Talking about development in GRS has gotten me thinking that I need to figure out my perspective on that a little better – especially since it’s in the title of my resource, “Sustainable Community Development”! In the Urban Planning course I’ve been taking this semester we spent a long section on community engagement, how to get citizens involved in city planning projects in a way that does justice to their voices while also improving their abilities to understanding problems and potential solutions in their complexity. I’m curious whether there’s a similar movement in international aid.
From research I conducted for PLAN 425, here are some of the challenges I would predict would come from the differences between community consultation in international aid, and a typical urban planning project:
-Urban planners have a personal history in a city, or at least in a culture, while community consultants come from a different culture and may have spent extremely little time in a place.
-Urban planners have an inherent authority in a city and can take initiative to start projects they think are needed, while outside development professionals must ask community members what they would like help with, or wait until community members take the initiative.
-Urban planners have the authority to access a huge amount of monetary resources, which consist of taxes from citizens, while community consultants must either convince community members to put their own resources towards a project (including asking governments for tax money), or seek outside funds, which carry with them all kinds of political and social baggage.
-Urban planners in cities deal with a relatively highly educated population, where citizens can feel on equal footing with the planner, while community community members might be intimidated by consultants and be hesitant to speak their minds or challenge consultants’ perspectives.
-Urban planners have a long commitment to a community, either personally or as part of a council, and so can watch the long-term outcomes of their projects and citizens can hold them accountable, while community consultants have a limited commitment.
Needless to say, I’ve been questioning the role of consultants in any community. The only community I’ve particularly intended to consult in is the one my partner and I are hoping to build. Beyond that … at this point I’m really unsure!
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