COMMUNITY ORGANIZING AND PARTICIPATORY

ACTION RESEARCH (CO-PAR)

Community Organizing-Participatory Action Research has been the strategy used by the Human
Resource Development Program Ill (HRDP III) in implementing the Primary Health Care delivery
in depressed and underserved communities to become self-reliant.

The HRDP Ill describes community organizing as a continuous and sustained process of
educating the people to let them understand and develop their critical awareness of the existing
conditions; it is working with the people collectively and efficiently, discover their immediate
and long term problems and mobilizing the people to develop their capabilities and readiness to
respond and take action on their immediate needs toward the solution of their long term
problems.

The Philippine Center for Population and Development (PCPD) identified the objectives of
Community Organizing:

1. To make people aware of social realities toward the development of local initiative,
optimal use of human, technical and material resources, and strengthening of people's
capacities.
2. To form structures that hold the people's basic interests a: oppressed and deprived
sectors of the community and a: people bound by the interest to serve the people.
3. To initiate the responsible actions intended to address holistically the various
community health and social problems.

As applied to Primary Health Care Community Organizing is defined as the process and
structures through which members of the community are tapped to become organized for
participation in health care and community development activities. They organized them. selves
to get better health care and improve their health as part of a larger effort, to increase their
power and achieve greater social and economic equality within a larger social system.

As a process, Community Organizing is the sequence of steps whereby the members of the
community work together to critically assess and evaluate community conditions to improve
these conditions.

As a structure, it refers to the particular group of community members that work together for
common health and health- related problems.

It can be culled from this definition that it is the people who organize themselves into a working
team who can effectively solve their own health problems.

EMPHASES OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE

1. The community works to solve their own problems.
2. The direction is internal rather than external.
3. The development of the capacity to establish a project is more important than the
project.
 4. There is a consciousness-raising to perceive health and medical care within the total
structure of society.

PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH

Participatory Action Research is an investigation on problems and issues concerning life
and environment of the underprivileged by way of research collaboration with the
underprivileged whose representatives participate in the actual research as researchers
themselves, doing research of their own problem. The objective is to encourage consciousness
of the suffering and develop competence for changing their own situation and helping in the
organization building by harnessing both human and natural resources in responding to
community needs.

(PCPD 1990)

PAR is a community- directed process of gathering and analyzing information or an issue

for the process of taking actions and making changes.

(Partners in Action Research 1997 p.3)

The essential element of PAR is participation. The beneficiaries of the research are the main
actors in the research process. It enables the community to experience a collective
consciousness of their own situations. PAR involves research, education and actions to empower
people to determine the cause of their problems, analyze these problems and act by themselves
in responding to their own problems.

In PAR - there is an outside researcher, a professional one who through immersion and
integration on the community becomes a committed participant and learner in the community.

CHARACTERISTICS OF TRADITIONAL AND PARTICIPATORY

ACTION RESEARCH
TRADITIONAL
1. Research for purpose of identifying and
meeting individual needs within existing
social system.
2. Community problems or needs are
defined by experts or the external
researchers to community group and
considered neutral or non-biased.
3. The research problem is studied by the
researchers who control the research
process.
PAR
1. Research seek social transformation.
2. The research problems are defined by the
community members themselves who
are viewed as “experts of their own
reality”.
3. The community group undertakes the
investigation or research process from
data collection to analysis. External
researchers work alongside the
community group.
 4. Recommendations for the community are 4. The community formulate
based on the researcher’s findings and recommendation and action plan based
analysis. on research outcome
Partners in Action Research 1997 p.7

It can be seen from the characteristics of PAR that it is the community members who are
experiencing the problem and the ones defining their own problems. The choice of problem is
based on their immediate situation and not on the outside researcher. The researcher who is
initiating the research process assists the community but does not dominate the community.

The methodology in PAR is determined by the local culture and innovativeness of the people.
The method of data collection is through discussion among villagers, direct observations which
are jointly made by the community members and the researchers.

The results of the study are within the control of the people, they become aware of the issues
and problems that affect them. They are more capable to change their situations.

PAR addresses itself to the marginalized communities and sectors.

It aims to encourage consciousness of their suffering and develop competence for changing
their situation. It is an attempt toward organization building, harnessing the human and material
resources of the community in responding to the needs as discovered in the process.

PARTICIPANTS IN PAR
The outside researcher is a professional researcher, who is committed and a learner; active
learner rather than detached. He goes into an immersion and integration in the community. He
shares his research knowledge to encourage genuine participation but would never assume a
paternalistic authoritarian attitude but leaves the application of that knowledge to the people of
the community.

LOCAL RESEARCHER AND THE COMMUNITY

The local researchers are trained in the process of research and are made aware of the needs of
their people and committed to do something about them. The local researchers elicit active
participation from community members for collective data gathering, data analysis and action.
They are the link between the community and the outside resources.

(Partners in Action Research 1997)

HRDP COPAR PROCESS

Pre-entry Phase
 Community consultations/ dialogues
 Setting of issues/considerations related to site selection
  Development of criteria for site selection
 Site selection
 Preliminary social investigation (PSI)
 Networking with local government units (LGU's), NGOs, and other departments within
the HRDP-NGO

Entry Phase
 Integration with the community
 Sensitization of the community/ Information campaigns
 Continuing social investigation
 Core group (CG) formation
o Development of criteria for selection of CG members
o Defining the roles/functions/tasks of the CG
 Coordination/Dialogue/Consultation with other community organizations
 Self-Awareness and Leadership Training (SALT) /Action planning

Community Study/ Diagnosis Phase (Research Phase)

 Selection of the research team
 Training on data collection methods and techniques/ Capability-building (includes
development of data collection tools)
 Planning for the actual gathering of data
 Data gathering
 Training on data validation (includes tabulation and pre liminary analysis of data)
 Community validation
 Presentation of the community study / diagnosis and recommendations
 Prioritization of community needs/ problems for action

Community Organization and Capability-Building Phase

 Community meetings to draw up guidelines for the organization of the CHO
 Election of officers
 Development of management systems and procedures, including delineation of the
roles, functions and tasks of officers and members of the CHO
 Team building/ Action-Reflection-Action (ARA)
 Working out legal requirements for the establishment of the CHO
 Organization of working committees/ task groups (e.g., education and training,
membership of committees)
 Training of the CHO officers/ community leaders
Community Action Phase
 Organization and training of community health workers (CHWs)
o Development of criteria for the selection of CHWs
o Selection of CHWs
o Training of CHWs
 Setting up of linkages/network referral systems
 PIME of health services / intervention schemes and community development projects
 Initial identification and implementation of resource mobilization schemes

Sustenance and Strengthening Phase

 Formulation and ratification of constitution and by-laws
 Identification and development of "secondary" leaders
 Setting up and institutionalization of financing scheme for community health program/
activities
 Formalizing and institutionalization of linkages, networks and referral systems
 Development and implementation of viable management systems and procedures,
committees, continuing education/ training of leaders, CHWs, community residents
 Continuing education and upgrading of community leaders, CHWs, and CHO members
 Development of medium/long term community health and development plans.

(HRDP III Handout)