CHAPTER 4: Community Organizing: Ensuring Health in the

Hands of the People.

Community Organizing
 A process consist of steps/activities that instill, reinforce the people’s confidence on their
own collective strengths.
 It is the development of the community’s collective capacity to solve its own problem
and aspire development on its own effort.
 It is a process of educating and mobilizing member of the community to enable them to
resolve its own community problem.
 End goal of Community organizing – COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Community Development through: P-I-S
1. P – People Empowerment
2. I – Improved Quality of Life
3. S – Self-reliant Community
Process of Community Development:
 Assess current situation
 Identification of community needs
 Deciding on appropriate course of action
 Mobilization of resources to address needs
 Monitoring and evaluation by the people
Community Organizing is VALUE-BASED:
1. Human Rights – based on worth and dignity inherent to human being
Examples:
 Right to life
 Right to development as person or as a community
 Right to make decision for oneself
2. Social Justice – fairness in the distribution of resources
- Equitable distribution of power through people’s participation.

3. Social Responsibility – people being part of the community reflected in concern for one
another.
Core Principles of Community Organizing:

People Centered

3P Participative

Process Oriented

Democratic
2D
Developmental

1. Community Organizing is People Centered

- All must benefit on any activities/undertakings.
- Process informed and responds to the experiences and need of the people.
 Nurse/Organizer: facilitator or mentor that guides the community.
 Community People: Take the lead, makes decision for themselves, participate in the
process.

2. Community Organizing is Participative

- Community must be an active participant.
 Community Participation – Involvement of the people in all activities.
People are well informed of the activity
People are aware of their potential contribution.

3. Community Organizing is Process Oriented

- Nurse/organizer and the community must diligently and patiently follow the community
organizing process.

4. Community Organizing is Democratic

- Decision must reflect the will of the whole (Will of the common people and not only the elite)
- Empowering the disadvantaged people/population

5. Community Organizing is Developmental

- Directed toward changing current undesirable conditions.

PHASES OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

1. PRE ENTRY PHASE
 Preparation of the nurse/organizer
 Choosing community/site selection
Community may be identified through ocular survey:
1. Initial data gathered through ocular survey
2. Review of records of the health facility
3. Review of Barangay/Municipal profile
 4. Referral from other communities or institution
5. Consultation from government or private institutions
Considerations during ocular survey:
1. Community belongs to GIDA (Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Area)
Example: hard to reach community
Unserved or underserved
Economically depressed community
2. Community needs assistance
3. Community shows signs of willingness or hostility to the organizer
4. No obvious threat to the safety of the nurse/organizer
5. No other individuals, groups, or agencies working on the area using community
organizing process. (To avoid duplication.)
6. Possible partnership with the community, LGU, or other agencies.

2. ENTRY PHASE
 Nurse/organizer gets to know the community
 Community gets to know the nurse/organizer
 Courtesy call to local formal leaders (Mayors, Municipal council, Brgy, chairperson
and councils)
 Courtesy call to informal leaders in the community (elders, local health worker,
traditional healers, church leaders, local neighborhood association leaders.)
Considerations during entry phase:
1. Community organizer must introduce themselves and the institution
2. Has a clear explanation of Vision, Mission, and Goals (VMG)
3. Community organizer must have a basic understanding on target community
Gather basic information on: Socio economic condition
Traditions and religious practices
Overall physical environment of the community
General health and illness pattern
Available health resources
2 strategies of entry:
1. Padrino entry – nurse/organizer enters the community through a padrino/patrol (Barangay
official or other local government officials)

Example: During assembly, Brgy. Official make an effort to boost the organizer’s image
and tends to present project resulting to false hope to the community.

2. Bongga entry – easiest way to catch attention of the people and gain approval of the
community.

Example: Giving free medicines reinforces dole-out mentality which contradicts

the essence of community organizing.
Community Integration (Pakikipamuhay)
 Live in the community to better understand the community
 Build rapport between the people and organizer Successful integration
 Requires immersion in the community
 Respects the community culture and tradition
 Discard the “visitor” or “guest” image
 Dress in accordance to the norms of the community

Integration Styles:
1. Now you see, now you don’t Style
- Organizer visits the community as per scheduled
- Organizer cannot outdo the guest status

Result: Cannot get a chance to understand villager’s way of life.

