Entrepreneurship in Child care Services

Entrepreneurship in Childcare Services 4 (2+2)

Lesson 19 : Community Participation

Ways to get community participation

1. Present oneself in an acceptable Way: the entrepreneur should make him/her self highly acceptable to the people by behaving in a culturally acceptable and pleasant way. They should dress like them, learn their language and take interest in their daily problems.


2. Respect their Elders: Entrepreneur should adopt a respectful attitude towards the elders of the community. It may often be useful for entrepreneur to use the same terms of address for their elders as are used by the local people. Often the elders have conservative ideas. He should not challenge these.


3. Avoid Identification with any Particular Group: The entrepreneur should maintain good relations with all sections of the community. The success of any programme will greatly depend on how good entrepreneur ‘s relationships are with all the people in the community.


4. Appreciate Local Beliefs and Practices which are Beneficial: the entrepreneur can build up a good relationship with the people and appreciate the beliefs and practices which are beneficial to the child care and ignore those beliefs and practices which are neither beneficial nor harmful.


5. Consider Yourself to be Part of the Community: It would be of great benefit the entrepreneurs consider themselves as one of the community. They must not maintain a social distance with community. The habit of saying “we” rather than “I” will make them to consider the entrepreneur close to them, if not one of them. Thus, joint tackling of problems would be much better than tackling them alone. Similarly, while dealing with children, calling them by their first names would be most pleasing to their mothers.


6. Respond to their “odd hour” Demands for child Care and Advice: entrepreneur might often find it too taxing to attend to the people after center hours. But when need arises entrepreneur should help the parents by keeping the children for after child care center working hours or providing food to the child if parents come late for picking up the children.


7. Present a Good Example of Personal and Community Hygiene: The entrepreneur should maintain reasonable hygiene standards of living which motivating people to improve their own living conditions. It helps to convince the villagers for maintaining hygiene both at personal and community level.


8. Seek the Co-operation of community Leaders: Establishing a good working relationship with the leaders would be crucial for the success of any programme. Entrepreneur must let the leaders know that the center is meant for the welfare of the community. This can be done by involving them in decision making regarding child care services.


9. How to Boost the Morale of the community: Although the community is ignorant about many things, yet they are clever enough to identify programmes which are advantageous to them. They often identify their problems but find it hard to solve them with their own resources. Appreciating some of these qualities would bring them closer to the entrepreneur.


10. Keep up Your Own Enthusiasm and Spirits: entrepreneurs may find many depressing moments in the day-to-day work with the community. But with hard work entrepreneur can gain trust and responsibility in the community.


11. Create trust and responsibility in community: Through community participation entrepreneurs will have a position of trust and responsibility in the community. Then people in the community depend upon entrepreneur for taking decisions on various issues either personal or community related which gives great happiness and satisfaction.