Community Development:

A Practice and a Discipline

Ann Palomo
Community Development 100
Introduction to Community Development
Division of Social Sciences
College of Arts and Sciences
U.P. Visayas, Miag-ao, Iloilo
Assignment 1

Make a short life history depicting

factors in your life that greatly
influenced you today as a person.
Exercise 1

1. Why are you taking a course in

community development?

2. What do you like to know more of

community development? List five
questions about community
development.
Discussion Questions

■ How do we define communities in the

Philippines context?
■ What are the basic concepts, goals and
processes in CD?
■ How did CD emerge in the Philippines?
■ What is CD as an academic discipline?
 Outline of the Study

A. Community Development Concepts

B. The Growth of CD in the Philippines
C. CD as an Academic Discipline
D. Case Study: From Wondering to
Permanence
Outline of the Study

A. Community Development Concepts

▪ Communities defined
▪ Community development goals
▪ Fields of CD
▪ Community development
processes
Outline of the Study

B. The Growth of CD in the Philippines

▪ The development of Philippine
communities
▪ The beginning of the western
community development concept
and practice
▪ Some critiques on CD
Outline of the Study
C. Community Development as an Academic
Discipline
▪ The training of development workers
▪ Community development research
▪ The birth of CD schools for
professional training
▪ CD: social science in action
▪ Reflection on the development of CD

D. Case Study: from Wondering to Permanence

 What is a
community?
Communities as
“barangays”

Basis:
Spatial or geographic
 Communities as
people acting
together to achieve a
common purpose
Communities
in CD context
…communities which have been marginalized by societal
forces beyond their control, people who have accepted their
fate as that of simple recipients of national and international
developments… communities and people who are capable only of
reacting to conditions which threaten their very survival, and very
often their reactions are nothing more than grumbling about issues
but ultimately simply finding ways of individually coping with such
situations … communities which have an almost total lack of
understanding of their structures that determine their lives…
people who, through generations, have accepted powerlessness as
a permanent feature of their lives and are thus unable to even
perceive reality as problematic…

--- Karina C . David

social activist and UP-CSWCD CD Professor
 Is it important to
study Philippine
communities
in the pursuit of CD?
an analysis and understanding of the
Philippine society and its communities is
fundamental in pursuing community
Development , it is a prerequisite for development
initiatives and social change
What is
community
development?
Community development means
recognizing and building up the
people’s innate potentials and
capabilities, enabling them to define
their direction and participate in the
process of change through collective
actions that will ensure the well-being
or welfare of the people.
 Community development
is a
process
of transforming the marginalized communities
so that
they may collectively act on their situations and
on the external forces that undermine and
perpetuate their oppressive conditions.
 Community
development goals
What do you think is
the main goal of
community
development?
The main goal is social
transformation and
people’s
empowerment
Three general ultimate goals of Community
Development :

■ Enhancements of people’s potentials and

capabilities
■ Participation of the people through collective
actions in the process of change and
transformation
■ Promotion of the people’s well – being and
welfare.
 Fields of
Community development
Three fields of Community Development :

■ Community Education

■ Community Organizing

■ Community Resource and Disaster Risk

Management (CRDRM)
1. Community Education

• the enhancement of the people’s potentials and

capability.

“Education is a potent force for social transformation

in terms of upliftment of people’s welfare and
working towards forming alternative structures and
power relations” (Tungpalan,
1991).
Three elements of Community Education:

■ value formation or reorientation so that the

people may cultivate liberating and empowering
community values.
■ conscientization. The people have to critically
understand the community and the world where they
are in, the forces that led to and sustain such
existence, and the way out from any oppressive
relationships.
■ skills development
Three fields of Community Development :

2. Community Organizing (CO) - CO is the core

method in community development. Without it, one
cannot conceive or engage in developing communities.
“CO as a method which refers to the activities
aimed at the grouping of people to struggle for their
common needs and aspirations in a given locality.
• Community Organizing (CO):
> the core method in CD
> Without it, one cannot conceive or engage in
developing communities.
> “CO method refers to the activities aimed at
the grouping of people to struggle for their
common needs and aspirations in a given
locality.
> CO processes involve the following activities:
integration with the community, social
investigation, problem/issue spotting, ground
work, meeting, role play, mobilization,
evaluation, reflection and setting up of the
organization”
• The community development framework suggests
three areas of CO:

1. area-based organizing

2. sectoral or issue-based organizing, and

3. networks, alliances and coalitions building

3. CRDRM

• Community resources such as land, urban services, credits and capital,

forests, coastal and other natural resources of the community have
always been the source of issues in community development, for both
area based and sectoral organizing.

