COMMUNITY ORGANIZING THROUGH

PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH

(COPAR)

 OVERVIEW

 The Philippine Center for Population & Development (PCPD) in its effort to
support the DOH in the implementation of Primary Health Care (PHC) designed the
Human Resource Development Program (HRDP)
 HRDP was designed to enable training institutions (ex. schools of medicine,
nursing, midwifery) to effectively implement their community-based health
programs
 HRDP sees Community Organizing (CO) as a tool for people’s empowerment in
health activities & to prepare communities to set up their own health programs

 COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

 Principles
 General
 People, especially the oppressed & exploited sectors are most open to change
& are able to bring about change. Along this line, community organization
should be based on the ff:
 Power must reside in the people
 Development is from the people to the people
 People’s participation should always be present
 Community organizations should be for the interest of the poorest sectors of
the society; the solutions of problems commonly shared by these sectors must
be focused on collective organizations, planning & actions
 Community organizations should lead to self-reliant communities
 Specific
 Community Participation is an active involvement of community residents
in decisions about how to improve existing conditions or the mobilization of
community people to take active part in the delivery of health services

 Importance of CO to PHC
 Community organizing maximizes participation & involvement
 Community organizing could be an alternative solution wherein health
interventions in PHC do not require direct involvement of modern medical
practitioners
 Community organizing gets people actively involved in selection & support of
community health workers
 Through community organizing, community resources are mobilized for
selected health services
 Community organizing improves both project’s effectiveness during planning,
implementation & ultimate impact
 Community organizing is critical in achieving the PHC goal of self-reliance &
social awareness

 Five Stages of Community Organization

 Community Analysis
 The process of assessing & defining needs, opportunities & resources
involved in initiating community health action program; also referred to as
“Community Diagnosis,” “Community Needs Assessment,” “Health
Education Planning,” and “Mapping.”

 Five Components:
 Demographic, social, economic profile
 Health risk profile (social, behavioral, environmental risks)
 Health/Wellness outcomes profile (morbidity/mortality data)
 Survey of current health promotion programs
 Studies conducted in certain target groups
  Steps in Community Analysis:
 Define the community (determine geographic boundaries)
 Collect data
 Assess community capacity
 Assess community barriers
 Assess readiness for change
 Synthesis data & set priorities

 Design & Initiation

 Establish a Core Planning Group & select a Local Organizer (consists of 5

to 8 committed members of the community)
 Choose an organizational structure; any of the ff structures could be utilized:
 Leadership board or council – existing local leaders for a common cause
 Coalition – linking organizations & groups to work on community issues
 “Lead” or official agency – a single agency takes the primary
responsibility of a liaison for health promotion activities in the community
 Grass-roots – informal structures in the community
 Citizens panel – a group of citizens (5-10) emerge to form a partnership
with a government agency
 Networks & consortia – network develop because of certain concerns
 Identify, select, & recruit organization members
 Define the organization mission & goals
 Clarify roles & responsibilities of people involved
 Provide training & recognition

 Implementation

 Generate broad citizen participation

 Develop a sequential work plan
 Use comprehensive, integrated strategies
 Integrate community values into the program

 Program Maintenance – Consolidation

 Integrate intervention activities into community networks

 Establish a positive organization culture
 Establish ongoing recruitment plan
 Disseminate results

 Dissemination – Reassessment

 Update the community analysis

 Assess effectiveness of interventions/programs
 Chart future directories & modifications
 Summarize & disseminate results

Action research = should be able to disseminate in the community

Classic Research – not required to give to community

 Levels of Community Participation

 Level 1
 The people are just physically involved in the implementation of programs
designated by the organizing agency
 Level 2
 When the people are involved in making a “yes-no” decision to the plans or
programs presented by the organizing agency
 Level 3
 When working committees are created to make decisions for the
community
  Level 4
 When majority of the community members are actively involved in
making decisions throughout the entire problem-solving process

