Starting Up Child Centered Spaces in Emergencies: A Field Manual

Each cell of the matrix is filled in by asking men, for example, “who are the importantreligious leaders in the community?” Or “to whom do you go for spiritual orreligious advice and guidance?” Similarly, in regard to women and education,one can ask, “which women are most influential in education?” Or “if the villagewere going to plan a new school, which women in the village would you want toparticipate in the planning?” Or “who would you go to for advice and guidanceregarding education?” Typically, particular names appear repeatedly in regardto a particular cell. These names are then entered, and the process is repeatedover time until the matrix is filled out. The matrix can be large and detailed orsmaller and more general, depending on one’s purpose. At the end of theprocess, one has a map of the key people who have to be activated or who needto become champions of projects, such as child protection, in order to mobilizeparticular sub-groups.Assessing and building inclusionAs community patterns evolve and change, it is vital to keep track of who isexcluded and to work for their inclusion in community planning and action.Usually, each village has “key informants”—people who know a lot about thecommunity—who think about issues of social justice and who care deeply aboutthe rights of each individual. If such a person can be identified, he or she canprobably provide a quick overview of who is typically marginalized and left out ofcommunity activities and why. Another way to identify who is excluded is to govisit families from some of the groups that tend to be excluded in most communities—thosehaving disabled family members, the poorest households, etc. Thisapproach has the advantage of hearing directly from marginalized people, whichhelps to empower them. By asking whether they participate, why or why not, andwould they like to participate more, one gains insight into their situation. Also,their statements of desire to participate more adds a different perspective tocommonly heard “stories” that community leaders frequently tell, such as, “Theydon’t want to participate because they are too poor and have no time for meetings.”Having identified the marginalized people and established their desire to participate,one can take steps to increase the participation of marginalized people.One step is to conduct dialogues with community leaders such as shura membersand CWBC members to raise awareness about the need to include thosewho are marginalized and to find ways of including marginalized people. Thesedialogues could include discussion of community participation, what it means tobe a member of the community, and what can be done to include people whohave been marginalized. A second step is to facilitate a dialogue between marginalizedpeople and community leaders. However, it is important to recognizethat such meetings can spark conflict, and that it is necessary to manage anypotential conflict that might arise. Typically, such meetings require carefulpreparation, such as getting the various participants to take a problem-solvingapproach and to avoid blaming and name calling. If obvious tensions exist, andthe risks seem too high, it is probably best to postpone this kind of meeting untilconditions are more favorable.84