Community Organizing: Ensuring Health in the Hands of the People (Part 2)

Community Integration

- the organizer may actually live in the community.

- The establishment of rapport between the organizer and the people indicates successful integration.​

​- The organizer's conduct and manner of dressing must be in accordance with the norms of the community.​

Techniques to facilitate community integration

- Pagbabahay-bahay or occasional home visits​

- Huntahan​

- Participation on the production process​

- Participation in social activities​

Pagbabahay-bahay/occasional home visits​

the organizer observes the daily schedule of activities of the household to avoid inconvenience on the part of the families.​

Huntahan

- informal conversations help a lot in integrating with the community.

- can be done in an area where the people gathers (basketball courts, sari-sari store, public laundry area)​

Participation on the production process

- the organizer participates in livelihood activities, such as farming or fishing

- The purpose is to allow the organizer to gain firsthand knowledge of the production process and economic system; and to share the daily experience of the ordinary people.​

Participation in social activities

- it helps the organizer and people to get to know each other through face-to-face encounters

- These are fiestas, weddings, baptismal celebrations, funeral wakes and other activities that carry social meaning and importance to the community.​

Social Analysis

the process of gathering, collating, and analyzing data.​

Social Analysis

- It is to gain extensive understanding of community conditions, help in the identification of problems, and determine the root causes of these problems.​

- It is also referred as social investigation, community analysis, or community needs assessment.​

Community Diagnosis

- social analysis in the nursing practice

- emphasis given to health and health-related problems

- a process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting data to identify needs and problems of the people in the community

Social Analysis

This step requires a comprehensive analysis of the following factors:​

​- Demographic data​

- Sociocultural data​

- Economic data​

- Environmental data​

- Data on health patterns (morbidity, mortality, fertility)​

- Data on health resources​

Identifying Potential Leaders

- The organizer identifies partners and potential leaders who will help lead the people.​

​- Leaders are prime movers in the community and are critical to mobilization later on.​

Identifying Potential Leaders

- Conversations and group discussions are occasions for the organizer to initially gauge leadership potentials, organizational abilities and motivations.​

​- Community members identified with these qualities are designated as potential leaders.​

desirable characteristics of potential leaders

- Represent the target group/community​

- Education at least basic primary education​

- Possess or display leadership qualities​

- Have the trust and confidence of the community​

desirable characteristics of potential leaders

- Express belief in the need to change the current undesirable situation​

- Are willing to invest time and effort for community organizing work​

- Have potential management skills​

- Has moral ascendancy​

Identifying Potential Leaders

- One of the challenges is the training and preparation of the potential leaders. This requires consistency and persistence in the training.​

​- Encourage and give the potential leaders opportunities to assume various roles in community activities.​

Core Group Formation

- the reinforcement of the social consciousness of the members, in terms of analyzing the root causes of community problems.​

- foundation of the organization

- also referred to as executive committee or council of elders in indigenous communities

8-12 members

group size of the core group

Core Group Formation

The new recruits must:​

​- Come from the same community​

- Share the same problems the group seeks to correct​

- Believe in the same core values, principles, and strategies the group is employing​

Core Group Formation

- Formation program may focus on self-awareness and development of leaders.​

​- Facilitative or negative factors not properly addressed during core group formation may affect the outcomes of the community organizing efforts.​

Community Organization

Conducts assemblies with the goals of arriving at a common understanding of community concerns and formulating a plan of action in dealing with these concerns.​

Community Organization

- Collective decision making must dictate what projects and strategy must be undertaken.​

​- The organizer must remember that it is their project to be done in their community. The organizer must let them decide.​

Community Organization

To formalize the organization, it must have the following characteristics:​

​- An organizational name and structure​

- A set of officers recognized by the members of the community​

- Constitution and bylaws stating the vision, mission, and goals, rules and regulations, and duties and responsibilities of its officers and members.​

Community Organization

- The organization may be registered to the appropriate government agencies to seek legal recognition. Recognition by the LGU completes the process.​

​- Then it can participate in the Barangay, Municipal or City Development Council as provided in the Local Government Code (RA 7160)​​

Securities and Exchange Commission/Cooperatives Development Agency

the appropriate government agencies to seek legal recognition for the organization

Community

- Assemblies or community meetings are conducted as needed to arrive at consensus and promote ownership among residents. Each are encouraged to share their suggestions to help improve the community.​

​- Finally, the community organizer facilitates action reflection sessions to help foster insight among leaders.​

Action Phase

Refers to implementation of the community's planned projects and programs.​

Action Phase

Important consideration:​

​Allow the community to determine the pace and scope of project implementation: it may start with simple barangay projects, such as clean & green households. As the organization gains experience and develops, it will move to more complex programs, community material recovery facility.​

Action Phase

Important consideration:​

​The process is as important as the output: a project may fail, but as long as the community gains valuable experience and learns from the process, it is not a failure in itself.​