 COPAR

 Definition:
 A social development approach that aims to transform the apathetic individuals
& voiceless poor into dynamic, participatory & politically responsive
community
 A continuous & sustained process of educating people to understand & develop
their critical awareness of their existing condition

 Importance:
 COPAR is an important tool for community development & people
empowerment as this helps community workers to generate community
participation in development activities
 COPAR prepares people/clients to eventually take over the management of a
development program in the future
 COPAR maximizes community participation & involvement; community
resources are mobilized for community services

 Overview of Participatory Action Research (PAR)

 Originated around 1982 as a critical evaluation of Classical Research
methodology
 It used to be referred to as “Participatory Research” as an alternative system of
knowledge of, by and for the poor
 Now, it is referred to as “Participatory Action Research” because it offers to
return to the people their rights to claim as legitimate all indigenous knowledge
& to use the same as a guide in their action
 PAR therefore is an alternative form of social research which uses a three part
process: Social Investigation; Education; Action (SEA)

 Classic Research VS. PAR

CLASSIC RESEARCH PAR

Objectivity Vs. Subjectivity
*Objectivity: to gather & analyze data in a
detached way (no personal feelings or biases)
*Data must have hard facts, meaning, must be
observable & tangible
Proximity to Subject
*Emotional distance from the people & from the
system being studied is required so that it is
not affected along the researchers objectivity
with the normal behavior of the research
Researchers
*Recommends the use of trained personnel or
professional researchers as the sole & legi-
timate pursuer of knowledge
Language
*Uses their own set of scientific jargons & codes
for writing the respondent’s answers
Research Theme
*Controls the knowledge production process
*Dictates the issue to be studied or the problem
to be diagnosed
*For the interest of the researchers
Research Methodology
*Utilizes sophisticated, experimental designs
Ownership
*Stress the importance of human subjectivity
*Believes that researchers cannot be detached
from their object of knowledge because no
matter how they try, their own interpreta-
tion of reality will come in based on their
individual experiences, culture & value
system
*Close & interpersonal relationship with the
subjects of research will facilitate better &
deeper understanding of their social reality
*Adopts the mobilization of local people as
researchers & challenges the fundamental
idea that established “science is always
right”
*Promotes using people’s language
*Allows the poor to choose the problem to be
researched on
*For the interest of the community
*Allows the indigenous researchers to design
their own research tools which are simple &
easily understandable to the community
 *Data resulting from conventional research are
never reported back to the community, much
less validated with them
*Researchers leave the area with the data
gathered from the people which wonders
about the purpose of the whole study
Data Utilization
*The research results are usually converted into
written reports, policy recommendations &
administrative decisions
*The data gathered by local researchers are
reported back to the community for collec-
tive validation & analysis
*The researchers are accountable to the people
& not to the agency & have the
responsibility to inform them of the result
*PAR does not consider research as an end
itself
*Research is only the means towards a goal of
raising critical awareness among the poor &
improving their quality of life
*Data collection & analysis become the basis
for community planning of concrete actions
to address the issues highlighted by the
research
*Unless the research leads to effective action,
then the research is of no use

 The COPAR Process

 PRE-ENTRY PHASE (INITIAL PHASE)

 Considered to be the simplest phase in terms of actual outputs, activities &
time spent for it
 Entails approximately 13-15 weeks (or 3 months)
 Activities for this phase includes the ff:
 Make a long/short list of potential communities
 Conduct an ocular survey of short-listed communities
 Select the site for community to served/helped
 6 Criteria for Site Selection:
 Site must be a depressed rural community
♠ Indicators:
- Percentage of household having income below the national
& regional poverty thresholds
- Lack of income opportunities for the community residents
 Health services in the site are inaccessible or inadequate to meet
the needs of the majority of the community residents
♠ Indicators:
- Absence of barangay health station or if one exist, it is
unmanned most of the time or visited irregularly by a
DOH staff
- Lack of primary or secondary hospital within 30 minutes
ride
 Poor health status of the community in general
♠Indicators:
- High incidence of communicable diseases
- High malnutrition rate
- High infant mortality rate
- Lack of sanitary toilet
 Area must not have a serious peace & order problem for the
safety of the program staff & students who will be involved in
the program
 There must be no strong resistance from the community
regarding the goals being initiated
 The area is not currently served by similar agencies or programs
 Conduct preliminary social investigation (PSI)
 Design a plan for community development including all activities &
strategies for care & development
 Coordinate participation of other department within the institution
 Train staff & faculty in COPAR
 Do initial networking/consultation with LGUs & NGOs
 Interview barangay officials, leaders & key informants
 Develop community profile
 Develop survey tools
  Orient staff of baseline survey
 Pay courtesy call to community leaders
 Identify/develop materials for information dissemination
 Conduct planning/strategy for Entry Phase

