Our Role in ABCD: From Fixers to Facilitators

Most people enter development work because they want to help, but what if good intentions aren’t enough?

In this episode, Erica and Sam examine the shift from fixer to facilitator, unpacking why taking over development, even with the best motives, communicates that communities can't lead themselves. From the trap of paternalism to the three phases of ABCD support, they walk through what it actually looks like to create ownership rather than hold on to control, and why our goal should be to work ourselves out of a job.

Visit www.kurumbuka.org/podcast for more resources or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.

Take the next step in your leadership journey by attending one of our programs: www.kurumbuka.org/programs. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:08

Hi, my name is Sam.

SPEAKER_00 0:10

I'm Erica, welcome to the Crossing Podcast.

SPEAKER_04 0:24

So today we are diving deeper into if communities, Erica, if communities have all these strengths, then what is our role as development workers?

SPEAKER_00 0:34

That's one of the most famous questions students ask. Actually, every time we introduce the four models, students begin to think about how they are irrelevant. How sometimes we've been forcing ourselves into communities where, you know, they don't need us. Do we pack up? Do we close our organizations and go because we are not needed? Do we stop teaching them how to fish? That's a good, that's a good one. How can we fish with them? Maybe. Maybe they don't need fishing. Those are some of the questions we need to think about. What is our role in the community? And when do we come in? When do we step in? That's what we'll be talking about today. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:18

So we are asking ourselves, when do we exactly come in?

SPEAKER_00 1:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:22

So that's what we want to delve deep into. And uh yes, go ahead and share with us. So, what where is the point when we are needed as a development workers?

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Yeah, I think the first thing first is to to look at some of the common mistakes we make. I think every time I think about why we are even asking this question, sometimes it's uh because we are worried. Some of us, our entire organizations have been built on the fact that these communities need us, quote in quote.

SPEAKER_04 1:55

Without us, without us.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

They can't do anything. You know, those are the stories we've shared. And to some extent, the communities we are serving, the people we're serving, have begun to believe that they cannot survive without us. So sometimes it's us who are afraid, who feel like, how are these people going to live without us? If I leave this community, how are they going to be? So it's important to address that idea. We call it paternalism, that idea of saying, I have to do the things for these people unless I'm not there, these things cannot happen. So there's certain common mistakes we make when it comes to working with people. And what I found is it's on the leader side. Because remember the statement about the community is going to take you the way you present yourself.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

So they will take you as a savior if you come in as a savior. They will take you as a partner if you come in as a partner. They will work if you support. So depending on how you work in the community, that's how they're going to take you.

SPEAKER_04 2:54

And and uh it should also be noted that uh it's not because you have bad intentions, exactly, you just don't know how to do it right, and then you end up making those mistakes.

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Nobody starts out saying, I'm going to do a bad thing to the people. So keep your heart, but we need to learn how to do it well. Like, how can we do it better? Yeah. And good intentions, some are not good enough. We need we need to do it well. It's about impact, not just the good intentions.

SPEAKER_04 3:25

So that our good intentions do not hurt the people.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 3:29

What are some of those mistakes? Do you want to share with us?

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Yeah, the first mistake um is actually the rule of thumb for the ABC. If you forget anything, is just do not do for the people what they can do for themselves. That's if they can sweep, let them sweep. Don't square them.

SPEAKER_04 3:45

Do not do for the people what they can do for themselves.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

So until you understand everything they can do for themselves, your place is when if they invite you, then you step in to do what they cannot do.

SPEAKER_04 4:01

Only when you're needed.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Only when needed.

