Community Resource Mobilisation and FINCA/COPE II Overlap in Malawi
THis paper discusses ways of enhancing community mobilization efforts to engage wider participation within the community. Drawing from Malawi and using Community-based Options for Protection and Empowerment (COPE) which focuses on mobilizing communities to organize activities that will mitigate the impacts of HIV/AIDS on children and families, and the Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA), the paper argues that committees do not think of individual skills and talents as resources, and tend to look outside sources of assistance before thoroughly examining all the possibilities within the community. Specifically, it looks at:
- Community resource mobilization and FINCA/COPE II Overlap;
- Fundraising versus income-generating activities;
- Purpose of technical assistance;
- Rotating savings and credit associations and market chain analysis;
- Operational issues of overlap.
It posits that that many committees (such as district AIDS coordinating community (DACC), community AIDS community (CAC) and village AIDS committee (VAC) do not realize what resources they have. It concludes that there is the need to value all community members and suggests ways of engaging as many people in the communities as possible and tap from their skills and talents.
