Ethnic Based Community Organizations

Duhn-Gok, Hello, Bonjour, Hola, Shalom, Salaam and Namaskaar!

You are about to become familiar with an innovative project that addresses capacity building through leadership development. Maine has a long tradition of welcoming refugees (primary, secondary and unanticipated arrivals). Such newer arrivals have struggled to build their capacity and develop sustainable, community-based initiatives. This innovative project provides comprehensive training and support to refugee Ethnic Community Based Organizations (ECBOs), also known Mutual Assistance Associations (MAAs), in Maine in order to develop and sustain their capacity.

I developed the idea for this project when I repeatedly kept running into well-intentioned and hard-working community leaders who were struggling to bring resources to their communities and were experiencing great amount of fatigue from unsuccessful projects. It became clear to me that they needed comprehensive support to hone their leadership skills in order to approach this work very strategically. Simply, it was clear that teaching them to fish would be far more effective than giving them the fish.

The State of Maine, with support from the Federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, offers this comprehensive initiative that supports its refugee communities through the development of Learning Institutes for Capacity Building and Leadership Development, Mentoring Partnership program, Funders’ Panels, Networking Opportunities and a Capacity Building Conference in August, 2010 . This three year Learning Institute operates on the premise that successful integration emerges when communities define their needs, drive their own development, and identify their own solutions.

Noël Bonam B.Sc., M.P.M.
Consultant
Cross-Cultural Leadership and Organizational Development