Chapter 5: What is the best approach to gain governmental participation in preparation for a community programme?

On the 21st of November our team met with the Youth Development Committee of the city of Cape Town. The goal of this meeting was to highlight the uniqueness of MGV’s strengths and weaknesses in hopes to gain information, support, and guidance so we could take the necessary steps to begin the formation of the community development programme.

Group photo of the 28th of November Community Meeting

To prepare for this initial meeting, our team and our project sponsors, Lorenzo, Sheila and Ronell, collaboratively created a PowerPoint. This presentation included the history and background of MGV, background of WPI and the Cape Town Project Centre, resources within the community, possible youth/community programmes (dance, visual arts, environmental projects, and community service) and different ways MGV could utilise the city’s youth development committee.  To optimise government assistance within MGV we also addressed successes within the community and previous efforts by the residents.

As a result of this meeting, the Youth Development Committee proposed that S.W.O.T. analysis be completed.  S.W.O.T analysis is a “situational analysis in which internal strengths and weaknesses of an organization, and external opportunities and threats faced by it are closely examined to chart a strategy”(“SWOT Analysis”).  However, because our group used an asset-based approach, we wanted to eliminate negative connotations; instead, we decided to use “S.L.O.T.” analysis; strengths, limitations, opportunities and threats. The benefit of constructing and documenting S.L.O.T analysis is that we could then use the information that we gather to more easily identify the internal and external strengths and limitations within the community.

On the 28th of November, during the MGV community development meeting, our team, along with our sponsors and advisors introduced the S.L.O.T. analysis. After explaining what S.L.O.T analysis was and why/how it was used, we invited the meeting attendees to express what they felt were the community’s and the project’s strengths, limitations, opportunities and threats. From this and previous research, we were able to complete an accurate S.L.O.T. analysis.

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