 ENTRY PHASE
 Sometimes called the “Social Preparation” phase
 This is a very crucial phase because the success of the activities in the later
part of the community organizing process greatly depend on how much
the community organizer/worker has integrated with the community
through his understanding of the place, the people, the events & his
commitment to serve & to be identified with the community he plans to
work with

 This signals the actual entry & integration of the community worker in the
community

 Guidelines for (1) entry into the community

 Recognize the role of local authorities by paying them visits to
inform of your presence & to orient them on the project objectives
 One’s appearance, speech, behavior & lifestyle should be in keeping
with those of the community residents without disregard of being
role models
 Avoid raising the consciousness of the community residents by
adopting a low-key profile & approach

 (2) Integration – is the process of establishing rapport with the people

in a continuing effort to absorb community life by living with them and
undergoing the same experiences, sharing their hopes, aspirations,
hardships towards building mutual trust & cooperation

 Methods of Integration
 Participation in direct production activities of the people (ex. planting,
harvesting, fishing, broom-making)
 Conduct house-to-house visits
 Participation in social activities such as birthday parties, weddings,
wakes, season rituals
 Conversing with people where they usually gather such as in stores,
water wells, washing streams, etc.
 Doing household chores like cooking, dishwashing, cleaning the house
& the like

 Aside from entry & integration to the community, the ff activities are done
during the Entry Phase:

 Conduct of information campaign about HRDP (its rationale, objectives,

main strategies & activities)

 Conduct community study & (3) deepening social investigation

 Analysis of prevailing community situation to have a sound basis for

determining the interventions whether for social action, project
mobilization, delivery of health services, training or planning
activities
 Social Investigation – is a scientific process of collecting, collating,
synthesizing & analyzing data to draw a clear picture of the
community
Methods of Social Investigation:
- Use of secondary data from various offices (ex. Provincial
Health Office, Rural Health Units)
- Coordination from both GO & NGO agencies with extension
workers
 - Conduct of ocular observation noting: accessibility, settlement
patterns, available physical resources
Pointers on how to conduct Social Investigation:
- Use of survey questionnaires is discouraged
- Community leaders can be trained to initially assist the
community worker/organizer in doing SI
- Data can be more effectively & efficiently collected through
informant methods such as house to house visits, or
participating in conversations in jeepneys
- A secondary data should be thoroughly examined because
much of the information might be already available
- Social investigation is facilitated if the community worker
acquired the trust of the people
- Confirmation & validation of community data should be done
regularly

 (4) Provision of basic health services

 (5) Identification of potential leaders

 Characteristics of Potential Leaders
♠ Must belong to the poor sector or class in the community
♠ Must be a respected member of the community
♠ Must be responsive & willing to work for change
♠ Must have potential for management skills
♠ Must possess relatively good communication skills

 Techniques in Identifying Potential Leaders

♠ Informal discussion with the community members
♠ Observing people who are active in small mobilization activities
like cleanliness & beautification drives, road repairs, mini-medical
mission & the like
♠ Observing who in the community really responds to community
problems & emergencies & those whose concern for other people
are very well manifested in their actions
♠ Observing the people in their natural environment (ex. informal
group conversations) usually those people who have leadership
potentials stand out from the crowd
♠ Sociogram **Bq**– a systematic process of identifying
indigenous leaders (existing key leaders) in the community who
can help facilitate the change process