SPEAKER_04 4:04

And when they feel they actually need you.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Exactly. Sometimes they might not invite you. Someone is worried, actually. We'll talk about it when we're talking about the steps. If you have been in that community and doing a good thing, they will know you. They will identify you. We need each other. It's not like there's no community that can chase any person doing a good thing in the community. The only challenge is if we are leading and forcing the communities to do things that they don't. They haven't bought into themselves. So the common mistake number one is believing that we know better. This is the knowledge paternalism. I have studied this program. This project is research-backed. I know it has worked in this country. We are implementing it in China. We're implementing it in Kigali. We're implementing it even. And it was successful. It was successful. I know it works. Technology, I'm an expert. I've studied Uganda for six months. In the story I shared. I know this is how the people behave when this and this happen. This is what happens. But then we forget. Remember one of the key principles, citizen-driven.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

That the citizens are the experts. There's so much knowledge, no matter how long you will try to understand. Even if you spend one week doing a needs analysis, there are so many, it's like so many parts of that community you will never be able to go to. Their history you will never understand because you've never lived it. That is knowledge that the community has. Communities have more knowledge than us, they are best placed to provide solutions. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:36

That's powerful. And once you have that at the back of your mind, it definitely changes how you treat people.

SPEAKER_00 5:44

Yeah, exactly. It's not our solutions that are the best. In fact, we need to And we are not the experts. We are not the expert. Sometimes we need to look at our solutions. Is this really? It's very few times actually that we question our solutions. I know as someone who is leading an organization, we can be so passionate about our approaches.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

That sometimes we don't want anyone to criticize them or look at them. You know, even in my case, I'm so passionate about ABCD. Sometimes people criticize it, and I'm like, no, it works, but I know that sometimes there are challenges with it too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:20

Uh is there uh any other mistake that uh yeah, it's similar to the first.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

I'm not believing that people are capable.

SPEAKER_04 6:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Sometimes I would share stories of sometimes how sometimes people come and uh maybe you're you're going to build a house for someone in a community. A poor person, a poor person. And we go to that community in a household where there are young people, there's a mother and the father and the children, and we do everything for them. Nobody steps up, they are sitting on the sidelines, and you guys are carrying stones and doing everything. They are literally sitting and doing nothing. So we think, oh, they are poor, they have nothing. But if God has blessed them with hands, probably his livelihood depends on him carrying stones for someone else.

SPEAKER_04 7:09

But now because you're building a house, so he can't exist.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

Why? Because we have believed these are so poor, there is nothing they can do to contribute. Yeah, but then the trick here, ABCD is not about telling them you contribute when they don't want to. It's about getting them into the sense of saying, what are the gifts you have? How do you want to use them? So that's the process. It's not forcing people to do something.

SPEAKER_04 7:31

No, they have to have that initiative and drive. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

How do you tap into that initiative? How do you steer it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:39

Don't you think uh um that now brings in uh the question of people with uh disabilities?

SPEAKER_00 7:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:46

Don't you think sometimes uh people disregard them?

SPEAKER_00 7:51

Yeah, actually, if you look at um how how people with disabilities are supposed to be defined, one thing I realized is that disability is more than impairment. Impairment is the thing that prevents you from doing something, and disability is the environment that is created around you. That's as a result of your impairment, you're not able to access things, you're not able to get education and do that. And sometimes I think the idea of disability is created by people around. The impairment is real.

SPEAKER_04 8:23

That's that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 8:25

But the disabilities are emphasized by people surrounding the people actually create around them, yeah, uh create the disabilities exactly. Say you cannot do this, or we cannot do this. You should not, instead of creating ways in which they can also access the same opportunities, so you find that that continuous reputation you repeat to them every day. You cannot do it, they begin to believe.

SPEAKER_04 8:49

So you are reinforcing that disability, and yet there are the things they are able to do.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Yeah, so they have some uh in the abilities, they have an impairment, but they don't have their entire life, it is not a disability.

SPEAKER_04 9:04

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 9:05

So it's that's really something, and one thing I found even when we are working with the leaders here in the program, the ALI program, this is a tough topic because for many of them, we feel sorry for people with disabilities. And so we can't imagine that we are helping, we we want to allow them to do things for themselves. But remember, how as they have they have been living before you got to that community? Sometimes the the biggest question when we're working with people with disabilities is can they get to the place that training holds without transportation, without facilitation? And I told them, how do they go around every day? Tap into what has been existing in that community and find them where they are. One of the ways of you creating access is going to them so that they don't have to come to you, and then you live, you work with them in their lived environment, place-based. Because in their lived environment, they have figured out how to move from one place to another.

