Capacity Building | SOAS GLOCAL

Description

Capacity building, as with all other societal endeavors, is central to The GLOCAL. Self-sustaining communities exhibit many benefits: The obvious internal contribution to the community, where communities of practice reinvest knowledge gained from the outside in order to further build the community; alleviating the need for external investment of resource, where an increasing development of capacities within the target community require a decreasing level of outside contributions, and hence a lessening burden on outside input; the opportunity for those new leaders to self-develop, by teaching those within the target community; the opportunity for those within the target community to address issues in the target community, more effectively than would outsiders; the critical engagement of target communities by negotiating the learned skills for contextual and hence target community use.

The capacity building efforts of The GLOCAL have spanned many years, and have been directed at skills such as communication, leadership, community involvement, conflict resolution, life education (disease, sexuality, significance of family, food security), depression coping skills, professional practice, using technology. However, The GLOCAL capacity building courses have aimed to implement anthropological methods to educate and train in several localities globally, and as such, communication, cultural awareness, cultural symbolism, socialization, and extended participation in communities are fields central to the GLOCAL contribution to these communities.

The Projects

Jijenge Academy, Nairobi, Kenya

Background

Jijenge is an academy for underprivileged people in Nairobi, Kenya. The academy, several years running, provides young adults and their communities with knowledge and skills to cope in a multitude of facets of life. These include information sourcing and analysis, use of new and emergent technologies, personal and societal management, finance management, soft skills development, interview skills, employability strengthening, and so forth. The academy has now had several cohorts, and has a 90% of student employment rate. Students complete their courses at the academy to experience salaries 3 or 4 times those prior to entering, in employment much more conducive to good health and a comfortable and safe lifestyle.

Contribution

GLOCAL has worked mostly on one-on-one cases with students at Jijenge. The GLOCAL has employed Anthropological skills such as comparative ethnographies so as to bring the students to new awareness of their context and societal and academic predicaments. Capacity building has also occurred through employment of the students, where the students are given projects to complete, that aid the goings on of The GLOCAL and its endeavors. Thus far, The GLOCAL has assisted three individuals to develop life skills, and has contributed to the betterment of the Academy and its staff.

Ky Quang 2 Temple and Orphanage, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

Background

On the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Ky Quang is a large complex housing temples, residences, and a large orphanage. In this sense, the orphanage accepts children with deceased parents and children who have been abandoned by parents. The temple monks govern and administrate the orphanage, which contains, at any one time, approximately 120 children. The GLOCAL has offered child care training, and interpersonal management, for staff to foster effective learning and developmental conditions for the orphanage. The adult employees learn to manage the economy of the orphanage; finances, learning, psychology, and safety of children visited at times by outsiders, a process which greatly stress on the children.

Contribution

GLOCAL has worked with supervisors and caretakers at Ky Quang temple in group training visits. The central contribution of GLOCAL has been to provide caretakers and administrators with increased knowledge of socialization processes, where caretakers then assist children to integrate both into the mini society within the orphanage, and into society when these children are given foster parents, and new adopting parents. At times, nurses and caretakers require guidance and assistance in their development of nurturing programs, more so as they are frequently understaffed, and this places significant stress on the staff, as it does limit the scope of awareness.

Method

The method employed for Ky Quang is centrally awareness of socialization pathways and strategies. Here, staff as caregivers and volunteers are provided with socialization pathways and possibilities for children in various stratified levels throughout Vietnam, and are shown the consequences of these, as well as placed into focus groups to discuss and critique each other’s practices over several years of interacting with specific children. Additionally, critical discussions were held with the staff regarding how most effectively to deal with children’s perceptions of visitors ‘coming and going,’ a practice which is frequently seen as detrimental to the children’s development and socialization into socially acceptable behavior.

