LESSON 1 : THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITY &

COMMUNITY ACTION

 The Living Commune

o Location - Group of individuals bound within specific geographic location.
o Social identification - Example of a collective that identifies common traits,
goals, or customs.
 A community is a living social entity and goes beyond the old categorization of space.
o Living organism - Our society has life, vibrancy, and everyone is as integral to
support the structure.
o Organic being - Community takes on different periods of evolution as it survives.
 The environment molds the collective in accordance to the demands of survival.
 The environment shapes it to its most optimal social composition and form.
 The synergy of self, community and the environment is organic. It is the challenge that
confronts all communities in general.
 Compromising the actors, trivialities and circumstances into an effective social
machinery composed of living parts is the main obstacle.

THE BASICS OF A COMMUNITY

 Community Participation - Individuals contribute in projects through act of

volunteerism. They should be an active member by taking part in managerial and
organizational development (conceptualization, plannin, operationalization, review of
initiatives)
 Self-Help - How individuals seek personal development without the help of others. Each
individual wants and needs intersects, justifying a need to unify.
 Ownership - Community members may posses. The level of commitment and
accountability that an individual has for the community. The level of involvement the
community and its members hold in the most basic operational structures (governmental,
non-governmental, formal, informal)
 Inclusion - Integral in binding the collective into a whole. It echoes the need for the
community to be compromising and tolerant of the differences. It's about conciliation that
reaches beyond norms of collective understanding. Goal is to reacch social equity among
the members.
o Social - Interactions
o Economic - Volunteer
o Political - Influence
 Access and Equity - The goals of commune must strive for to create a better society.
Implies the ease in which individuals and groups can attain basic necessities and
resources without descimination and prejudice, and provide power and protection among
the citizens.

THE COMMUNITY AS A MOVEMENT

  Community - Bound by a plethora of compromises that are commonly accepted and
continually reinforced.
 Social Movement - Exists of a cause that manifests as a reaction to an event. A pre-
existing popular rhetoric among the community members.
 Both embodies a perspective, identity, and a stand.
 Advocacy —> Networking —> Social Action
o Advocacy - Formed by community and its leaders. Includes topics where people
are compelled to push for value-specific agendas that are shared through their
supporters.
o Networking - The spirit of collaboration where groups and individuals from
various walks of life comes together to form linkages that are important for
mobilization and value creation.
o Social Action - Addressess the issues of status quo through planning,
conceptualization, operationalization, and implementation.

GAINS FROM UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITY DYNAMICS

 Provides benchmarking data - The data illustrates the preliminary picture or image of
the community. It serves as the initial community situation or briefer.
 Provides preliminary project planning information - Understands community
dynamics.