On the Scarcity of Mentors
In two previous Wednesday posts, I suggested the basic elements that lead to successful local activism include the systematic practice of running meetings and the principles of mutuality. In the nineteenth century, if people needed to start a co-op or similar organisation, they would ask someone with experience for support. This is a mentoring role and ideally the role of community development workers, who themselves also need mentors. So, I’m onto the third of these four topics:
- Meetings
- Mutuality
- Mentors
- Models
I reckon it took me 20 years to learn how to be an effective development worker. I’m sure it would have been a lot less had mentors been available.
Mentoring in Community Development
Chiron and Achilles c1922-1925 John Singer Sargent. Centaurs: the first recorded mentors according to Greek mythology.
I know many development workers share my experience; indeed many don’t stay in the work for long because they do not have the support they need. Local authorities and churches usually appointed development workers, dropped them into a community, offered little or no support and then blamed when things go wrong. It happened to me and I can remember many others treated in the same way. Things always go wrong. Development work is about knowing what to do when things go wrong. Self-blame or blaming others is never anything like an effective solution. Problems that should be seen as a stimulating challenge become a major trauma that can take years to process.
The support of a mentor is essential in these situations. Someone experienced and distant from the situation can make a world of difference. And they can support not only the inexperienced worker but also workers with many years experience. When immersed in a situation, it is easy to lose perspective. An experienced worker knows when they are losing perspective and so when they need support from someone with an independent view.
Where are the Mentors?
Community development has never had a career structure and so the employer often has no way of knowing how much experience and insight the person they appoint has or how to support them. They leave the employee to find their own way. Encounters at conferences and through local groups of workers help but offer limited support. It’s not easy when it feels like a request for help is to admit to not being adequate for the job (it’s actually a part of doing the job) and so there is a steady attrition of workers, frustrated by the lack of support and the lack of career structure and low-income.
In England, we have seen a catastrophic decline in community development. Local Authorities no longer appoint them and churches have moved onto other things. This can be attributed to the lack of career structure, which means experienced workers move into other fields, leaving no-one with authority to argue the case for development work or to provide support.
And so we contemplate the period between the seventies, when the need for development workers was first identified, through to the beginning of the twenty-first century when the idea was all but abandoned. This is the theme of my e-book, “Community Development is Dead! Long Live Community Development!”. There’s no charge for it and you can download it at the end of this post.
How to Respond
The decline of community development is a pity but there is a wealth of experience out there that would help development workers and activists if only it were available. So, my aim is to build an online community committed to sharing good practice and encouraging new ways of doing the work.
We need to re-learn the roles of mentors for activists and for development workers.
Use the comments to tell your story about poorly supported development work.
Why do you think community development workers never developed a career structure?
Is community development dead? If not, who is doing it now?
If you need help finding a mentor, you could talk with me. I offer a free consultancy session where I help you work out the support you need.