Challenge Note: This shura illustrates how an organization can use ShuraForAll to implement and manage its strategic plan. The participants are not actual members of the organization. Like other Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) is faced with excellent opportunities to significantly impact the intellectual and economic growth of a diverse global population. We have the potential to produce more people capable of solving some of the world’s most difficult problems; high-earning graduates; entrepreneurs, and positively effect change in many other areas. What areas should we focus on? How might we pursue them in an effective way? To help us get started, consider the following: Candidate Target Areas Increase the number of enrolled students. Improve student retention and graduation rates. Raise postgraduate earnings. Accelerate business ownership and entrepreneurship. Enhance the quality of essential services (basic education, healthcare, internet access, etc.) in our communities. Context We begin by working to get a better understanding of the context of the situation we are trying to improve. This requires us to share information of what has been tried in the past. We need to document what seems to be working, what seems not to be working, and what obstacles need to be overcome. All of these activities happen in the Discuss phase of our shura. All participants are expected to contribute to the effort by submitting their insights along with their recommendations of the best course of action to take. Before moving on to this phase, please review the attached article titled How HBCUs can accelerate Black economic mobility.
What we plan to achieve We want to stimulate interest in high school and college students to actively participate in resolving social issues facing their communities. We also want to give them access to tools and other valuable resources that will help them sustain their efforts. Lastly, we want to build the broad community capability to solve its own problems in consultation with others. The problem Many communities around the world do not take the initiative to identify and build the capacities of individuals, families, and organizations within their own communities to solve their problems. The cause A significant number of complex social issues that affect communities stem from many years of deliberately harmful institutional behaviors that persist today. The social oppression that results from these behaviors can have a lasting effect. One of them is that we often think and act more like victims than problem solvers even when the oppression stops. Context This shura borrows heavily from the activities of the Social Work Community Outreach Service (SWCOS) at the University of Maryland Baltimore. This service concentrates its efforts in vulnerable communities with people who have been marginalized. Among the key efforts that have been identified are the following. Identify and build the capacities of individuals, families, communities, and community-based organizations to solve their problems; Demonstrate that the problems our society faces are solvable by creating, implementing, evaluating and publicizing model solutions; Demonstrate to the larger society that all of its members have something valuable to contribute to the problem solving process; and Remind people that inclusion and participation of all in problem solving will lead to more effective solutions. Although SWCOS works with university students in the School of Social Work, this shura seeks to construct an effective approach of engaging high school and university students in community development activities without regard to the students' focused areas of study. It may be more practical to initially work with students in the U.S. but the intent is to involve students across the globe.
What we expect to achieve We want to use this shura to illustrate how to identify effective ways to develop leaders who strive to build community. In these kinds of communities, people are valued for who they are and what they can do. We also want to describe action steps that we will carry out to provide opportunities for students to work in teams to address a community issue. The issue Building community often involves people with diverse needs who have wide-ranging skills and capabilities. This mix is difficult to handle, especially since many leaders-in-training are not provided real experiences to learn how to help people make joint decisions on the best course of action to take. Context We will look carefully at the leadership actions of some of the people who contributed to the success of the Underground Railroad. We will attempt to learn how they were able to create and operate a huge network of people spread out over large distances without being run by any single organization or person. The many people who were involved only knew of the local efforts to aid fugitives and not of the overall operation. From 1780 to 1862, it effectively moved more than 100,000 slaves northward. Attached to this description are short profiles of Harriet Tubman, Levin Coffin, Lucretia Mott, and William Still. Each profile highlights the kind of leadership provided under challenging circumstances. An example of how to involve a community organization in a service-learning project is also provided.
