INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY

ENGAGEMENT
 THE COMMUNITY WE LIVE IN!

• 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”.
• Geographical community is a community where members share the
same geographical vicinity such as a village, province or neighborhood.
• Nongeographical community is a community formed based on needs,
ideas, interests, identity, practices, and roles in social institutions such as
at home, all work, in government, society, or the community at large
 TWO LEVELS OF COMMUNITIES

• 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. At 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. They will work on meeting certain objectives
and expand on the aspect of community involvement
 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.
 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:
• 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.
• 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
• 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.