SPEAKER_04 10:04

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:05

Any other mistakes that uh we commit in the process of yeah, it is because of me that this community has transformed.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

Before organization came to this, yeah, you know, they could not. I was having a conversation with a leader I really like. And I I just I just listened. She said, you know, there is no other organization in this community that is making the impact that we have to do.

SPEAKER_04 10:31

Like we do, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:32

Taking the success, being responsible for it. But had the people not participated in this, we would not be successful. Very few times is the success given to the people who have worked, even if we are teaching them how to fish, those who have actually fished. That's our success.

SPEAKER_03 10:50

That's our success.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Yeah, it's ours, theirs. Actually, one of the key things in ABCD is for you never to speak about yourself as much for the community to be so proud of what they have done themselves that they feel dignified. And I there are so many stories, you know, like you go to a community where everybody has repeated to them how they are not capable. They have heard it over and over and over again. But when they do things for themselves, you'll be surprised. They see themselves as capable, they begin to say, I did this with my friend, we came together, we built this, and they speak of it as their own success. You know, so that's a big mistake we make.

SPEAKER_04 11:34

So the biggest mistakes we make uh uh in in a way of trying to help is that uh we think we know better.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

Yeah. The other one we talked about is not believing in their abilities, we don't believe they're not capable, we take their success. I find a one where we confuse activity with impact.

SPEAKER_04 11:53

Confusing activity with impact.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

The more we do, we need to do more. There is no food. Let's go and take food to this community. There is no, let's do this, let's do that. And the more we do that, the more we are taking the space of the people and the more they are stepping out and leading us to that.

SPEAKER_04 12:08

The more we limit the impact that we can cause. Because unless they do it themselves, then our impact is limited.

SPEAKER_00 12:15

Exactly, because impact is long term.

SPEAKER_04 12:17

So, Erica, uh, what's our role then?

SPEAKER_00 12:20

We play a big role, Sam, in the community, um, but it's different. It's a background role. We're like a mirror in the community where we we hold out a mirror so that the people in the community can see what they are able to do, not do it for them and tell them you can do this, you can do that, or bring a solution that is already there as fixers. So, our biggest role is to cheer on the community and support them from the sidelines to identify by holding up that mirror to identify what they're good at.

SPEAKER_04 12:55

I like that uh knowledge of a mirror.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:58

So, like you've never seen yourself actually. So, here is what you can do, here is who you are, exactly what you are capable of.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

And and what we do in the ABCT process is that we lead them through processes. The first one is we act as facilitators, we lead them through processes where they begin to identify. The mirror is like the process itself, they begin to identify what those things are. What are we good at? Each and every individual here has the gifts of the head, heart, and hands. Remember the six assets we talked about. Help them to identify all the assets associations, institutions, the stories, the history, everything that they have, the economic activities. So we run processes where the communities then decide these are our assets. After they have identified those assets, they decide what they care most about, not what I care about, not the solution that I came with. So sometimes you might go with a solution in the back of your mind, and when they come up with solutions, it's not on the top 10 list. Imagine.

SPEAKER_04 14:02

So it's like actually waking up the village.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

Exactly. Yeah, it's the notes, it's not on the on the on the top 10, but then the community ends up doing things that matter for them. I think one thing I never spoke about um earlier is that every community we go to cares about something. Yes, there's no way that a mother whose child is hungry does not feel the pain. Sometimes we really underestimate the cares that communities have. And when we are very themed, we might underestimate what they care about by trying to force them to care about what we care about. So, you know, the Maslow's hierarchy of needs. The most basic at the bottom is what? The needs.

SPEAKER_01 14:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

But some of us are programs the basic.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

On the second level, the psychological, the so we try to get them higher than where they are.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

So we build those projects where we call, we we think they are basic needs when they are not basic needs. So we set up these programs. For example, we teach them a skill, we give them the funding, but they are struggling to put food on the table. So what happens is that they sell those things we have given them so that they can buy they meet their needs. And if it was you some and your child was sick and you had money for capital that somebody gave you, I would do the same. Well, you would do that.