Action Phase

Important consideration:​

​Regular monitoring and continuing community formation program are essential: throughout the action phase, regular meetings are conducted for monitoring and continuous training for community leaders.​​

Evaluation

- a systematic, critical analysis of the current state of the organization and projects compared to desired or planned goals

- end goal of community organizing is better quality of life and people empowerment.​

Evaluation

It is done periodically during mobilization (formative evaluation) to allow revision of strategies when needed and at the end of the prescribed project period (summative evaluation).​

two major areas of evaluation

- Program-based evaluation​

​- Organizational evaluation

Evaluation

Program-based evaluation​

General evaluation parameters:​

​1. Where the goals and objectives of the program/project achieved?​

2. What strategies were implemented? What worked? What did not?​

3. What is the overall impact of the project in the community?​

4. How were the resources of the organization and community utilized?​

Evaluation

Organizational evaluation​

General evaluation parameters:​

​1. Were the vision, mission, and goals of the organization achieved?​

2. How are organizational policies being implemented?​

3. What is the level of participation in the affairs of the community organization?​

4. How were the resources of the organization utilized and managed?​

5. What type of interpersonal relationship is shared among the members of the organization, among the leaders, and the members of the community organizations?​

Exit and Expansion Phase

- The time of exit should be mutually determined by the organizer and the community

- time required for community organizing depends on the diligence of the organizer and the acceptance by the community

- During this phase, the organizer may start exploring another community to organize.

Exit and Expansion Phase

Indications of readiness for exit by the organizer should include:​

​- Attainment of the set goals of the community organizing efforts.​

- Demonstration of the capacity of the peoples organization to lead the community in dealing with common problems.​

- People empowerment as manifested by collective involvement in decision making and community actions on matters that impact their lives.​​

Exit and Expansion Phase

- While expanding to another area, the organizer periodically visits and stays in touch with the first community as a friendly consultant, not as organizer.​

​- Community organizing is an enabling process through which the community organizer becomes dispensable and the people's organization takes over.​

Goals of Community Organizing

1. People's Empowerment

2. Building relatively permanent structures and people's organizations​

3. Improved quality of life

People's Empowerment

- achieving effective power for the people

- people learn to overcome their powerlessness and develop their capacity to maximize their control over the situation and start to place the future in their own hands

- progressive realization of the power that they possess and the ability to influence the course of history that dramatically erodes the dehumanizing effects of powerlessness

Building relatively permanent structures and people's organizations​

- establish and sustain relatively permanent organizational structures that best serve the needs and aspirations of the people

- ensure people's maximum participation while, at the same time, they provide the venue through which the people's organizations can link up with other groups and sectors

Improved Quality of Life

- to secure short and long-term improvements in the quality-of-life of the people

- gain concessions for fulfilling basic needs for food, clothing, shelter, education, and health

- create a conducive environment for the development of human creativity and solidarity through equitable distribution of power and resources

Participatory action research (PAR)

- an approach to research that aims at promoting change among the participants

- utilized mostly in social psychology that encouraged researcher and those who will benefit from the research (families, providers, policy makers) to work together as full partners in all phases of the research

Community Organizing Participatory Action Research

- a community development approach that allows the community (participatory) to systematically analyze the situation (research), plan a solution, and implement projects/programs (action) utilizing the process of community organizing

- a research project done by the community that leads to actions that improve conditions in the community

Community Organizing Participatory Action Research

it has been the strategy used by the Human Resource Development Program Ill (HRDP III) in implementing Primary Health Care delivery in depressed and underserved communities to become self-reliant. ​

Principles of COPAR

1. People, especially the most oppressed, exploited and deprived sectors are open to change, have the capacity to change and are able to bring about change.​​

2. COPAR should be based on the interest of the poorest sectors of society.​​

3. COPAR should lead to a self-reliant community and society.​

Traditional Research Approach

- Top-down decision making

- Emphasis on expert/nurse-driven process

- much premium is placed on the data and output

COPAR

- Bottom-up decision making

- emphasis on community-driven process

- premium is placed on the process

Traditional Research Approach

Roles:

- Nurse as researcher: the community members are subjects or objects of research, usually respondents of the research instrument.​

​- Data analysis is done by the nurse, and then presented to the community.

COPAR

Roles:

- Community members as researchers; the nurse is a facilitator and recorder.​

​- Data analysis is done collectively by the community.

Traditional Research Approach

Research tools and methodologies are predetermined/prepackaged by the nurse-organizer.​

COPAR

Research tools and methodologies are identified and developed by the community.​

Traditional Research Approach

Upon completion, the study is packaged, submitted to the agency, and published. Recommendations are made by the researcher based on the findings of the study.​

COPAR

Conclusion and recommendations are made by the community. These will lead to agreed community actions/projects. The whole research cycle continues until it becomes part of community life, leading towards community development. Community members formulate the recommendations.​