Community Engagement Reviewer

Lesson 1: IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDING COMMUNITYDYNAMICS AND

COMMUNITY ACTION

Definition of Community

Communities are generally defined by their common cultural heritage, language,

beliefs and shared interests. They may be classified as small such as the small
place-based community of a barangay or coastal village, or large such as region,
state or nation (Murphy & Cunningham, 2003). This section focuses on small
communities. It is derived from the Latin word communitas meaning “fellowship”. Its
Latin roots, communis, means “common.” Com translates to “with” or “together”;
whereas munire translates to “to strengthen”, “to fortify”, or “to defend.”

Importance of Understanding a Community and its Gains

1. Provides benchmarking data

Before having community actions and/or interventions, it is

important to have preliminary pictures of the situation of the
community.

2. Provides preliminary project planning information

It includes strategies and actions to enhance the quality of life in a community.

3. Provides an idea of the community’s strengths and challenges

It gives the Community-based Project Development Team (CPDT) ideas to make

the panned project more feasible and realistic.

4. Provides an opportunity to understand the community’s dominant rules

and norms

It increases the intensity or degree of reaction and sensitivity towards the

members of the community.

5. Provides an occasion to gauge the attitude and behavior of the

community

If attitudes and behaviour are understood, the CPDT is given ideas whether the
project is acceptable to the community or not.
6. Provides a way for a more directed and well-informed dialogue with the
community

It allows the community to be informed of the project and

encourages them to participate in the decision making.

7. Makes networking and partnership building more favorable

It builds connections and linkages to other stakeholders in supporting

the project.

8. Gets project implementation less complicated

Since the method is done in a systematic way, problems,

misunderstandings and misinformation are avoided.

Lesson 2: DEFINITIONS OF COMMUNITY USINGVARIOUS PERSPECTIVES

A. Different Perspectives on the Definition of a Community

1. Social Science Perspective

Community is an informally organized social entity, characterized by a

sense of identity. It is a group of people living in the same defined area, sharing
common basic values, organization, and interest. It is a group of people whose
connections and relations are formed by their shared histories, experiences,
geographies, and identities.

2. Institutional/Sectoral Perspective

Communities have a mechanism for coordinating values, goals and actions of its
individual members. Social institutions perform this function. These are seen as a
system which is comprised of individuals and sectors with diverse
characteristics and interrelationships (Thompson, et al., 1990).

3. Ecological Perspective

Communities include practices, norms, traditions, culture, conduct and belief

systems of a community. These are not codified or written, but are nonetheless
embedded in communities, operating due to the interactive process of
preference exchanges and social expectations that occur therein.
4. Civil Society Perspective

Communities are built in pursuit of advocacies, causes and goals. Examples:

Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and People’s Organizations (POs). These
groups are fighting for solutions to social issues that continue to worsen the condition
of the disadvantaged sectors of society, especially the poor.

5. Organic/Community-Based Perspective (Local and Grassroots Level)

The community-based perspective sees the community as a setting for

intervention, target for change, resource and agent.An organic perspective of
community refers to local or grassroots groups within a particular locale that are
driven and organized because of community issues and concerns. It aims to address
particular issues, such as crime prevention, environmental protection, or waste
management.

Lesson 3: ELEMENTS OF A COMMUNITY: NATURE, POWER STRUCTUREAND

DIMENSIONS

A. Nature of a Community

1. A community has a sociological construct.

2. A community has fuzzy boundaries.

3. A community can exist within a larger community.

4. A community may move.

B. Structure of Community

 Community power structure - is about the distribution of power at the local

community level.
 Power in a community- is the capacity to influence the decision-making
and distribution processes, to bring about change and get things done.

C. Bases of Local Community Power

1. Connections- It is the capacity to create linkages and develop helpful

relationships with powerful individuals, family and organizations.
 2. Power in Number- It is the base, back-up and support of the people in the
community.

3. Rewards- It is the ability to provide awards, promotion, money and gifts that
are useful to meet individual or organizational goals.

4. Personal Traits/Expertise- It is the capacity to foster respect and loyalty

based on charm, talents and skills.

5. Legitimate Power- It is the leadership title or higher organizational or

institutional position.

6. Information- It is the ability to keep or share information.

7. Coercion- It is the influence through manipulation and coercion.It refers to

compelling to an act or choice.

D. Dimensions of Community

Bartle (2010) identified six community dimensions: technological, economic,

political, institutional, aesthetic-value, and belief-conceptual.

1. Technological— It is the community capital, its tools, skills and ways of

dealing with the physical environment.
2. Economic— It is the community’s various ways and means of
production and allocation of scarce and useful goods and services
through barter, market trade, state allocations, and others.
3. Political— It refers to the various ways of allocating power, influence and
decision-making.
4. Institutional- these are the ways people act, react and interact with each
other.
5. Aesthetic-value— This refers to the structure of ideas that people have
about what is good and bad, beautiful and ugly, and right and wrong.
6. Belief-conceptual—This refers to the structure of ideas that the people
have about the nature of the universe, the world around them, their role
in it, and the nature of time, matter and behavior.
 Lesson 4: Types of Communities

Classifications of Communities

1. Rural Community- Rural areas are separated and away from the influence of
large cities and towns. It is known as countryside, farmland or agricultural
land.
2. Urban Community- Urban areas are called cities or towns. Urban community
is something which an individual thought as, an area with high density of
population, an area with the availability of basic requirements.
3. Local Community- A local community has been defined as a group of
interacting people living in a common location. The word is often used to refer
to a group that is organized around common values and is attributed with
social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units
larger than a household.
4. Global Community- The people or nations of the world, considered as being
closely connected by modern telecommunications and as being economically,
socially, and politically interdependent.
5. Physical Space- It is the material object of spatial planning and urbanism.
Physical space refers to unlimited three-dimensional expanses/interactions
while virtual space refers to nonphysical interactions.
6. Virtual Social Space- A Social Space is either physical or virtual such as
online social media or a center or gathering place where people interact.
Virtual communities are social aggregations that emerge from the Net when
enough people carry on those public discussions long enough, with sufficient
human feeling, to form webs of personal relationships in cyberspace.