What we strive to achieve We want to help trainers use the ShuraForAll platform to showcase their abilities to offer training courses at an affordable price. All trainers must contact us to apply to become a trainer. Our target market is the bottom 50% of the wealth distribution of the global population. To make this work, we limit the maximum fee for any course to be $15 USD. The platform manages course registration, payment, delivery of content, and quality of performance. A training course can be free or it can require a fee for participation. When a trainee registers and pays a fee to participate in a course, the payment goes directly to the bank account of the trainer who started the course, minus any payment merchant (PayPal, Paystack, Stripe, etc.) transaction fee. ShuraForAll does not deduct any fee for this transaction. Emphasis is placed on enabling trainers to help their trainees work in teams to perform better using the shura process. When we consult with each other during training, we generally find that we get better results than when we work alone or compete against each other. The heart of working in teams is that each team member is linked to every other team member in a way that one member cannot succeed unless the others do. All team members are working to achieve a shared outcome. This shura is designed to serve as a forum where trainers can ask questions and get the information they need to work successfully with their trainees. A good example of this is the question, "What is the difference between a course of action and an objective?" One response is, "A course of action represents a concise statement that describes an approach to solve a problem or pursue an opportunity." Whereas, an objective is "A brief statement that describes a desired and achievable outcome." A list of recommended objectives is attached below. Trainers who already have established their own training organization or who want to do so and integrate the ShuraForAll platform with theirs, can email us and we will work with you. The issue For more than 30 years, many countries have implemented training programs that have failed to significantly improve skill development among the world's "disadvantaged population." Among the reasons for this is the fact that most training programs are actually designed for the relatively small base of existing users of training services. The cost of training and the style and pace used to deliver content usually exceeds the means of those who could really benefit. Consequently, we find that the dominant approach to training is not effective or practical for our target market of trainees who historically have had limited access to training opportunities. Many of these people are part of the bottom 50% of the wealth distribution of the global population. Getting started All trainers are expected to study the content of the four presentations included on the Home page of this site. Additionally, they must review and obtain their best understanding of the content presented for each tool tip shown near the bottom of the Home page. Completing these activities and reading the attached documents will provide the context you need to get started. Then select the Discuss menu item from the left panel or select the Discuss icon on this page to join the question and response sessions.
What we plan to achieve This shura is intended to illustrate how the ShuraForAll tool might be used to bring people together to figure out how to use a cash waqf to address key issues in their local community. It is not based on a real community. The problem Our community continues to suffer from the unusally high number of youth who don't go to school. They are joining gangs and causing trouble. We also have way too many adults who are unemployed. Many of our families don't have access to the means to make life better for ourselves. The cause Although we have not gotten the government support we need, in many cases we fail to work together to make better use of what we have. We lack confidence in our ability to work toward changing our condition. The solution approach Fortunately, there are people inside and outside of our community who have the resources and skills to help us collectively improve our situation. We have to build trust among ourselves through working on teams that tackle specific issues. And we have to hold each other accountable to follow through on doing what we say we will do. We have learned that setting up a cash waqf can help us solve many of the financial problems we are facing, and we want to try to set one up. Our intent is to use this shura to develop and implement a plan for using a cash waqf. All stakeholders (founders, donors, beneficiaries, business owners, volunteer workers, advisors, etc.) are encouraged to actively participate in the shura as we carry out our work. Context From the first centries of Islam, the institution of waqf has widely played a vital role in the betterment of society. A waqf is generally considered to function like an endowment, which is an income or form of property given to someone or organization for a well-defined purpose. Unlike the endowments that we might already know about, the income or property put in a waqf fund belongs to Allah. This means it is our responsibility to ensure that our waqf fund is designed, implemented and managed in a sustainable way. We want to establish a cash waqf because of its natural flexibility and its ease of operation. Anyone can contribute any amount of money to a cash waqf fund. Although we certainly would like to receive contributions from those who can give larger amounts of money, it is much more important to earn the trust of a growing number of donors without regard to the size of the individual gift. Please review the attached article on the basic operation of the waqf system to get a historical perspective of its use. Our objectives The following list represents work habits and personal characteristics we hope to develop during our journey on this shura: Develop the practice of patiently persevering while working through difficult problems. Develop the practice of giving full measure and weight with equity in dealings with others. Develop the practice of looking for better ways to get things done.
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