Aid-Based vs. Community-Based Approaches

Most people automatically think that "doing something is better than nothing". But here I have learned that it is much much more than that. In fact that sometimes doing something can make another something worse. It may not help out the problem or conflict at all and might actually help feed the problem. Sometimes the attempt to help doesn't actually help make a positive change or help to create the progress of change, but it may just be progressing the awareness of the problem.

Kony 2012 and Pray the Devil Back to Hell are two videos that give examples of an aid-based program approach and a community-based program approach for advocacy of change. The Kony 2012 video stems from the "Invisible Children" organization that was created by college students at the time who became aware of the children army created by Joseph Kony. He would kidnap and abduct children and create them into his army. They were forced to kill, even sometimes their own parents. Many african children lived in fear of being abducted and forced to serve under Kony. These children became aware to a group of college students who were abroad studying in Uganda. From that point they decided that they needed to do something about it. Create change and capture Kony is their goal. To do so they decided they needed to make Kony more famous and well-known. The Invisible Children organization has recently made an awareness video that was streamed on YouTube and shared through many other social networks. It has drawn much attention from supports and critics. Some criticisms that have been made on the Kony2012 video are that because these creators of the video are just spectators as to what happened and is happening under Kony that they aren't promoting the right change. They have been criticized to portray the concept of the "Invisible Children" wrong and not use the funds to help create this change. It was said that ...

"Invisible Children has turned the myopic worldview of the adolescent -- "if I don't know about it, then it doesn't exist, but if I care about it, then it is the most important thing in the world" -- into a foreign policy prescription. The "invisible children" of the group's name were the children of northern Uganda forcibly recruited by the LRA. In the group's narrative, these children were "invisible" until American students took notice of them." -Solving War Crimes with Wristbands

So it brings thought to the idea and concept of this aid-based program where a group of people got together and wanted to make a change. They wanted to advocate for these "invisible children" and help to create change wherein as they might have just created more awareness. But who is to say that this awareness they've created hasn't helped in the least bit? Who gets to make assumptions as to where the money raised goes and that it doesn't help create hope and faith to those who are affected and have been a part of the invisible children population.


On the other hand, a community-based approach takes the actual people of a community who are facing a problem or crisis and use one another to advocate for themselves and create the change. This type of approach gets much more support as compared to an aid-based program because people see it as non-condraticing when it is the people themselves who know and have experienced these crises and typically have the best say and experience in how to create such a change that is needed. A quote from the video "A Day Without Dignity" states,


"If you need to do something tangible, start it in your own backyard."


This is a strong quote that can be looked at by a couple of different angles. First it supports the community-based approach in a way that it claims to make something your own if you want to make it real you must start with your own personal experience. Second if your beginning point isn't something you can call your own then making it a concrete thing may not be a reasonable goal.

What has stood out the most to be potential problems with aid-based approaches is that they lack the personal experience in a crisis or circumstance that they are advocating a cause for. But they also lack the support that is needed to create the change that they are striving for. Change is something that can be made when people come together to create it. Aid-based programs exist because there are people out there who believe that they can make a difference and have the courage to try and do so. "Badvocacy" isn't something that they feel they are doing. They have a goal and they do what they can to reach it. This occurs no matter the amount of support they may have at the beginning, middle, or end of their journeys. They aren't hoping to create more of a problem, but strive to make a small impact that could eventually have a snowball effect and continue to further then make a larger change.

Compared to the Pray the Devil Back to Hell video the Kony 2012 video is to grow support and give awareness to what these individuals have learned and what they are hoping to advocate for. The Pray the Devil Back to Hell is more of an inside look and personal experiences of individuals who have been  affected by the crisis. It offers more incite and personal experience and allows the viewers to see and feel the true emotions that these individuals have felt. It expresses the community-based approach very well and shows us that when a community comes together like they did it helps to create the change and support stronger and more effectively.

Aid-based and community-based approaches can be applied to what I'm learning and doing mostly when it comes to advocating for my clients and for the company I've been interning at. One day we did lobbying at the State House in Boston to ask for more financial support for the Head Start programs. But what made this difficult was that, as Family Advocates, were were asking for more financial support for the teachers of Head Start. This seemed very difficult considering that most of the people who were there to ask for support were not even teachers. I feel it would have been more easy for us to be advocating for ourselves. But this is a challenge that comes with advocating for change. I learned that I am not always going to be advocating and learning about things I'm mostly interested in and things I am experienced in. And I will need to learn how to help create change for others but first need to educate myself as best as I can for those who need to the help to be advocated for. Learning about these two types of approaches has broadened my thought process a great amount when it comes to macro-practice social work. All semester I've been learning how to work together most sufficiently and the difficulties it comes with.

Both of these approaches have their pros and cons. And there will always be criticisms about the way people advocate for change.Truth is what I've learned most is that there isn't one best way to do something, or one type of person to do it, but its the combination of beliefs, support, faith, courage and the different people to put all you can into something to make it what you believe it to be. And no matter how big or small the change or impact of something may be, there is always the drive to keep on trying.