Community Engagement, Solidarity and Citizenship

Quarter 2 Handouts #4

Advantages and Disadvantages of Community Action Plan

Advantages
1. Strong participation from the local community
2. By implementing community action, the solutions for existing problems will come from the community itself and
hence, will better cater the needs of the people.
3. Guarantees that all relevant groups participate in the activities.
4. Guarantees the acceptance and support from the local community.

Disadvantages:
1. Requires time and resources to involve all relevant stakeholders in the process.
2. Finding consensus among community member with varying age groups can be very difficult.
3. Community action plans won’t be effective enough without motivating the people in the community to give their full
support for the program/activity.

Elements of Action Plan

1. Specific- Objectives need to be clear and detailed.
2. Measurable- Outcomes must be what the person really wants.
- Outcomes should produce tangible rewards.
3. Agreeable - For the citizens to agree, the activity proposed in the action plan must be something that will greatly
benefit the rest of the people in the community.
4. Realistic -The needed resources must be readily available in the locality.
5. Time-specific - Deadline for achieving each stage should be set.
6. Supportive back-up - A helping relationship is always useful. Moreover, the details on what kind of support to be
offered must be clearly spelled out.

Steps in Preparing an Action Plan

1. The goal must be clearly defined. You must start by discussing what you want to achieve. Analyze the situation well
and try to brainstorm with colleagues for possible solutions before choosing the best option.
Specify the goal:
1. Specific- what do you want to do? write out clear, concise goals.
2. Measurable- how will you know when you’ve reached it? the ability to track your progress.
3. Attainable / Achievable – is it in your power to accomplish it? set challenging, yet achievable goals.
4. Realistic – can you realistically achieve it? set goals that are relevant to your overall life plan.
5. Timely - when exactly do you want to accomplish it? goal has target finish time attached.

2. List down the steps to be followed.

3. Create a rough template to list down all the tasks to be performed, due date, and people responsible.
4. Prioritizing the task and setting the deadline.
- Reorganized the list of task to be organized. Don’t forget to consult the responsible for carrying out the task to
understand his/her capacity before setting the deadline.
5. Set the milestones
- One should also consider mini goals leading to the main goal at the end. This is an advantage in adding milestone
to give the team members something to look forward to.
6. Identify the resources needed.
- This is the mist crucial point to ensure that all necessarily resources are available.
7. Visualize the course of action
- Creating something that everyone understands. Action comes in the shape of flowcharts or tables which clearly
communicate the elements to identify tasks, task owner and resources.
8. Monitor, evaluate and update
-Allocate a specific time to evaluate the performance of the team.
-Mark the tasks which are already accomplished.
 Partnerships among people. In order to accomplish the goals and objectives in the plan, the people involved must
establish unity and commitment. It is important that the involved people develop good relations and trust one
another.
 Budget. Financial resources are usually necessary to develop and carry out a community action plan. Therefore, it is
important to develop a budget plan that describes the expenses for carrying out the action plan. What you include in
the budget should match the proposed strategies and activities.
 Close alignment with the community’s mission and vision. The vision that was developed during the community
assessment process reflects where the community wants to be headed. The mission is the purpose of your group.
During the writing of the action plan, the writers work from the vision and the mission to identify several major goals
(priority or strategic) that must be reached. These, in total, work toward the vision and the mission.