• CRM includes the acquisition, generation, production, development and

conservation, protection, rehabilitation of community resources and the
redistribution of benefits from the collective management of these
resources.

• CBDRM involves the assessment of risks and vulnerabilities, the

development of people’s capacities to enable them to come out with
plans and responses to mitigate disaster impacts and to effectively
respond to disaster events.
Community development
processes
 Problem Community Community Community
Solving Education Organizing Resource
Process Management
(Environment and
Disasters)
Assessment of Training needs Community Resource inventory
the situation analysis integration and
and problem Community analysis
identification diagnosis Community
Social analysis diagnosis
Identification of Environmental
leaders impact
assessment
Hazards,
vulnerability
and capacity
analysis
Damage assessment
Hazard monitoring
 Problem Community Education Community Community Resource
Solving Organizing Management
Process (Environment and
Disasters)

Planning and Training design Core group building Resource use planning
implementation development

Organization building Project proposal development

Training
implementation and
management Advocacy work Feasibility studies

Experiential and on-the- Community mobilization Resource utilization

replenishment and
job learning process
rehabilitation
Networking and
advocacy
Disaster risk and contingency
planning

Emergency response and

rehabilitation
 Problem Community Community Community
Solving Education Organizing Resource
Process Management
(Environment and
Disasters)

Evaluation Training Evaluation Reflection Project evaluation

Follow up evaluation Criticism and self Environmental

criticism monitoring and
evaluation
Impact evaluation
CO assessment
Impact assessment
Synthesis of CO
experience
Activity 1:

The Case of Barangay Laom Luop (2016)

Another frequently occurring concern of the Barangay

people is the need for an alternative source of
livelihood . The primary source of livelihood in the
community is farming and farmers are usually male.
Thus, women are usually left at home and tend the
needs of the family like performing the household
chores. However for most of the time , house tending
ends early leaving the women , usually mothers , more
free time. It is this free time that they want to make
use of to be productive and help their husbands earn
for the household.
Growth of
Community
Development
in the
Philippines
The beginning of the
Western CD concept and practice

1948
Cambridge Conference
on African Administration
by the
British Colonial Office
 CD
as
“mass education” of the people
to become
agents of change
CD: New Definition

“the process by which the efforts of the people themselves are

united with those of governmental authorities

to improve the economic, social and cultural conditions of

communities,

to integrate these communities into the life of the nation, and

to enable them to contribute fully to national progress.”

(United Nations, 1957, cited by Mezinow, 1963).
in the Philippines

> begun when the communist movement was at

its height … recognized as a potent weapon to
restore confidence and trust in the
government.” (DLGCD, 1974).
• 1954, the Community Development Planning
Council (CDPC)

• 1956, Presidential Assistant on Community

Development (PACD)

1956-1966, Community Development

Program, USAid
• PACD renamed Philippine Arm on CD

• 1972, the PACD abolished; Department of Local

Government and Community Development
(DLGCD, 1974).

• 1980, CD function was transferred to the

Ministry of Human Settlements (MHS)

• 1986, Marcos overthrown, MHS abolished  

• In 1986, people’s empowerment was recognized as a
potent force that can harness support and
participation of the people.
• incorporation of participatory strategies, community
development and organizing principles and methods

• Now CD is used by several entities 

CD as an Academic
Discipline
The training of the development workers

pioneered by the PACD by sending barrio

development worker who were recruited after
passing an examination for CD workers given by the
CSC and has undertaken a six-month training at
Community Development Center, UPLB
Training content: rural sociology, CD, local
government and CD, group development and human
relations, community planning, research and
evaluation, info on agriculture and community
training
By December 1965, 2,703 had completed the
 training course
The birth of CD schools for professional training

1962, MS in CD (UP CA)

 College of CD & Public Ad (MSU)
 BSCD & MSCD
1967, RA 5174 - UP ISWD
1968, DCD (UP Diliman)
1969, PhD in CD (UP CA)
 BSCD & MCD (UP Diliman)
1976, CD in Soc Sci, UPV
1977 AB (CD) UPV
 CD: Social Science in Action

Concerned with both the development of

theories from practice and the application
of theories to practice
Four areas of CD practice

CD practice in community setting

Community education in predominantly academic

setting

CD planning and administration predominantly in

development organizations

Community leadership and organization

development in community and SD setting
 Reflections on the
development of CD
 SOURCE:

Luna, Emmanuel M.
Community Development: A Practice and a Discipline,
2009.
College of Social Work and Community Development
University of the Philippines
Diliman, Quezon City
Thank You!
Exercise 2:

1. ) What
is
community
development?
 Exercise 2:
2. Make a short life
history depicting
factors in your life that
greatly influenced you
today as a person.