GARDENING REALLY SPEAKS..................

The idea of community collaboration is often so compelling that people feel that it is an end in itself. The truth is that it is a process to achieve a result. We use the community collaboration process because we consider it able to achieve better outcomes, real changes that affect real people and improve their quality of life.

When I was reading one of the articles on collective action suddenly I came across how the concept of gardening is related to the cooperation in the community everyone of us know, in order to grow a good garden, the quality of the seed ,preparation of soil, Pruning and weeding & fertilizing and watering play important role.

Like growing a good garden, the key is good soil, quality seeds, a bit of gardening know-how and the fortitude to follow through. Community collaboration, like gardening, would be easy if the conditions will always be perfect and predictable. If we could control the weather, our garden would always grow according to plan. Now the question is-does this happen? Well, It depends...
Preparing the soil has a direct relation with whether there is a rich history of collaboration or cooperation in the community. If you can answer to the affirmative here you have an advantage. People can easily understand what you are trying to do and have the skills to join in. If there is no history of collaboration in your community you will need to spend a lot of time educating, shaping expectations and developing buy in from potential partners, funders and others whose support is crucial to your success.
Another thing that is to bear in mind is the reputation of your group and each of its members. If you have people in your collective who are well known and trusted with a reputation for getting things done it will take far less time to develop trust and to achieve the kind of clout required to catch the attention of stakeholders which is just like what a fertiliser does.
Finally, the last is an appropriate political and social climate for the things that you want to accomplish. If your issues are well known and commonly understood as important they will be supported more easily; that is, there will be fewer weeds to pull.
Planting a seed in community collaboration is about engaging community members in the idea to achieve buy-in and to mobilize the collective energy and will of the community. How we engage our community to achieve this buy-in “depends.”
The very act of planting the seed is critical and requires leadership. Like a garden, you need to know what you want to plant, how the plants may grow, how far apart the tomatoes should be, etc. If you do not have a vision for the garden planting seeds can be futile. Imagine digging a big hole and throwing all of your garden seeds into it. That’s not much of a garden. Thus,engaging members in the idea is very important otherwise,collaboration or cooperation is just for the namesake or in other words, no proper engagement means no cooperation
Once the harvest begins you need to have the energy and the will to realize the gain. Most importantly, you have learned that it is more important to do it together as a community than to do it alone. You take the time to celebrate not only to keep everyone motivated but as a way to mobilize even more people. Resilience is relentless incrementalism, taking small steps, seeing each one as if playing dominoes, knowing that each step leads to a whole and once many steps are in place change occurs. Like dominoes set up in a pattern, one behind the other, tip just one and a wonderful story unfolds just like a new plant.