MODULE

9
SOCIAL AND RESOURCES MOBILIZATION

Learning Objective:
1. To be able to inculcate to NSTP- CWTS students the
importance of social and resources mobilization as they
conduct community immersion in the second semester.
2. To help the students realize their significance as they
become community mobilizer/catalyst in Social and
Resources Mobilization.
3. To assist the students in doing their part as one of the
organizer/s stakeholders of the social mobilization.

Methodology : Lecture-discussion

Content : Social Mobilization: An Approach in the Implementation

of Civic Welfare And Training Services
The concept of social mobilization
Stakeholders of the social mobilization
Key elements of social mobilization
The benefits of social mobilization
Best result of social mobilization

Time Allotment : 3 hours

CONCEPT OF SOCIAL MOBILIZATION

The concept of social mobilization emerged from the recognition that a genuine
participatory to development is essential for success and sustainability. Civil society
participation in development efforts is, therefore, increasingly recognized by agencies
and governments as essential for promoting good governance- improving responsiveness
of national policies and programs to citizen’s needs and ensuring transparency and
accountability in policy- making and implementation processes of such programs like the
Civic Welfare Training Service. Genuine participation of people involved and the
citizen’s, however, is very necessary and goes beyond dialogue with or contracting a few
non- governmental organizations. It must engage all citizens (men and women, in their
various capacities, socio- economic status, affiliations and locations) beyond elections to
active participation in making decisions that affect their lives. Involving people requires
efforts and mechanisms that can empower all but, most especially, the disadvantaged
members of society to participate effectively in developmental processes.

The social mobilization concept requires working hand- in- hand with individuals,
organizations, policy makers and communities to forge a collective identity to achieve
common goals. It is through this process that people at various levels of society engage in
dialogue and negotiation wherein collective action emanates. It is also an approach that
involves planned actions and processes to reach, influence and involve all relevant
segments of society across all sectors from the national to community levels in order to
effect positive behavior and social change.

Social mobilization is also an approach and tool for the Civic Welfare Training
Group to adopt whichever can help people organize for collective action by pooling
resources and building the solidarity required to resolve common problems and work
towards community advancement. It is a process that empowers men and women to
organize their own democratically self- governing groups or community organizations
which enable them to initiate and control their own personal and communal development.
It is a process of taking action to influence behavior to positively affect social change at
all levels of society.

Effective social mobilization goes beyond community organizations, harnessing

the potential and efforts of government, non- governmental sectors and citizens to work
towards sustainable social, economic and political development. The benefits of social
mobilization to community organizations and its impact locally and nationally can be best
sustained within an enabling political, policy and regulatory environment where
mechanisms for linking experiences and lessons at the community level to policy are
developed.

Social mobilization as a whole aims to involve all the people in the communities
and empower them to act at the grassroots level. The outcomes should be the people’s
active involvement ranging from identifying a need to implementation in achieving the
development objective and evaluation effort. Simply stated, social mobilization calls for a
journey among partners and results in the successful transformation of development goals
into societal action.
The societal mobilization strategy calls for partnership with all stakeholders which
are the following:

1. Political-policy makers
Advocacy in this group helps foster the commitment that will clear the
way for action. The goal here is to build consensus with sound data, to create
a knowledgeable and supportive environment for decision- making, including
the allocation of adequate resources.

2. Bureaucratic/ Technocratic- government workers and technical experts

Policy makers depend on the technocrats, bureaucrats, and service
professionals to provide the rationale for decisions as well as to plan and
implement programs. This sector includes disparate groups, each with its own
agenda, conflicting interests and concerns.

3. Non-governmental sector
This covers a multitude of interests. Non- governmental organizations
for special purposes, social institutions and associations that represent
organized support, religious groups with their ideological bends, commerce
and industry that operate on for- profit basis and professional groups that exist
to advance their interests are here.

4. Community groups
Community leaders, schools, churches, mosques, and grassroots
groups are critical to get communities involved. They help transform
development goals into action. Popular participation takes place here.

5. Households and individuals

Individual actions are the ultimate pay- off of the health program. In
the household, where such behavioral actions take place, key individuals in
traditional society often hold sway. There is a need for a deliberate action to
inform and educate individuals in the household, so that they can make
informed choices.

KEY ELEMENTS OF SOCIAL MOBILIZATION

1. Organizational Development
It is a process in which community members, especially the poor, form their
own groups or organizations based on common development interests and
needs that are best served in organizing themselves as a group.

