Joshua Alexander L.

Mallary, RN, OTRP, MAEd

COPAR defined
 Community Organizing Participatory Action
Research is a social developmental
approach that aims to transform the
apathetic, the individualistic and voiceless
poor into dynamic, participatory and
politically responsive community
 It is developed to make health services
accessible and available for depressed and
underserved communities in the
Philippines.
APPROACHES TO
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
 Welfare Approach
 Modernization Approach
 Transformatory/Participatory Approach
Welfare Approach
 The immediate and/or spontaneous
response to ameliorate the
manifestation of poverty, especially on
the personal level.
 Assumes that poverty is God-given,
hence the poor should accept their
condition since they will receive their just
reward in heaven.
Modernization Approach
 Project development approach
introduces whatever resources that are
lacking in a given community
 Assumes that development consists of
abandoning the traditional methods of
doing things and must adopt the
technology of industrial countries.
Transformatory Approach
 The process of empowering/
transforming the poor and the
oppressed sectors of society so that
they can pursue a more just and
humane society.
 Assumes that poverty is not God-given
rather it is rooted in the historical past
and is maintained by the oppressive
structure in society
COPAR Importance
 COPAR is an important tool for community
development and people empowerment as
this helps the community workers to
generate community participation in
developmental activities.
 COPAR prepares people to eventually take
over the management of a development
program in the future.
 COPAR maximizes community
participation and involvement
COPAR principles
 People especially the most oppressed ,
exploited and deprived sectors are open
to change, have the capacity to change
and are able to bring about change.
 COPAR should be bases upon the
interests of the poorest sectors of
society.
 COPAR should lead to a self reliant
community and society.
COPAR Process
 A progressive cycle of action-reflection-
action which begins with small, local and
concrete issues identified by the people
and the evaluation and the reflection of and
on the action taken by them.

 Consciousness through experimental

learning central to the COPAR process
because it places emphasis on learning
that emerges from concrete action and
which enriches succeeding action
COPAR Process
 COPAR is participatory and mass-based
because it is primarily directed towards
and biased in favor of the poor, the
powerless and the oppressed.

 COPAR is group centered and not

leader oriented . Leaders are identified,
emerged and are tested through action
rather than appointed or selected by
some external force or entity.
COPAR Critical Steps
 Integration  Role Play
 Social Investigation  Mobilization or
 Tentative Program Action
Planning  Evaluation
 Ground working  Reflection
 The Meeting  Organization
INTEGRATION
 Living with the people to experience and
understand their culture economy,
leaders , history and lifestyle.
SOCIAL INVESTIGATION
 Collecting, collating and analyzing data
in a systematic process in order to draw
a clear picture of the community.
TENTATIVE PROGRAM
PLANNING
 Choosing an issue to work on in order
to begin organizing the people
GROUNDWORKING
 Continuously going around and
motivating the people on a one-on-one
basis to do something on the issues that
has been chosen.
MEETING
 An opportunity for the people to
collectively gain the power of confidence
by discussing their problems and issues.
ROLE PLAY
 Training the people through simulated
activities to anticipate what will happen
and prepare themselves for such
eventuality.
MOBILIZATION or ACTION
 Actual experiences of people in
confronting the powerful and the actual
exercise of people power.
EVALUATION
 The people reviewing the previous steps
to determine whether they were
successful or not in their objectives.
REFLECTION
 Discussion of the factors that facilitated
or hindered the activity, done at the end
of every activity.
ORGANIZATION
 The result of many successive and
similar actions of the people
PRE-ENTRY PHASE
 The initial phase of the organizing
process where the community/organizer
looks for communities to serve/help.
Activities:
 Designing a plan for community
development including all activities and
strategies for care development
 Designing criteria for selection of site
 Actually selecting the site for community
care
PLANNING
 Planning is futuristic
 Planning is change oriented
 Planning is a continuous and dynamic
process
 Planning is flexible
 Planning is a systematic process
The Planning Cycle
Situational Analysis
“Where are we now?”

 Gather health data

 Tabulate, analyze and interpret data

 Identify health problems

 Set priority
Goal and Objective Setting
“Where do we want to go?”

 Define program goals and objectives

 Assign priorities among objectives

Strategy and Activity Setting
“How do we get there?”

 Design CHN programs

 Ascertain resources

 Analyze constraints and limitations

Evaluation
“How do we know we are there?”

 Determine outcomes

 Specify Criteria and Outcomes

Program Evaluation
 Deciding what to evaluate in terms of
relevance, progress, effectivity, impact and
efficiency.
 Designing the evaluation plan specifying the
evaluation indicators, data needed, methods
and tools for data collection and data sources
 Collection of relevant data
 Analyzing data
 Making decisions
 Preparing report and providing decision-
makers feedback
CRITERIA FOR SELECTION
 Area is relatively economically depressed
 It must have a population of 100-200
families
 It must have a relative concentration of poor
people
 There is not strong resistance from the
community
CRITERIA… continued
 Peace and order problems must be
seriously considered
 Local leaders and community are
receptive and supportive.
 COPAR is feasible for the elimination or
reduction of diseases.
 Area must have relatively high
prevalence of diseases.
The decision to enter a community and establish a
helping/working relationship with the people should be
based on the following:
 Clarity and purpose of the relationship between
the community organized and the people in the
community through initial dialogues with formal
and informal leaders.
 The identification of social/health problems and
needs around which the organizing process can
start.
 Community’s desire for the need to change and
its willingness to work with the community health
nurse to bring about desired changes
ENTRY PHASE
 Social Preparation Phase which includes:
SENSITIZATION
MOBILIZATION

