Weak Connectors are not Dividers

People who use Do No Harm continually analyze their situations according to the issues and factors that divide individuals and groups from each other and the issues and factors that connect individuals and groups. These two basic categories of Dividers and Connectors provide them with a depth of understanding of the contexts where they work and of the impacts of their work on those contexts. Using these two categories for the basis of their program designs makes a significant difference in understanding, insight, and effectiveness.

Weak Connectors are not Dividers

How we define an issue influences the options and tactics we consider in order to work on that issue. When we define something as a Divider, we start looking for ways to stop it or to reduce it. But this is not always the appropriate response to situations where people appear “divided”.

Sometimes, when people appear “divided”, it is because a Connector is weak, not because a Divider is strong. In these cases, trying to reduce a Divider will not work. Our options need to address the actual issue.

In Myanmar, a group of development workers realized that the Village Development Committee and the teachers at the local school did not get along with one another. They quickly classified this as a Divider.

The tactical implications were clear, but difficult to implement. How could they help reduce this Divider? What exactly would they be reducing?

They reframed the problem instead as a weak Connector. They then understood that they had an opportunity to build something. When they brought this understanding to the VDC, the parents in the VDC immediately agreed to rethink their relationship with the teachers and to repair it. The local NGO agreed to find ways to support the relationship building process.

In this way a Connector was seen, then supported and increased.

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