2. Boarder Style
- Organizer rent a room or house in the village
- Lives in his own
- Does not share the life of the community

Result: Organizer is regarded as a “guest” or “boarder”

3. Elite Style
- Lives in the Brgy. Chairman or other prominent person’s house.
- Frequently seen together with local officials

Result: Integration in larger community will be difficult

People centered approach in integration

Techniques to facilitate community integration:
1. Pagbabahay-bahay (Occasional Home Visit)
- Effective way in developing close relationship with community
- Observe the daily schedule of activities of household to avoid convenience to the family

2. Huntahan
- Informal conversation with Community People
- Done in variety of venues (Village poso during laundry time, basketball court, Sari-
Sari Store)

3. Participation in the Production process

- Participate in the livelihood activities (farming, fishing harvest)
4. Participation in Social Activities
- Getting to know each other through face to face encounters (Fiestas, Baptismal,
Wedding, Birthday, Celebrations, Funeral wake)
Note: Organizer should remain to be a role model and must avoid GAMBLING, OR
DRINKING ALCOHOL BEVERAGES.

Social Analysis/ Social Investigation/ Community Study/ Community Analysis

- Gathering, collating, and analyzing data to gain extensive understanding of
community’s condition.
- Identification of Community problem and its root cause.
- In nursing process NURSING DIAGNOSIS

Social Analysis requires Comprehensive analysis on:

1. Demographic Data
2. Socio-Cultural Data
3. Economic Data
4. Environmental Data
5. Health Pattern Data
6. Health Resources Data

Identifying Potential Leaders

Characteristics of potential leader:
1. Poses or displays leadership quality
2. Has the trait and confidence of the community
3. Expresses belief the need to change on the current undesirable situation.
4. Willing to invest time and effort
5. Has a potential management skills.

Core Group Formation

-Forming a single group but as community gets better organized, first group may decide
to have separate core group but still belongs to the same community organization.
- Members of the group is expanded.
Community Organization- Formed organization in the initiative of core group and with the
assistance of the nurse/organizer.

Characteristics of an Organization:
1. Organizational name and structure
2. Set of officers recognized by the members
3. Constitutions and by laws
4. Vision, Mission, and Goal (VMG)
5. Rules and Regulations
6. Duties and responsibilities of officers and members
3. ACTION PHASE/MOBILIZATION PHASE
- Implementation of Community planned project and programs

Important Considerations:
1. Allow the Community to determine pace and scope of project and program
implementation (Simple to Complex projects)
2. Process is as important as an output
3. Regular monitoring and continuing formation program is essential (Regular meetings are
conducted, continuous training for community leaders.)

4. EVALUATION PHASE
- Systematic and critical analysis of the current state of organization and projects.
- Comparing the outcomes to the derived plans or objectives.

Types of Evaluation:
1. Formative – Periodically Evaluation (During Implementation or in the middle of
implementation)
2. Summative – Evaluation at the end of the program.

2 Areas of Evaluation:
1. Program-based – focuses on:
- Goals and objectives
- Strategies that were implemented
- Overall impact of the project
- Utilized resources of the organization and community
2. Organizational – focuses on:
- Vision, Mission, and Goal (VMG) met
- Implemented organization policy
- Level of participation
- Utilization and management of resources
- Interpersonal relationship shared among members

5. EXIT & EXPANSION PHASE

- The best entry plan is an exit plan
- Time of exit should be mutually determined by the nurse/organizer and the community
people during the meeting for monitoring and evaluation.

Indication of readiness for exit:

1. Containment of set goals
2. Capacity of the people’s organization to lead the community
3. People empowerment is manifested
⃰ Nurse/organizer may start to explore another community.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING and PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH (COPAR)

 PAR – Aims to promote change among the participants

 Community approach that allows the community (PARTICIPATORY) to systematically
analyze the situation (RESEARCH).
 Research project done by the community that leads to community improvement.
⃰ Major role of nurse in COPAR – facilitate and guide the community.

Quality of a Community Organizer:

1. Has exemplary professional and moral quality
2. Possess good communication skills (able to call or lead a small group
discussion/meeting)
3. Has the ability to set good leadership
4. Displays charismatic personality’
5. Adopts and enjoys working and living with all types of communities
6. Can empathize with the community or people
7. Delivers in the vision of change, empowerment, and development.
8. Has a personal conviction consist with values, and advocated principles.

Participatory data gathering methods for COPAR:

1. Transect walk – nurse ask the group from the community to come along and join in
the ocular survey.
2. Mapping – nurse ask some members to draw a detailed map of the community.
 Resource map – sourcing of livelihood (farming with certain crops, Fishing
grounds)
 Health map – map highlighting households with identified problems
Examples: Malnutrition, TB, Diabetes
Vulnerable members (Pregnant, infants, differently abled person,
elders)
 Seasonal map/Calendar – significant activities of the community
Examples: Livelihood – planting season, harvest season
Social events – Fiesta, Christmas, Religious Activity
Historical mapping of significant disasters experienced – floods
drought, fire, and food shortage, etc.
3. Venn Diagram – visual representation of the social support system in the community.
- provides clear idea of social resources that can be tapped for the
future efforts.