Asir Principality, Asir, Saudi Arabia

Background

The regional office for Asir, Saudi Arabia, is in the city of Abha. The region is under the jurisdiction of Prince Turiki bin Talal bin AbdulAziz Al Saud. and as with a larger Saudi Arabia, has embarked on a concerted effort to revitalize the cultural industry, and to replenish knowledge of heritage. The strategy aligns with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, the ultimate aim of which is to provide Saudi Arabia with capacity to mobilize its economic growth through a diverse range of sectors. Asir region is somewhat remote from the larger cities, and hence capacity building in Asir requires cultural tools that differ from those in the bigger cities.

Contribution

GLOCAL has worked mostly on groups talks and sessions with Asir. as the Asir province organizes much of its work in teams. Currently in significant transition, Asir has required talks on ways in which to render practical its ideas of transition. GLOCAL has worked to adjust these theoretical designs to suit the Saudi Arabian context, and to ensure that these strategies are indeed catered to the effective progress of the region in Saudi Arabia, but without effecting any damage to its global image. The GLOCAL, as in other global regions, has attempted to provide these strategies, through which Asir can expose its vast array of cultural and modern heritages, and its economic potential, and ways in which to provide global audiences with knowledge of both regional and national social and cultural intention.

Method

The method employed is largely education on effective ways to develop an ethnography of cultural heritage. The uncovering of a beautiful cultural heritage and the exposition of this to the world, as a commodity in the modern era, requires a number of interrelated and codependent strategies, including development of policy, media and documentation, and communication between the commodity producers and the outside. All of these strategies have begun to be implemented at the design level, through outreach and talks to the Asir region.

Institute of Cultural Studies, Hanoi, Vietnam

Background

The ICS, the Institute of Cultural Studies, in Hanoi, Vietnam, represents a research centre with the intentions: The investigation and documenting of Vietnamese cultural heritage; the facilitating of projects that build on Vietnamese heritage; the sponsoring of cultural events; the encouraging of new cultural trends and styles; the development of work to create cultural policy so as to protect cultural intellectual property; work on other facets connected to the cultural sector. The ICS interacts with higher institutions and organizations such as museums to facilitate its management of the cultural sector.

Contribution

GLOCAL has provided several talks on the significance of Anthropology in the analysis of cultural heritage, and in the understanding of language and society in the modern era. Vietnam, as does a larger Southeast Asian region, contains many cultural elements, the significance of which, has yet to be exposed. The efforts of GLOCAL at the ICS have included the realization of the importance of exposing these cultural practices as vital descriptors of anthropological theory. For example, GLOCAL has provided groups session talks and lectures so as to educate on the semiotic power of performance in Vietnam (both human and puppet).

Method

The method employed has been training for a cultural ethnography. The group sessions primarily included the significance of cultural ethnographies, from urban to very rural regions, of Vietnam. The talks stressed that this cultural ethnography must inform the societal strictures of various sectors, including the educational, and the media sectors. The group sessions were mostly to large audiences, and this constituted part of the method, as the diversity of skills in the audiences contributed to understanding the need for diverse approaches to applying findings from the ethnography of culture.

Jogjakarta Muhamadia University, Jogjakarta, Indonesia

Background

Muhamadia University, in Jogjakarta, is a large institution, with a strong focus on liberal arts and Social Sciences, in an addition to other faculties and studies. The university is open to collaborations, though mostly regional. A good percentage of students from Muhamadia frequently go on to post graduate studies, as they see the necessity in further work and education. The University thus exhibits a strong focus on modernization and development of faculty skills, throughout the faculty body. These skills include community engagement and transfer of knowledge to larger society, as well as rendering pragmatic theory developed during pedagogical practice.

Contribution

As a developing institution, Muhamadia has needed strategic advice on its engagement with other institutions, with government, and with larger society. GLOCAL provided many of these strategies, as well as negotiating skills with which to effectively engage these sectors external to Muhamadia. Sitting in inter-university meetings, and in meetings between Muhamida and government bodies, GLOCAL mediated discussions of learning to cooperate in projects implemented by the university. Subsequent to this, GLOCAL supervised the effective implementation of these projects.

