Perspectives in the community

The video shows the different perspectives on a neighbourhood development initiative to improve a street in Beirut. The video features Mona Hallak, Director of the Neighbourhood Initiative, American University of Beirut and Harrag Arsalian, Shopkeeper, Jeanne d’Arc St, Beirut. We recommend watching the videos with English subtitles as they contain both English and Arabic.

How did Mona Fallak identify different stakeholders in the community? What are the different perspectives held by different people in the community?

Your community based research project will have a goal intended to help a community, but who are the people who should help you define that goal? What kind of data and analysis would help you with reaching the goal?

There are different views on what counts as improvement in the prosperity and well-being of a community. Some people might see pedestrianisation as an important improvement – because residents can more easily meet and enjoy their surroundings. Others may see it as a restriction – the motorists, certainly, but maybe also the shopkeepers, who think they will lose customers.

So the goal of the project has to be carefully negotiated with the the different stakeholders in the community – can there be a consensus about the best solution?

The success of the project will depend on the involvement of the community in an agreed and negotiated goal.

Over to you

What do you think? Who are the stakeholders for your project? Who should be involved in negotiating the goal?