 Persons Identified in the Sociogram

♠ Key Person – the “Star” in the sociogram; the person who is
approached by most people
♠ Opinion Leader – the person who is approached by the key
person & therefore the person behind the key person’s opinions &
ideas
♠ Isolate – the person who are hardly/never approached & are
therefore not vital to the mobilization of the community

 (6) Core Group Formation

 The process of laying down the foundation of a strong people’s
organization brought about by bringing together several indigenous
leaders to exchange knowledge & insights toward a deeper
understanding of the dynamics of the community
 Purposes:
♠ Serves as training ground for democratic & collective leadership
♠ Builds people’s potentials & self-confidence
♠ Social preparation of the community for health & development work
♠ Organizing a community research team for conducting a community
diagnosis
 ♠ Setting up the Community Health Organization (CHO) and facilitate
the identification of potential CHWs
♠ Sensitizing & mobilizing the community to act on their immediate
health needs & participate in the delivery of health services

 COMMUNITY DIAGNOSIS / RESEARCH PHASE

 Research Training Phase 1

 Problem Identification
 Problem Analysis (cause & effect)
 Classification of problems into primary & secondary
 Identification of data to be gathered based on the problem analysis
 Identification of possible informants/respondents
 Selection of research methodologies
 Survey
 Systematic Observation
 Interview
 Records Review
 Community Meetings
 Focus Group Discussion
 Selection of research instruments
 Resource/Social Map
 Seasonal Diagram
 Time Allocation Diagram
 Census Mapping
 Venn Diagram
 Service Mapping
 Wealth Ranking
 Pairwise Ranking
 Health Data Boards
 Questionnaire
 Historical Mapping/Time Line
 Planning for the actual data gathering

 Research Training Phase 2

 Data Tabulation
 Data Analysis
 Trends & patterns
 Comparison of data with standard values (ex. poverty thresholds)
 Implications – influence of the factors/data on the health status
 Interrelationships of factors

 Presentation of Community Diagnosis

 Methods:
 Community assemblies (meetings, plays)
 Mother’s class
 CHWs assemblies
 Posters, publications, etc

 Prioritization of Community Needs/Problems for Action

 Points to consider in Priority Setting:
 Technology to be used in solving problems
 Magnitude/severity of the problem
 Social concerns refers to the significance of the specific population
groups affected by the problem
 Health policies/programs implemented by the government in the area

 COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION & CAPABILITY BUILDING PHASE

 Third phase
 Setting up linkages
  This is the step towards the formation of a Community Health
Organization (CHO)
 The CHO is responsible for the management of relevant appropriate
health programs & ensures collective participation in decision making,
planning, implementation & evaluation of community projects
 Community meetings are called to draw up guidelines for the organization
of CHO:
 Election of officers
 Development of management systems & procedures, including
delineation of roles, functions & tasks of officers & members of the
CHO
 Team building/action reflection
 Working with legal requirement for the establishment of the CHO
 Organization of working committees, task groups (ex. committees for
education, membership, etc)
 Training of CHO officers & leaders to develop their abilities, skills &
knowledge in managing their own concerns

 (1) COMMUNITY ACTION PHASE

- belong to the third phase (capability building phase)
 Organization & training of Community Health Workers (CHWs)

 Levels of CHW Trainings

 Level 1: Basic Health Skills

 Concepts of health & illness
 Common illnesses & their re-spective prevention & treatment
 Basic procedures (ex. VS taking, sponge bath, etc)
 Herbal preparation
 Roles & functions of CHWs

