COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT,

SOLIDARITY AND CITIZENSHIP

COMMUNITY DYNAMICS and COMMUNITY ACTION
Objectives :
• 1. Cite the importance of community dynamic.
• 2. Share significant community-based activities
describing the community life.
• 3. Identify the importance of studying the community
action.
Take time and look at the photo above. Is the common façade familiar to you?
Have you ever wandered around your own community? Have you ever thought
deeply and realized what is really happening?
 VOCABULARY:
Community - The word community was derived from the Latin
word communis, which means “common” or “shared”.
Community Action - is any activity that aims to increase the
understanding, engagement and empowerment of communities
for the intention of giving services to people.
Community Dynamics - The changes in the community brought
about by social, cultural and environmental experiences whether
it is positive or negative development that impacts within the
community.
Empowerment - enable the people to independently decide,
plan-out and take action to control the situation they have in the
community.
Non-geographical Community - It is a community formed
based on needs, ideas, interests, identity, practices, and roles in
social institutions.
Geographical Community - It is a community where members
share the same geographical vicinity such as a village, province
or neighborhood.
Micro-level community - A community wherein a group is
formed based on personal ties.
Social Capital - is a positive product of human interaction. The
network of relationships within particular society, to function
effectively.
What is Community and Why is there a Need in
Studying this?
Individuals having significant interaction within a specified area
becomes one of the contributory factors in forming community.
The word community was derived from the Latin word communis
which means “common” or “shared”.
Communities may also be in two levels:
1.Micro-level community - a group is formed based on personal ties.
This may include groups formed for pursuing common interests or
goals like forming a small organization to hold a fund-raising activity
such as concerts.
2.Macro-level - large group affiliation is formed such as national
communities, international communities, and virtual communities.
Companies and corporations may develop various programs that would
include different members across the country.
 The following are the importance of studying
community:
1. It motivates people to work together – people feel a sense of
community and recognize the benefits of their involvement.
2. It encourages social, religious, or traditional obligations for
mutual help.
3. People see a genuine opportunity to better their own lives and
for the community.
4. It understands policies promoting community participation that
values social capital.
5. Community participation could be understood as the direct
involvement of citizenry in the affairs of planning, governance, and
overall development programs at local or grassroot levels.
Understanding community life makes us value the things we
have on a daily basis, social encounter constructs reality and
affects some changes within – this is Community Dynamics.
The changes in the community are brought about by social,
cultural and environmental experiences whether it is positive
or negative development that impacts within the community.
People adopt the changes and it has shaped their way of life.

Have you noticed some recent changes in your

community?
What is Community Action?
Community Action - is any activity that aims to increase the
understanding, engagement and empowerment of communities
for the intention of giving services to people.
There are 3-key points in grasping the definition more meaningful:
1.Understanding – raise an awareness about certain communal
issues that needs to be addressed. People develop the feeling of
involvement once they truly comprehend the situation within.
They come together to support advocacies that will overcome
community needs and difficulties.
2.Engagement – Once issues are assessed properly and people in
the community understand the needs, they work collaboratively
to act on it. The main goal of engaging in the community is to
improve the partnership and coalitions among the community. It
is important that engagement occurs so that members will be able
to involve meaningfully in the activities that they have created.
3.Empowerment – enable the people to independently decide,
plan-out and take action to control the situation they have in the
community. This means, initiative and decisions come from
internal group organized for the benefit of everyone. It is also
necessary that the community can provide significant networks
and linkages that will genuinely serve the advocacies that they
have built.
Modified TRUE or FALSE: Examine the underlined word from the
given statements below. Write T if the statement is True and F if the
statement is False. If false, write the correct word or words to make
the statement correct.

_______ 1. One of the importance in studying the community is that the

people see an opportunity to understand the policies within and values
cultural capital.
_______2. The interaction taking place in the community is community
dynamics itself.
_______3. Changes in the community can be brought about by social,
cultural and historical experiences.
_______4. Geographical communities are formed based on needs, ideas,
interests and identity, practices and roles in social institutions.
_______5. Macro-level perspectives are focused on pursuing common
interests or goals like forming a small organization to hold an advocacy.
_____ 6. Empowerment is to raise awareness about certain
communal issues that needs to be addressed.
_____ 7. Community Action is any activity that aims to
increase the understanding, involvement and empowerment
of communities for the intention of giving services to people.
_____8. It is important to identify the different needs of the
community that should be addressed.
_____9. People in a community share something in common.
____10. It is important that engagement occurs so that
members will be able to involve meaningfully in the activities
that they have created.