Types of Communities (According to Aggarwal)

1. Geographical Community or Neighborhood- This type of community

focuses on the physical boundaries that make it distinct or separate.
2. Community of Identity- This community has common identifiable
characteristics or attributes such as culture, which means language, music,
religion, customs and others.
3. Community of Interest or Solidarity- This community incorporates social
movements such as women’s rights, environment, peace and human rights.
4. Intentional Community- This community refers to individuals that come
together voluntarily and support each other.
 Lesson 5: COMMUNITY ACTIONAND ITS FORMS

Community action

is a manifestation of collective grasp and ownership of a situation—a

situation that generally has an effect on them. Thus, this means that the action
should touch the people’s sense and sensibilities as individuals and as a group.

Community Engagement

The term community engagement denotes interaction, sharing and relationships

at different levels. It can be defined as the partnership between two parties such as
academic institutions and local communities for mutual benefits and is characterized by
reciprocal relations. There is active collaboration. It improves the quality of life in a
community in a manner that it is consistent with the campus mission.

Solidarity

Solidarity is about regarding our fellow human beings justly and respecting
who they are as persons. Solidarity exists when a person is in connection with other
people, with the society and with the environment. Thus, a person should related
responsibilities to others and the whole humanity.

Citizenship

The term citizenship denotes membership of a citizen in a political society. The

membership implies, a duty of allegiance on the part of the member and a duty of
protection on the part of the state.

Four General Phases of Community Organization Process (Andres, 1988)

1. Issue Identification, Analysis and Dissemination- This phase is a key step

toward the development of community action. It is in this phase where “real
needs” are determined from “felt needs.”
2. Mobilization of Community- This phase is the step of gathering people to
meet regularly, discuss community problems, plan as a community,
formulate implementing mechanisms, identify community leaders and
organizational structure, and develop systems.
3. Organization- This is the “bolt-in” phase where all the resources, material
or nonmaterial, process or product, soft or hard technology, and physical
 and spiritual are mapped out and consolidated. It is the phase where “what
is lacking” and “what is available” are determined.
4. On Education- This is the skills development or human resource
enhancement phase. Members are provided with necessary skills,
knowledge and orientation.

Lesson 6: CORE VALUES AND PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNITY-ACTION

INITIATIVES

Core Values and Guiding Principles of Community Action

1. Human Rights- Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings,
whatever their nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin,
color, religion, language or any other status is. These rights can be classified
as natural, civil, political, social and economic rights.
2. Social Justice- According to the Global Issues Pilot Team (2011), social
justice is a “a societal value which guides human interaction and, in particular,
the fair distribution of society’s benefits, advantages, and assets, not just by
law and in the courts but in all aspects of society.” Social justice is also
associated to social action because the advancement of social justice is a
political issue.
3. Empowerment and Advocacy- Empowerment is defined as gaining
power and control over decisions and resources that determine the quality
of life. Thus, the term refers to the expansion of freedom of choice and action
(World Bank).
4. Participatory Development- Participatory development highlights the
involvement of the voiceless, those who are marginalized in the
development process. Quevedo (1995) defined participatory development as
premised on the fact that people have creativity, knowledge, and wisdom
and can be trusted.
5. Gender Equality- Gender equality seeks for the equal treatment of men
and women. This means equal opportunities in life, elimination of
discrimination based on gender, equal pay for work and others.
 Lesson 7: COMMUNITY-BASED METHODS FOR PARTICIPATORY ACTION
PLANNING

Participatory Research- is an investigation of problems and issues

concerning the life and environment of the underprivileged in the society by way of
research collaboration.

Participatory Action Research (PAR)- is an approach to social

investigation with full and active participation of the community concerned
within the research process. It is a process that entails the gathering of
information to be able to take action (Torres, Labrador & Serra, 1987).

Participatory Action Planning- is a process where a community embarks on a

project to attain a given socio-economic goal by consciously diagnosing its
problems and charting a course of action to resolve those problems.

Steps in Participatory Action Planning

1. Identify local needs, particularly of poor rural families.

2. Collect basic data on facts about the community.

3. Form working groups with the participation of local officials.

4. Formulate objectives which are specific, measurable, action-oriented,

reachable and time-bound.

5. Decide on a strategy on how the plan will be conducted.

6. Ensure feasibility to check if the objective are realistic.

7. Prepare work plan that answers the 5 W’s and How questions

8. Prepare budget for the materials and resources to be used.

 Lesson 8: COMMUNITY ACTION PLAN IMPLEMENTATION

Points to Ponder Before the Actual Implementation of the Community Action Plan

1. Always remember the virtue of solidarity and your responsibility to your fellow
human beings.
2. You are not just doing this to meet the course requirement, but for you to
imbibe the spirit of a true HUMANISTA as a sort of exposure to your future
careers and/or profession.
3. Review and clarify the specific tasks and roles before the implementation.
4. Be on time.
5. Make sure that you are prepared physically, emotionally, logistically
and technically.
6. Work with utmost respect for the people.
7. Pray before you start.