Maintaining the momentum

Community effort often starts with a ‘stimulus’ — a spark of enthusiasm or the need to deal with a crisis. Projects often grow quickly with a lot of local involvement. Sometimes, after a few weeks or months, activity reaches a plateau and only a relatively small group of ‘drivers’ continue the effort. Eventually the activity or project will draw to a close, or enthusiasm may dwindle.

Maintaining momentum is very important. Some things that you can do to keep up enthusiasm include:

• Consider what could ‘spin off’ a completed project or activity
• Focus on small achievable actions
• Celebrate each step
• Support the ‘drivers’
• Recognise ‘burnout’ early and offer people a break
• Have many ways for people to be involved
• Actively invite people to be involved
• Keep a high profile in the media
• Spread ‘positive rumours’
• Make things fun and enjoyable.
• Some success stories and very practical tips for maintaining momentum can be found on the US-based North Central Regional Center for Rural Development website.
• Developing your Organisation includes a chapter called ‘When Things Go Wrong’ that discusses some of the conflicts that can arise in community organisations and disrupt project momentum. It looks at ways of minimising or resolving disputes in a fair and open manner.