SPEAKER_04 15:25

Yeah, so we always blame communities because we don't allow them to meet what they care most about by pushing them with an agenda that we have instead of allowing them to make choices, sometimes they end up switching it, exactly uh the purpose for which you intended, and then they they meet their own needs.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

Yeah, but everything is interconnected if you allow them to meet those things, and one thing is they are going to use their own resources. Yeah does it hurt you if someone is meeting health and they are meeting this year, not paying for it, they are paying for it. Then later on, when they have met those needs, now they can say, Oh wow, there is some organization that does education. Can we partner with them so that they can support us? So they always find a way of getting back to you.

SPEAKER_04 16:08

So that's um that's a phase you reach and you feel like uh then I need to step back.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

Yeah, you need to step back. Yeah, first they they work on their own solutions. Next, they invite you as partners into the community. They identify you as an asset, you are an institutional asset. Yes. So you partner with them, not by leading with your solution, finding what's working, and partnering with them. So if five of them have come up with education and you're working in education, then you can work with those teams and co-create a way to improve it. So it's them playing a role, and you play a role with your organization to scale what they are doing. Yeah, when you leave, they can continue because they have already been doing it. You found them.

SPEAKER_04 16:49

They've already participated in bringing it up.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

Then you step back so that they can implement it. You can't be there every day doing things for them. And that's the hardest part. But for me, it's my favorite part.

SPEAKER_04 17:01

Letting it go?

SPEAKER_00 17:03

Yes, to not be needed. I love it. How can I be in a place forever? Because, like Jesus, we have to go and make disciples of many nations. We cannot make disciples and stay with the disciples for the rest of the world.

SPEAKER_04 17:13

So by stepping back from this community, then you can be able to, when it's fully empowered, then you can go and help and others and work with others and screen. Although that's very tough for many organizations.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Yes, yeah, it is quite tough for many organizations. And I really why is that many reasons? I think one of the big the first reasons is our fear. I think there's a book called Playing God. Have you read that book? Playing God. Some of us, I think there's something within us. We feel good when we do something and people clap for us. It's a normal instinct of every human being. And our fear of not ever being relevant, feeling like I'm not important if I'm not doing anything for these people. Some of us find it's it might be a challenge we have that we have to do something so that people can clap for us.

unknown 18:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

Another thing, we fear that what are we going, how are we going to fundraise when we're saying we don't have we're not doing things for these people, they are doing things for themselves. So there are many fears that are there. And in I remember a story in my in my own story. Um I was trying to get a visa in one of in Rwanda, I'm originally from Burundi. So they had to, I had to go and visit the communities we were working with, and I needed them to tell a testimony about how I've been working with them. I remember I stepped back from the community. And so the immigration officer asks the community. I took them, they explained, ABCD, this is how she's been helping, changing our lives. And then the immigration officer said, When was the last time you saw her? And I was like, Oh, they're gonna just be out of this country. Well, because I stepped back. Actually, what I did was to step back so that this community, we stayed in touch, does it themselves, and they they responded, the community members responded and said, She's not here every day, but everything she's taught, we learned, we do. She told us to do things for ourselves, and that's what we are doing.

SPEAKER_04 19:28

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

And I was like, if they chased her.

SPEAKER_04 19:29

In other words, we do not need her anymore.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Exactly.

SPEAKER_04 19:33

We have it.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Exactly. Yeah, and I felt like if they chased me, or I didn't get no one was going to chase me, of course. But if they asked me to leave the country, those communities were going to still continue. Yeah. So I was like, I think in my in this community, my my job is complete. I should move on to the next.

SPEAKER_04 19:51

Shouldn't that be the dream of every leader? It should be seeing their work they start continue even after them.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:59

For us as leaders or community leaders, the best way is to work ourselves out of what we are doing. So today we learned that in ABCD our role is not to fix but facilitate. It's not to rescue but to release. And it's not to direct but to create space for leadership. The community takes leadership by themselves.

SPEAKER_00 20:22

And in our next episode, it all becomes real because we'll be talking about how we can go about to implement the ABCDs slowly, the few interventions, how you prepare your organization to do it. And I'll give a few tips about how you can start so that it can be a process you practice.

SPEAKER_04 20:39

Thank you for joining us. For more episodes, please visit our website on Chromebooker.org slash podcast. Thank you.