Method

The method employed for Muhamadia was a training combining knowledge of socialization processes and educational psychology. Educational psychology becomes quite complex here, as the academics have needed to interact with professional learners, and not so much tertiary students. Further complicating this training, the students have needed to be themselves become trained in pubic engagement, by faculty at Muhamadia. The training thus required the development of understanding of how to create effective pedagogies for the societal and professional socialization of adults in larger society.

UNESCO, Global

Background

UNESCO, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, as a global body, has large focus on capacity building, so to encourage the self-sustaining potential of communities. A significant part of this is policy, as central to the securing of cultural heritage, and its rightful ownership. Annual meetings in a number of world locations are organized to convene on issues such as these, and on others, where the meetings include talks, discussion and negotiation, and training. UNESCO differs to many other organizations in that it inspires progressive thought, and welcomes ‘outsiders’ to propose ways in which they can assist the internal structure of the organization, not least of which is through training.

Contribution

GLOCAL has worked mostly on sessions with UNESCO. The sessions purported to develop knowledge of impediments in the implementation of UNESCO work for societal change. The participants in these meetings were from both inside and outside of UNESCO, and hence GLOCAL sought to channel capacity building strategies to larger networks connected to UNESCO, through these meetings. Here, GLOCAL was dedicated to providing new ideas on how to develop guidelines and polices for regulating societal intervention.

Method

The method employed is largely an investigation into the semiotics of cultural heritage. Guidelines and policy documents and books were prepared independently for scrutiny at discussions and meetings. Collaborative discussions contributed to the revision of these books and documents, while a series of talks and meetings assisted the UNESCO groups to understand the modern appropriation of cultural heritage in solving communicative and other societal problems. Education on policy development was also a method central to capacity building.

ASEAN Headquarters, Jakarta, Indonesia

Background

ASEAN plays a very significant role in the current era of regionalism. As the Association for South East Asian Networks, The ASEAN council has had to overcome many hurdles, and to continually attempt to resolve the sizable issues pervasive or Southeast Asia. ASEAN regularly conducts meetings and training sessions for its large body of internal and external affiliate. The head office is appropriately positioned in Jakarta, Indonesia, itself a very quickly developing economy and society. The subsequent development and appropriation of ASEAN ideologies requires training at many levels, owing to the hurdles that the council must contend with.

Contribution

GLOCAL has worked mostly on small and large group sessions with ASEAN council. The sessions intended to develop knowledge of impediments in the implementation of ASEAN work for societal and regional change. The participants in these meetings were from both inside and outside of ASEAN, including embassies, and NGOs. Here, GLOCAL sought to channel capacity building strategies to global networks connected to the ASEAN council, through these meetings, and to provide new ideas on developing guidelines and polices for regulating societal and regional intervention.

Method

The method employed is largely an investigation into the semiotics of cultural heritage and political strategy. Guidelines and policy documents and books were prepared independently for scrutiny at discussions and meetings. Collaborative discussions contributed to the revision of these books and documents, while a series of talks and meetings assisted the ASEAN council and workers to better comprehend the modern appropriation of cultural heritage in solving communicative and other societal problems.

Order or Mother Teresa, Vatican

Background

The Order of Mother Teresa, in The Vatican, Italy, has been a shelter run by Mother Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity. The shelter, housed within the Vatican building, provides housing and subsistence to homeless, sick, and in-poverty women for six days per week. On one day per week, the shelter provides the same assistance to men. Here, women are given both food and medical help, as well as certain training, so as to rejoin the world with strong skills. Prior to her death, Mother Teresa would sometimes visit and guide the development and resolution of important issues.

Contribution

GLOCAL has worked mostly on one-on-one cases with individuals at The Order. The GLOCAL employed Anthropological skills such as qualitative and personal intervention so as to train disadvantaged women to cope with their societal predicaments. Capacity building occurred through working with the women in their new roles, sometimes as volunteers and sometimes in professional practice. This was mostly in the form of mentorship, both at the place of employment, and at home at The Order during chores such as cooking in the residence in the Vatican. As such, GLOCAL acted as personal consultants to Mother Teresa.