 This phase signals the actual entry of the

community health nurse into the community
Guidelines:
 The CHN recognizes the role of local
authorities by paying them visits to
inform them of their presence and
activities.
 The appearance, speech, behavior and
lifestyle should be in keeping with those
of the community residents without
disregard of being role models.
 Avoids raising the consciousness of the
community residents by adopting a low-
key profile
SENSITIZATION: Advocacy
building
 Informing the people about the rightness
of the cause
 Thoroughly discussing with the people
the nature of the alternatives, their
content and possible consequences.
 Supporting people’s rights to make a
choice and to act on their choice
 Influencing public opinion.
A. Social Investigation/ Community
Scanning
 The process of systematically learning
and analyzing the various structures and
forces in the community economically,
politically and socioculturally.
 These results in a community study
write up also known as a Community
Diagnosis.
Objectives:
 To gather geographic, economic, socio-
cultural situation of the community in order
to identify and understand the problems and
issues that need immediate and long term
solutions.
 To identify the class sectors present in the
community in order to determine their
interest and attitudes towards the problems
and issues in the community
Objectives… continued
 To determine the correct approach and
method of organizing.
 To provide a basis for programming and
planning or organizing activities.
Steps in Community Analysis
 Define the community
 Collect Data
 Assess community capacity
 Assess community barriers
 Assess readiness for change
 Synthesis data and set priorities
B.1. Leadership Identification
 Should belong to the majority sector
 Well respected by members and has
relatively wide influence.
 Desirous of change and is willing to work for
change
 Conscientious and resourceful in his work.
 Can communicate well and is a good
listener
B.2 Core Group Formation
 Serve as a training ground for democratic and
collective leadership
 Builds people’s potentials and self-confidence
 Helps the CHN gather data for genuine
community studies, spotting other potential
leaders and prospective members for a
community-wide organization.
 Helps laying out plans and task for the formation
and maintenance of a community-wide
organization with working committees, and
offers to ensure democratic collective leadership
Organizational Structures
 Leadership board or council
 Coalition
 “Lead” or official agency
 Grass-roots
 Citizen Panels
 Networks and Consortia
C. Problem identification and
Analysis
 Scope/Degree of the problem
 Effects of the problem on operations of
the community
 How members feel individually and
collectively
 Factors that maintain/increase or
eliminate the problem
 Problem prioritization
D. Goal Setting/Planning and
Strategizing
 How much? (quantity of resources)
 Of what? (programs, projects, services)
 For whom? (target beneficiaries, clients)
 Why? (to achieve what goals)
 For how much? (the social and
economic costs)
 What conditions? (with what other
consequences)
Guidelines in Strategizing
 Principal issue or problem
 Solution of problem
 Strengths and weaknesses
 Other secondary issues
 Larger outside issues
ORGANIZATION BUILDING
PHASE
 Entails the formation of more formal
structures and the inclusion of more
formal procedures of planning,
implementation and evaluating
community-wide activities.
 It is at this phase that organized leaders
or groups are given training to develop
their skills in managing their own
concerns/programs
Conflict Situations
 Issue Spotting and Analysis
 Target Analysis
 Planning
 Role Playing
Monitoring and Evaluation:
Quantitative Analysis
 General description
Total number of families
Number of families being serviced
Number of organizations/groups being serviced
Membership/Organization
 Listing of activities
People’s issues being handles, collected, on-
going and potential
Mobilization/negotiation undertaken
Meeting/Reflection sessions held
Seminars/Conventions
Monitoring and Evaluation:
Qualitative Analysis
 Area description
General information (population, sectors etc)
Economic conditions
Political situation
Cultural milieu, educational level, values and
attitudes
 Issues
Origin of issues
Reason/s for the choice of the issue
Gains achieved in realizing the issue
Perspective of the issues if it is still unresolved
Monitoring and Evaluation:
Qualitative Analysis… continued
 Organizations/groups
Knowledge gained
Involvement/Outlook of the people
 Attitudinal Changes (indicators)
From fear and apathy to courage
Form ignorance to creative thinking
From egoistic to sense of solidarity
From dependence to self reliance
From paternalism and authoritarianism to
democratic leadership
SUSTENANCE and
STRENGTHENING PHASE
 The community organization has been
established and community members
are actively participating in community-
wide undertakings.
Strategies:
 Education and training
 Networking and Linkaging
 Conduct of Mobilization on health and
development concerns
 Implementation of livelihood projects
 Developing secondary leaders
Education and Training
 Conducting community diagnosis
 Training of community health workers
 Health services and mobilization
 Leadership formation activities
Health Promotion and Health Education

 The PHN recognizes the role of a

healthy lifestyle in the prevention of a
number of health problems and
integrates healthy lifestyle in the
different health programs
 The PHN plans, conducts and evaluates
health promotion and health education
activities properly.
 The PHN demonstrates the knowledge
and skills on:
How to advocate for healthy public policy.\
Creating supportive environments
Strengthening community action
Developing client’s personal skills.
Networking and Linkaging:
Partnership and Collaboration
 Networking
 Coordination
 Cooperation
 Collaboration
 Coalition or Multi-sectoral Collaboration
General ideas in establishing partnership

 Involve all stakeholders in the process of

forging partnership and collaboration with
the community.
 Partnership involves risks therefore nurse
and community must trust each other.
 Determine how each organization views the
problem, how it proposes to solve the
problem and how it perceives an
organizational relationship can help solve
the problem
 Organizations should agree on the kind or
level or relationship that will help best
accomplish the group goals considering
needs and available resources.
 Formulate ground rules that will become the
basis for decision making.
Listen to what each has to say
Take time to listen to people who voice different
opinions and concern
Don’t force organizations to give up their
identities
Maintaining and Consolidating
Gains of the program
 Integrate intervention activities into
community networks.
 Establish a positive organizational
culture
 Establish an ongoing recruitment plan
 Disseminate results