2. Capital formation for development through Community Savings

This enhances a community organization’s power to realize its full potential.
“Savings generated by individual members are the assets of the community
organization and are the first step towards their self- reliance” (Pandey, 2002)
 Accumulated savings can be used for internal credit with interest, to enable
individual members to engage in income generation activities. They can also
be used for enterprise development at the community level.

3. Training for Human Resource Development

Community members can maximize their potential not only by organizing
themselves but also by upgrading their existing skills to better manage new
inputs- business and community initiatives- and establish effective links with
local governments and other sectors. Local human resource development can
be best promoted when trained individuals take up the responsibility to train
other community members.

4. Socio- economic development

Socio- economic development initiatives are a great incentive for community
members to organize themselves. It is important, therefore, that an initiative
which includes social mobilization provide support in the form of matching
grants or access to credit, marketing and other services that will lead to
tangible improvements in social economic conditions within the community if
well facilitated, this process can result in increased institutional capacity,
enhanced social status and voice (especially for disadvantaged people,
including women, the poor and youth). These results, in turn, motivate people
to remain organized as they begin to enjoy the benefits of collective action
and recognize its potential to create or influence change in their communities.

BENEFITS OF SOCIAL MOBILIZATION

1. For Poverty Alleviation

Social mobilization is an important tool in the poverty alleviation process,
as it enables communities and the poor to help themselves to engage actively
in solving their own problems and effectively tackling poverty in its multi-
dimensional form.

2. For promoting Democratic Governance

Social mobilization must be institutionalized within government for it to
be effective. This would encourage participation in decision- making, build
capacity for participatory planning, build a common vision on development
and ensure transparency.
Creating demand for good governance through social mobilization must
be complemented with increased capacity of the local government to manage
and effectively respond to this demand and improve its governance practices
Capacity- building efforts must therefore target civil society organizations
(including CBOs, elected representatives, etc) and government.
 3. For Environment
Social mobilization organizes people to better manage their natural
resources and fight against illegal practices of organizations that degrade the
environment, through promoting appropriate legal, regulatory and institutional
frameworks and policy dialogue.

4. For Conflict Prevention

As people organize to address common problems, and to collectively
improve their socio- economic conditions in an equitable, democratic and
transparent manner, the possibility of conflict can be significantly reduced.

Social mobilization is said to be best effective when it reveals that:

1. The organized people representing different ethnic group act as a vehicle to

develop social harmony and peace and increase the general capacity of the
people for self- empowerment. Full participation at the grass- roots is only
possible if the rural people are organized.

2. A properly designed community mobilization process leads community

members, both male and female, to the emergence of self- governing
institutions which act as the sustainable organizations for co-operation, peace
and development, helping people to enhance their receiving and utilizing
capacities and also to work together for household and community initiatives.

3. The result of the social mobilization process is that people get organized to
work together if they live in close proximity and share common interests for
community development. The foremost requirement in this process is that
people organize themselves into a broad based and multi- purpose and multi-
ethnic Community Organization (CO).

4. The Community Organization is a mass coalition of all those residents of a

village whose continuing economic and social interests are best served
organizing themselves as a group. Such an organization can be created around
an activity of importance to most of the villagers. Before one becomes a
member of CO, the individual struggles against a harsh environment. Once he/
she is organized in a broad- based group, the individual has the leverage with
which to address and tackle problems, which he/ she could not have done
alone. The group can function in various fields depending on the needs of the
village or community.

5. Social mobilization is based on the active participation of all households

without any discrimination. For preventive development to be effective,
mobilization should cover each member of the community, irrespective of the
ethnic group, economic group or different settlements at the lower level.
Social harmony will be best achieved by forming social capital through multi-
 ethnic and multi- economic group community organizations which will be
engaged in multi- sectoral development for themselves and their villages.

SELF- TEST (INTEGRATING ACTIVITY)

Questions:

1. What is the main objective of the topic: Social Resources Mobilization?

2. Define social mobilization.
3. What are the key elements of social mobilization?
4. Give the benefits of the social mobilization.
5. As a NSTP-CWTS student, what role would you like to perform in social
mobilization so that you can be of help in the development of a community?

REFERENCE

National Development via National Service Training Program (CWTS & ROTC)
Sonia Gasilla- dela Cruz (2002)