An international cultural exchange 'at eye level'
By Patrick T. Reardon
Published: January 17, 2012
Putting their own cultural spin on the concept of comprehensive community development, participants at a Munich conference create one-act plays detailing a shared vision for a neighborhood.
For two and a half days last September, some three dozen Germans gathered in a Munich conference center to learn about the American concept of comprehensive community development.
Then, they put their own cultural spin on the idea — by breaking into small groups and creating one-act plays detailing a shared vision for a neighborhood.
Sort like the development and rollout of a quality-of-life plan.
"People felt a little bit of the power that a vision can bring," said Maren Schüpphaus, executive director of Netzwerk Gemeinsinn (Network for Community Spirit), the sponsor of the conference.
The philosophy and methods of comprehensive community development were laid out by Jim Capraro, senior fellow at the Institute for Comprehensive Community Development and a veteran of more than 30 years of neighborhood organizing in Chicago. And he did so in a manner that was laid back and open.
"He didn't present dogma," said Wolfgang C. Goede, one of the organizers of the event.
"We didn't want an American guru," added Schüpphaus.
"Many social methods which come from [the U.S.] are being handed down from top to bottom, like a McDonald's franchise," explained Goede. "Our session in September here in Munich was quite different.
"We presented our own set of methods—for example, theater and role-playing—and Jim came in with his stuff and left it wide open.
"Both approaches could mix and enrich one another. That was the most distinctive characteristic of the workshop — very democratic. At eye level."
'Efficient and simple'
Within that culturally sensitive context, the idea of attempting to improve a neighborhood by engaging many residents and by addressing a multiplicity of issues at the same time struck a chord with participants.
Maren Schüpphaus, executive director of Netzwerk Gemeinsinn (Network for Community Spirit), illustrates a point during the September conference.
So did the idea of comprehensiveness. In the U.S., community activists complain about how improvement methods are often stuck in isolated silos. In Germany, Schüpphaus, an expert in dialogue and community participation, said the term is: "Everyone is cooking his own soup."
In contrast to German methods, the comprehensive community development approach, she said, "is really bottom-up with a lot of involvement of people who live in the area.
"It's unusual to start with relationship-building. In Germany, you do this by questionnaire or sending out emails or do telephone interviews. And half of the effort is lost because you don't get the key information, or you don't evaluate it correctly."
By using residents to interview other residents on a one-to-one basis and to recruit them into the planning process, the comprehensive community development approach "is efficient, and it's simple," she said.
'People presenting their ideas'
Goede, a community activist with experience in Chicago, San Francisco and Colombia, South Americxa, noted, "Germany is traditionally a top-down society." (Think of the stereotype of the stiff-backed Prussian.)
"That has been changing over the past thirty years, but it still remains a country where things are decided on top and passed on to the bottom," he said.
In fact, according to Schüpphaus, "Sometimes, there's an attitude by administrators that you only have the right to articulate your ideas if you have a position, like the president of a neighborhood group, and a knowledge of all the structures and planning that have already been worked out."
By contrast, the quality-of-life planning process is built on the work of engaging residents and helping them to come up with a vision for their community. Then, at the rollout of the plan, "it is the people who have become the experts, and the administrators who are hearing the ideas and reacting to them."
Translating the process
Translating that process to Germany won't be simple, however.
For instance, the one-to-one interviews that are the heart of the initial phase of the process will pose some cultural difficulties, explained Schüpphaus.
"It will be hard to find people who are willing to invest the time," she said. "Normally, you have a project manager who's there for three years [and hires workers to get residents involved]."
Wolfgang C. Goede
Goede added, "People here are inhibited. Germans aren't as extroverted [as Americans]. They feel like they'll be seen as missionaries or someone peddling vacuum cleaners. People are very much resistant to doing this. We're talking about different cultures."
Still, the idea of engaging residents and developing a vision is an attractive one, said Schüpphaus.
"I think there will be a lot of fine-tuning to do," she said. "But this is really simple. Everybody can get involved who has an interest and a stake. You are offering a frame."
Indeed, Schüpphaus and Goede and other German participants are so excited about that idea that they've been in contact with community activists in Russia and Italy.
As they see it, the seed of comprehensive community development, planted in Germany, could blossom across the continent of Europe.
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