Learning By Doing, Asking and Listening

By Stella Rakwach, 1st year MDP Student

Problem tree (causes & effects of financial exclusion) - focus groups results at Ma Mawi

Research is a very important aspect of community development, often providing solutions to challenges affecting them. Such solutions should be context specific, informed by local cultures and world views to improve their acceptance in such communities. One size fits all policies/solutions may not be applicable in addressing modern day development issues. What is considered a problem in one community may not be an issue in another. This is very evident when comparing financial exclusion in different communities for example Canada has three major financial sectors: mainstream financial institutions (MFIs), fringe financial institutions (FFI) & informal borrowing/lending. I was comparing that to my country Kenya which on the contrary only has the MFIs & informal borrowing/ lending. FFIs maybe a problem in Canada but is almost non-existent in Kenya. Hence in terms of financial systems in Canada there could be a middle ground while in Kenya you are either in or out of the system. Recently our team has been working on indigenous financial exclusion (IFE) & literacy research data collection. Finding participants for the research methods has not been very easy but it has worked out well courtesy of partnerships with SEED Winnipeg, Ma Mawi & Fisher River Cree Nation (FRCN). By taking part in various activities at the sites I met new friends who introduced me to potential participants and later made use of the snowball effect to get more.

Money Management Class at SEED Winnipeg

We attended a money management class and had a small exercise dubbed ‘money & me’ which involved writing on a piece of paper about what one would like spend money on. Then we walked around the room as we asked each other questions and it was interesting to find out that people were saving for items like mattresses, glasses, couches, children’s education and cars etc.  SEED is doing a great job through its savings program which helps their participants save to meet their financial objectives and in addition to that an initiative to help parents set up RESP accounts to save towards their children’s education. In one activity, the class was divided into groups and tasked with identifying the challenges facing their community and suggest possible solutions to these challenges. Part of this activity included separating individual and communal solutions to the communities’ problems. I presented for my group and I had a wonderful time sharing especially on the one person solutions as that would be a development practitioner’s main job. So I talked about charity, volunteering, scholarships/sponsorships, voting, keeping rules, reporting crime as these would be key in promoting education, and good leadership and hence better laws and promote security and other areas of community development.

Cooking Class at Ma Mawi (McGregor site)

 

Lunch is ready! Stella (L) & Grenda (staff member at Ma Mawi)

The cooking began with a short orientation from the lady in charge of the kitchen, I washed my hands and she handed me a pair of gloves and something to cover my hair which I put on then she showed me around the kitchen cabinets to know where to get the cutlery, plates, cups etc. On the menu today is split peas soup & salad and bread.  I helped by dicing some onions and bacon then she put all the ingredients together into a large pot to get the soup boiling. Then we made some caesar salad together as we talked about mainstream banks and fringe banks (pawnshops & payday lenders) and by 12 noon lunch was ready and I put on my name tag and served lunch to the community at the kitchen counter. Later I walked around the dining area with a tray serving fritas for dessert. All that’s well ends well; the staff were very grateful and offered to introduce me to a few people who were interested in participating in the IFE research.

Finding Fisher River

At the beginning of the third week of July, we travelled to Fisher River Cree Nation, as we had completed data collection for the IFE study in Winnipeg. The journey began around 8:30 am after getting directions on Google maps hoping to get there before 11am. All was well till we reached a dead end at a quarry/ construction site, and we had to drive back to the main highway and get new directions from there. We later found our way and arrived safely. We had a wonderful reception courtesy of the band office, the people were nice and respectful. The place was quiet and full of fresh air and it felt so peaceful and refreshing away with no TV and the hustle and bustle of daily life in Winnipeg. In the afternoon of the same day and following days we visited the band office, community store and the Charles Sinclair High school and met a few participants interested in taking part in the resident survey, financial life histories or the focus groups. Therefore for community research & or development to be successful, one must be willing to take part in community activities, exchange knowledge and earn the people’s trust hence learning by doing, asking & listening.

Enjoying some fresh air in Fisher River after a successful day collecting data

Indigenous Research & Community Engagement

By Stela Rakwach, 1st year MDP student

 

My field placement is in Winnipeg, I have been working on Indigenous Financial Exclusion (IFE) Literacy project, which is headed by Dr. Jerry Buckland. I began my practicum on the 1st of May and will be done at the end of July. As part of my practicum I am working as a research assistant under Dr. Buckland and I have also met with IFE the project’s steering committee. I will help conduct the IFE study which will be done in three sites namely: SEED Winnipeg, Ma Mawi and Fisher River Cree Nation (FRCN). The study focuses on the use of mainstream financial institutions (banks and credit unions) and the use of fringe banks (payday lenders) by Aboriginal people. We have been working on the literature review and will soon be starting the data collection which will be done through: key informant interviews, resident surveys, financial life histories and participatory methods (needs and resource assessment, problem tree & ‘perfect’ bank).

Initially I worked from the Global College during May. Since the beginning of June I have had the chance to visit all the three project sites SEED Winnipeg and Ma Mawi where I had a brief orientation into their programs and FRCN where I attended a community health fair and visited the band office. I also met Councillor Dion McKay to discuss how to find participants for the study.  From June I have been based at Ma Mawi (McGregor site) and am enjoying meeting various people and getting immersed into the community.

Attending the community health fair held at the Charles Sinclair School in Fisher River. From L to R: Brielle Beaudien, Carole Cochrane,, Dr. Shailesh  Shukla, Gabrielle Heroux and Stela (me).

In addition to the research project, I had a wonderful reunion with the Winnipeg MDP team (Badriyya, Gabrielle, Evelyn and Naomi) at the ‘’Models & Best Practices-Sustainable Northern Development’’ round table held at the Richardson College building on June 12th. Together we met The University of Winnipeg President, Dr. Lloyd Axworthy and listened to the keynote speech from Justice Thomas Berger on development in Northern Canada.