What is Community Mobilization?
Community mobilization is the act of encouraging and engaging the community to participate in the creation of safe cities and communities for women and girls. This process must involve the whole community, not just the specific actors who are directly involved in a safe cities for women programme. A community could be considered “mobilized” when all members feel as though the issue of women’s and girls’ safety is important to them and worthy of action and support.
Why is Community Mobilization Important?
Every person has the right to feel and be safe in their community and when all members understand and support this sentiment, they can work together to make positive changes in the physical structure, the policies, and the attitudes that shape their city. Thus, community mobilization is important because the community itself is ultimately responsible for and affected by situations of safety or insecurity. Conversely, if the community is not mobilized in creating safe cities for women and girls, the ideas and initiatives put forward by a safe cities for women programme will not be supported and will not be put into practice in the day-to-day interactions of people in the city or community.
See the community mobilization section for more information.