Teams and tasks

To build the necessary teams involves identifying colleagues from all relevant stakeholder groups with a keen interest in promoting Mossaic and who have the requisite expertise.

Three types of team need to be established

• Mossaic core unit (MCU). This typically comprises local government agency expert practitioners and project managers in the fields of civil engineering, social development and community outreach, emergency management, financial management, water resource management, and agriculture. The MCU acts as the bridge between regional and national initiatives for risk reduction, the government technical and field task teams, and the communities. To be effective in its role, the MCU must have an understanding of the relational nature of the community—its key players, leaders, groups, and elected representatives; and its relationships with government, especially in terms of previous social intervention activities.
• Government task teams. Teams will include a number of groups of specialists and practitioners such as GIS technicians, field survey technicians, community liaison officers, local engineers, and planning officers. The leaders of the various government task teams are likely to be MCU members.
• Community task teams. The three main constituents from the community will be residents, contractors, and community leaders. Community leaders can play a catalytic part in projects: conveying the vision to other residents and coordinating with government teams.

In some cases, an  individual with particular skills and an understanding of the project’s technical aspects can act as a catalyst and raise awareness of slope management issues in his or her own and other communities. Such understanding establishes appropriate consultative channels at the start of the intervention, and ensures that expectations are appropriately set in terms of outcomes and likely beneficiaries.