Poor people lack of skills to organize themselves
Poor people lack of skills to organize themselves
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Five days of stimulating discussions on poverty during the Asian
People's Dialogue II in Cibubur ended last Thursday, but they
failed to produce any concrete recommendations amid the
deficiencies affecting poor communities here regarding the
organizational and managerial skills crucial to organizing
themselves.
"The meeting was supposed to come up with recommendations.
But, by the end of the meeting, the discussions had yet to arrive
at any conclusions. The participants were divided into two
groups, one wanting recommendations and another refusing them,"
said Edi of the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC).
Edi complained that poor people needed to be more organized in
discussing the numerous problems they faced in their daily lives
so as to arrive at concrete solutions to their problems.
Concurring with Edi, a delegate from the Philippines blamed a
lack of necessary experience and organizational skills for
preventing poor people from joining forces to deal with the
problems affecting them.
"People here have yet to become familiar with, for example,
basic skills in data collection like enumeration, surveys,
community mapping. They also appear to fall short in leadership
abilities and confidence in negotiating with the government,"
said the delegate.
Similarly, delegates from 14 African and Asian countries
recommended that poor people here be given basic training in
leadership, management and community organization.
"Besides learning from other poor communities' experiences,
the people will also need to enhance cross-issue networking and
alliances at both the national and international levels," a
Malaysian delegate said while reading out the suggestions made by
the foreign delegates.
One example of the local people's shortcomings became apparent
during the final session last Thursday. The session was tainted
by the threat of a walkout by the foreign participants who were
upset that many local participants left the plenary meeting while
some speakers were delivering their presentations after the group
discussions. The session was adjourned for 10 minutes after which
the local participants from poor communities came back into the
conference room.
An Indonesian participant attempted to excuse his colleagues'
absence by arguing that they might be too tired to keep listening
to the presentations. "They may be tired of hearing about
problems that have already been discussed frequently," said the
Indonesian delegate.
But, another Indonesian delegate blasted the absence of the
local delegates. "We, Indonesians, have no excuses as we are
discussing our own problems, while these foreign delegates have
come to help us," the delegate said.
A South African delegate lambasted the fact that all the fuss
on the part of Indonesian poor communities across the country
during the APD II had failed to result in any significant results
or solutions.
"We say Viva Indonesia, Viva Sri Lanka, Viva Thailand, Viva
Philippines. But we all end up with nothing," he complained.
Although the participants at the APD II managed to meet with a
number of ministers, including Minister of Resettlement and
Regional Infrastructure Soenarno and Minister of Manpower and
Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea, as well as a senior official from
the National Land Agency, they failed to hammer out any concrete
deals with the top-notch officials with regard to alternative
solutions to their problems.
Wardah Hafidz, chairperson of the UPC, said that if
partnership with the government to solve poverty got nowhere,
poor people would continue their struggle to win their rights
without asking for any help from the government.
"However, enormous work still needs to be done. These poor
communities must learn to organize themselves well before they go
to the government to negotiate," Wardah said.