pinboard, wall or floor
• For a medium and large-sized group:
• The facilitator requests each participant to write down his/ her idea (one idea per paper/ card) and then collects all those ideas. This individual-writing prevents a situation whereby some people’s participation may be influenced or downed by what others have already shared.
• The facilitator then collects all the papers/ cards and puts them (no particular order) on the pinboard, wall, or floor.

2. Term-Clarification: The facilitator takes the participants through each of the shared ideas (now on the pinboard, wall or floor) to make sure that all the participant have the same understanding of the term.

• In the event that the different participants have a different understanding of any term, clarification is made on what the term/ word means. In case of different ideas for the same word, additional words/ terms similar to the term being clarified (but having different meaning) can be created and put on the pinboard, wall, or floor. E.g. ‘money’ can be a vague term unless the participants clarify if they mean ‘excess money’, ‘limited money’, ‘legal’, ‘illegal, etc. Another common term whose clarity a group would need is ‘unemployment’; some people may understand it as never being employed, having employment then losing it, not working for the corporate even when someone still is employed else where or is self-employed, etc.

3. Drawing Connection: a direct line between is drawn between any two parts/ issues on the systemic map. Before a line is drawn, the participants must agree whether or not the two or more parts are connected in any way

4. Indicating Cause -> Effect: Once step 3 is done and a connection is drawn between two elements, it’s important for the participants/ stakeholders to show (with an arrow) which of the two elements leads to/ causes the other. It is possible to have both elements causing each others, in which case the arrows appear on both ends of the line.