 Level 2: Advance Health Skills

 Maternal & Child health care
 Advanced procedures (ex.injections)
 First Aid

 Level 3: Specialized Health Skills

 Hilot training
 Trainer’s Training
 Leadership Training

 Setting up of linkages, networks & referral systems

 Planning, Implementation, Monitoring & Evaluation (PIME) of health

services & intervention schemes & community development projects

 Planning – community health & development plans should be SMART

(specific, measurable, attainable, realistic & time-bounded)
 Implementation (Guidelines)
 A community project is a series of activities that are designed to
achieve results that are beneficial for the people
 A community project demands that a criteria performance be
achieved for a fixed number of pesos & within a fixed period of time
 A community project must be divided into a number of activities
which must be managed
 Managing a community project means using money, material,
machines efficiently to achieve goals & objectives
 Community project goals & objectives must explain what will be
accomplished and when it will be accomplished
 A community project goals & objectives must be clear to those
people who will implement it
  A community project to become successful must be started with its
resources organized, its work done & its progress checked
 A community project must have a good control system or monitoring
& evaluation scheme
 Monitoring – is an internal project activity designed to provide constant
feedback on the progress of a project, the problems it is facing, & the
efficiency with which if it being implemented
 Evaluation – is an assessment of whether or not the planned project
strategy actually works in the field & is therefore mainly used in the
selection & design of future projects

 Initial identification & implementation of resource mobilization schemes

 SUSTENANCE & STRENGTHENING PHASE

- Formalizing and institutionalizing linkages formed from the capability
building phase
 Refers to the capacity of the programs/projects to continuously provide to
deliver its positive impact to the beneficiaries
 Occurs when the community organization is already established &
actively participates in the community undertakings such as:
 Formulation & ratification of constitution & by-laws
 Identification & development of secondary leaders
 Setting up & institutionalization of financing scheme for community
health programs/activities
 Formalizing & institutionalization of linkage, networks & referral
system
 Development & implementation of viable management systems &
procedures, committees, continuing education training of leaders CHWs,
community residents
 Continuing education & upgrading of community5 leaders, CHWs &
CHO members
 Development of medium/long term community health & development
plans

 COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKER

 Description:
 One who provides basic community care services for the promotion of
health, prevention of illness, simple treatment & rehabilitation

 Qualities:
 Open
 Accepts needs for joint planning & decision in relation to health care in a
situation; not resistant to change
 Tactful
 One who presides in an assembly/meetings in a subtle manner; does not
embarrass but gives constructive criticism
 Coordinator
 Brings into consonance or harmony the community’s health care activity
 Objective
 Unbiased & fair in decision making
 Good Listener
 Always available for the participant’s voicing out of sentiments &
concerns
 Efficient
 Knowledgeable in relation to his practice; skilled
 Flexible
 Able to cope with different situations
 Critical Thinker
 Can decide on what has been analyzed
  Functions:
 Community Health Service Provider
 Carries out health services contribute to the promotion of health,
prevention of illness, early treatment of illness & rehabilitation
 Facilitator
 Helps plan a comprehensive health program with the people
 Continuing guidance & supervisory assistance
 Health Counselor
 Provides health counseling including emotional support to the individual’s
families, groups & community
 Co-Researcher
 Provides the community with stimulation necessary for a wider or more
complex study of problems
 Enforce community to do prompt & intelligent reporting or epidemiologic
investigation of diseases
 Suggest areas that need research
 Participate in planning for the study & in formulating procedures
 Assists in the collection of data
 Help interpret findings collectively
 Act on the result of the research

 COMMUNITY WORKER

 Keeps a written account of services rendered, observations, conditions, needs,

problems & attitudes of the clientele in community development activities,
accomplishments made
 Takes responsibility to disseminate pertinent information to appropriate
authorities, agencies & most especially to the client/community
 Develops the people’s capabilities to keep or maintain their own recording &
reporting system
 Records – forms on which information pertaining to the client is noted
 Reports – periodic summaries of the services/activities of an
organization/unit or analysis of certain phases of its work
 Purpose of Records & Reports
 Measures service programs
 Provides basis for future planning
 For interpretation of the work to the public & other agencies, community
 Aids in studying the condition of the community
 Contributes to client care
 Basic Principles of Effective Reports
 All items should be carefully selected in order to give more significant
information
 Reports must be arranged because they are of interest value when they
are organized & can be easily scanned
 Reports must carry the same meaning to all who makes use of them
 Reports must be presented in an interesting manner because they are
more readily received