Abstract:
This case describes how community leaders in Amman, Jordan used a community organizing framework to launch and manage a major campaign, 6 Minutes, to encourage residents to commit time to reading for pleasure. Using Marshall Ganz’s framework for building civic leadership capacity, a local service organization, Ruwwad, based in the urban Amman community of Jabal Al Natheef, organized and coached hundreds of participants, encountering many challenges and milestones along the way—from cultural obstacles to community celebrations. Even before the 6 Minutes campaign concluded, the organizers were eager to launch a new campaign, noting that the success of 6 Minutes laid a firm foundation for the next campaign, building leadership, organizing power and capacity. At the end of the case, the protagonists question how to best apply the learning from 6 Minutes to their next campaign.
Learning Objective:
Fulfilling the democratic promise of equity, accountability and effectiveness requires the participation of an “organized” citizenry able to formulate, articulate and assert its shared interests effectively. Organizing, in turn, requires leadership: accepting responsibility for enabling others to achieve shared purpose in the face of uncertainty. Organizers identify, recruit and develop leadership; build community around that leadership; and build power from the resources of that community. This case is designed to facilitate discussion of how to create social change through collective action.
