Empowering destitute people towards transforming communities

4“Inside-out” missions that empower people to become self-motivated to change

There is an inherent intentionality in missions with the destitute, a purpose which should include (among other defining principles):

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  A drive by helpers to realize God’s preferential option for the poor.
  
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  A desire amongst helpers to discover SHALOM as it applies in the life of individual destitute persons, together with the destitute themselves.
  
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  A drive by helpers to help destitute people to grow, transform, develop and change their own lives.
  
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  A respect by helpers for people’s own choices, and the dreams that they would choose to realize in their own lives.
  

This purpose implies “change”, but a change that the destitute bring about in their own lives because they have been empowered to become self-motivated to change. The role of helpers consequently becomes one of facilitating a process and creating an environment in which destitute people can become motivated to change. Henry Steel Commager (in Braude, 1968: 45) observed: “Change does not necessarily assure progress, but progress implacably requires change”.

If the purpose of such missions is governed by these defining principles, they will truly be missions with the destitute. To realize this purpose helpers need to be able to empower people to become self-motivated to change. This in turn calls for an understanding of what motivates people.

4.1Understanding what motivates people

No person can make a choice for another – if we did, we would be talking about coercion, not choice. However, as helpers we can motivate people towards different choices by means of influencing. How do we do this without forcing our agendas on the destitute, or without disrespecting their dignity and personhood?
The answer lies in identifying with the destitute while continuously trying to understand them (by means of outreach and engagement). Once trust develops between helpers and people, motivation comes into play. So, when it comes to motivation, let us try to understand the destitute. Imagine you have a dream and hopes, but your situation continuously makes it impossible to realize these dreams. You feel trapped in a poverty that dashes dreams and hopes to pieces. Would you continue dreaming, or would you become despondent? Obviously you would feel despondent and downtrodden.
Imagine then that someone crosses your path, and introduces you to the possibility of making your dreams come true. Suddenly you start thinking differently, your despondency lifts, and hope is rekindled. You become motivated to change, to start realizing your dreams. And so the journey starts.
This represents motivating change: the process where helpers challenge destitute people to dream again, and where they try to present the destitute with opportunities and possibilities to make those dreams come true. What happens then is that destitute people become motivated (internally) to start working at realizing their own dreams.
Wessels (1989: 62) defines motivation as the power/ force that drives people to specific behaviour (rather than other possible choices of behaviour). This force constitutes a variety of components, such as needs and desires, goals, cognition, self-image and the environment. These components dynamically interact to motivate the individual either positively or negatively (attracting or repelling certain behavioural patterns) in various situations, and at different times. Every individual is therefore motivated towards certain types of behaviour by a pattern unique to that person (1989:62)
In a study of motivation as a general phenomenon undertaken by Runkle, Osterholm, Hoban, McAdam, and Tull (2000:167-173), they discern the following components:

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  needs and desires
  
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  goals
  
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  cognition
  
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  self-image and
  
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  the environment.
  

In this respect, as Wessels (1989:64) states, components of motivation interact with each other and lead to a unique motivational pattern in each individual. Likewise McNamara (2007:1) indicates that different people exhibit different motivators. For example, some people are motivated by more money, others by more recognition, time off from work, promotions, and opportunities for learning, opportunities for socializing and relationships, etc. “Therefore, when attempting to motivate people, it's important to identify what motivates them. Ultimately, though, long-term motivation comes from people motivating themselves” (McNamara, 2007:1).

Csikszentmihalyi (2002:1) distinguishes between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation exists where one does things that one does not enjoy, so that one can enjoy other things afterwards. For example, a destitute person might be begging (something they don’t enjoy), in order to obtain money so that they can buy food or do something else that they do enjoy.

Intrinsic motivation is present where one does things one enjoys, primarily because one likes what one is doing. The reward is consequently in the activity itself: for instance, a destitute person learning a skill because they like doing something. Csikszentmihalyi (2002:2) contends that activities done in a team (group, community) are most likely to promote intrinsic motivation, since they are considered by participants to be the most enjoyable.

Hence it stands to reason that people can more easily be motivated to do something they enjoy, especially when they can do it together with other people.

Hanks (1991:92) adds that we must understand people’s needs if we really want to empower them to become self motivated. He expresses this in an interesting way: “You may ‘think’ you know what you ‘want’ – but fail to see the ‘need’ that drives your ‘wants!’”

In understanding what motivates destitute people from a needs perspective, basic survival must count as a strong factor that motivates their behaviour, their drive for the next bit of food, or shelter. This is the reason why destitute people will often beg (in the process losing something of their dignity). There is also a drive to connect: destitute people will often connect to other destitute persons for protection, or company, or out of a need to belong. Entrapment in the poverty cycle must also play a role, especially when it lasts for a long time; living in poverty consequently becomes a programmed way of living, in this way becoming an underlying factor that motivates the behaviour of destitute people. The poverty cycle traps people in a way that limits them to knowing poverty as the only way to live, thereby disabling them from growing into another way of life on their own.