The development of a community, especially the development of a local community, is closely related to the level of participation of the people of that community, because the people of the community, especially in less developed areas, are potential forces that can be the source of sustainable change in their community. , Local people are not seen as the subject of change, but as the cause.
On the other hand, research has shown that the cause of failure of many social projects is due to lack of participation of people or their low participation in identifying problems, choosing solutions and their general absence in the decision-making process. One of the factors that can help engage the local community is the presence of trained local facilitators.
A facilitator is an individual or group who, with full knowledge of the processes and interactions of the target community, uses his or her knowledge and skills to create a situation for individuals in that community who feel more belonging, eager, and responsible as participants in Participate in the development process of your local community. In simpler terms, it facilitates the development process with the people and for the people. Indigenous facilitators, by being familiar with the cultural, economic, and business opportunities of their area, and by knowing the relationships between individuals and groups, can better identify the needs, business, and livelihoods, and choose the best way to engage. Maximize the various stages of the project and use the local capacity to advance the projects.
Despite the great importance of local facilitators in accompanying local community development projects and sustainable livelihoods, the responsible institutions, including government, public and related institutions, as needed, empower talented indigenous people to enter the field of local business facilitation. They have not been considered professionally. Therefore, the Women and Youth Entrepreneurship Development Foundation is building to play its role by identifying and empowering talented people interested in working as a local facilitator of sustainable livelihood in the provinces of South Khorasan, Khuzestan and Sistan and Baluchestan to act.
The foundation’s perspective in local community development projects is on the one hand focusing on enhancing the capabilities of individuals in the neighborhood and cooperating with each other, especially sustainable local livelihoods, with a community-oriented approach, and on the other hand developing local communities with business development and sustainability approach. The work follows.
With the advent of coronary heart disease and its aftermath, it became clear that not only was the period of attention to the neighborhood not over, but strengthening local businesses could help the neighborhood withstand such conditions. To maintain as a center of coexistence and companionship. This is an opportunity to once again use the existing potentials in the neighborhoods for their development and to make this process smooth and stable with the help of trained facilitators.
In the field of small businesses, the conditions caused by coronary heart disease have an undeniable negative impact on the majority of them, and this has reduced the desire of people to create new businesses, the effect of which will last for years and have a negative impact on regional development. In particular, it will leave less privileged areas. In this situation, more than ever, we will need promotional, counseling and supportive approaches to reduce the impact of this problem.
The forthcoming plan is the proposed solution of the Women and Youth Entrepreneurship Development Foundation to overcome the challenge. In a process in three stages in the context of participatory learning, exchange of experience and familiarity with the implemented models of local community development projects and empowerment in the business of a group of people with facilitation potential, previously with Saman National and local cooperatives have been trained, which will eventually lead to the development of indigenous active forces with knowledge and skills in this field.
This project has three main phases:
Phase 1: Designing the educational-skill content of the course and its implementation in the context of cyberspace
Phase 2: Implementation of more specialized and specialized training in areas related to facilitating sustainable livelihoods in local communities (in person and virtually tailored to the conditions of coronary heart disease control) for the selected phase one
Phase 3: Cooperation of course participants with a local organization with a similar field of activity and reporting on how to use the training in the project process to the facilitator
Full description of the project on the website of the Women and Youth Entrepreneurship Development Foundation
