.

THE
COMMUNITY AS
STAGE OF
COMMUNITY
SERVICE

Definition of Community
The community is made up of different
persons living in a definite territory with
at least a minimum of cultural ties based
on common values, interests, goals,
system of expectations, concerns, etc.

1.
2.
3.
4.

5.

TYPES OF COMMUNITIES

Geographical : a community within an

ecclesiastical or civil territory.
Sectoral : farmers, fishermen, vendors,
women, workers, informal settlers, etc.
Functional : school community with teachers,
students, or administrators.
Rural, Urban, Rurban: relationship in the
rural community is closer, person-to-person,
communication is evident; relationship in an
urban community is artificial, transitory;
business-like; rurban communities show
physical characteristics of an urban community
but relationships are more rural in nature.
Tribal/Indigenous: also known as cultural
communities.

PROCESS OF
ORGANIZING/DEVELOPING
COMMUNTIES
Organizing/Developing communities is done
systematically. The process can be slow but
methods and procedures should be followed to
effect more sustainable results.

1.

Pre-Entry Phase
This is primarily the preparation phase.

*
Answers to the following questions are
necessary.
How prepared is the NSTP student in the
organizing job?
Does the NSTP student have some initial
knowledge about the community?
Is there a basis/criterion used in choosing the
community?

What are the long-range and short-range

plans of
the NSTP Department vis-a-vis the
organized
community?

11. Entry Into the

Community
Communities have to be prepared for
the entry of the NSTP student(s) who
will work in the community.
Some activities involved are:
a) Ocular survey of the Community :
visit and observation of the
community; its physical
characteristics, resources, etc.
b) Courtesy Calls made by the NSTP

student particularly the barangay

captain, the parish priest, other
religious leaders, and other workers

The person who is perceived as a leader or

influential person should not be ignored.
These individuals maybe informal leaders.

This

could be the
* Herbolario
(Quack Doctor) who is
frequented by families and friends intimes of
sicknesses;
* Old, wise guy who has been in the
community
years
immediately
after
the
community got its own legal identity.
* Pilosopong Tacio who, though widely
disliked by some, possess the wisdom in age and

lll. Core Group

Formation
This is the stage when the community worker

starts identifying potential leaders in the

community.
Aside from community visits,
collateral interviews and community meetings, it
would help a great deal if seminars on selfawareness, leadership skills, team-building and the
like could be given to identified groups to facilitate
the harnessing of potential leaders. Election of
officer of officers can be done once the process of
selecting genuine would-be-leaders has been
consciously and systematically conducted.

Organization Building and

Strengthening of the Organization
lV.

The decision to form a group

should be taken by the people. It

is they who must formalize and do
their work. Establishing a group
indicates that the people are
beginning to develop a sense of
group identity and continue their
work in a more structured way.

As the group is formed, regular meetings are

held and an agenda for each is drawn up by

the people. Members of the group take
responsibility to call the meeting and
encourage others in the community to attend
and take part. These people in effect run the
meeting. They should feel that are taking
charge, that they have skills, confidence, and
resources to address their problems.

This is also the stage of seeing to it that

leaders are trained and formed. The elected

leaders are expected to perform their duties
and develop their skills to serve the
community.

As

the group operates, members should be

encouraged to focus and identify their problems
and needs. People should articulate their opinions,
discuss their problems and initially present ways
on how these can be confronted.
A critical
awareness should be emerging at this stage where
members see problems not just affecting them but
the wider community. The realization of the need
to work together should emerge, in effect, showing
that rather than division is necessary for the
alleviation of their problems.

As the community becomes more stable, it is

important that proper planning is done by the

people. They must have a sense of purpose.
Simple activities can be conducted to build
unity an demonstrate that when people work
together great things can be accomplished.
Such activities also prepare the way for more
formal development work.
These initial
activities are necessary before the community
takes on more demanding and bigger projects.

Two important sub-phases are seen in this

stage:
increase in membership and
establishing and harnessing of internal
linkages. This is also the rise of volunteerism
in the community.

V. Evaluation
The community, at this stage, assumes full

responsibility in its affairs. The role of the

NSTP student becomes much more limited,
paving the way for maximum peoples action.
The NSTP Department can either terminate or
continue its services in the community. This,
however, can only come about after a
thorough evaluation has been conducted.

STUDY QUESTONS
1. How would you describe the community that

you are presently residing?

2.

What is the type of this community? Please

explain.

3. As an NSTP student, if you were to start your

community service in this community, what will

you do? Describe the strategies and activities
that you will use to organize/develop this
community.

SKILLS IN SOCIAL
INVESTIGATION
Definition of Social Investigation
Data gathering in community development is

also referred to as social investigation. It is a

process of getting to know the community more
through person-to-person; observation; and
actual participation in community activities to
gathering and analyzing data and utilizing
these data in coming up with community plans
and programs.

There are (3) Sociological Approaches in

Conducting Social Investigation
A. ECOLOGICAL APPROACH
This refers to the physical attributes of the community and

how these affect

environment.

mans

interaction

with

his

social

An NSTP student, even without asking any question and with

the use of his eyes, can develop some initial insights about
the community by merely looking at its physical features.
*

Is there any difference in the lifestyle of the people

between a rural area and an urban are?
* What is the tempo of life of children, women and adults in a
farming community? What about the tempo of life in a
squatters area?

Are there resources in the community

where people could convene for community
assemblies or meetings?

What is the best time for an NSTP

student to schedule community meetings?
Is it during daytime, when husbands are
out for their work or wives are busy
attending to the needs of their children; or
at night, when everyone could be readily
free and available?

* If the community is at the stage when

electricity is still a remote possibility, it would be
useless on the part of the worker to schedule a
meeting at night.
What is being demonstrated here is that
variables like lifestyles of the people, tempo of
life, stage of development, possibilities or
limitations for community change, etc., should
be studies by the NSTP student using his or her
sociological eye. These could have direct
implications on the organizing work being done
in the community.

B. STRUCTURAL
APPAROACH
The community here is seen as a structure of
relationships. There are two major processes
that are involved:
* the communication pattern of the people
like, who communicates what, with/to whom,
and how; and
* the decision-making pattern of the people
like, who decides what, with whom, and how?
This approach also present the types and
nature of organized groups in the community.

C. NORMATIVE
APPROACH
This sees the community as a social personality with a
set of values, customs, traditions, folkways, mores, and
beliefs.
Based on the perception of the insider, the
communitys social life from womb to tomb is seen
and analyzed.

The key to success of any community project would be the active

participation of the people.
It is important, therefore, to
understand the cultural values of the people. How they view a
particular situation largely depends on the meaning that they
attribute to this. For example, a worker should first find out the
collective thinking of a particular community on the use of
contraceptive4 methods in family planning. She/he should not
force it on people just because it is the banner program of
her/his organization.
Such action could lead to some
relationship problems later on.

STUDY QUESTIONS
1. What is the purpose of social
investigation?
2. How would you compare and contrast
the three (3) approaches in understanding
the community?
3. If you would be asked to describe the
community where you are presently
residing, how would you do it? What
would you focus on? Why?

SKILL IN COMMUNITY NEEDS

ASSESSMENT
COMMUNITY
NEEDS
ASSESSMENT seeks to gather
accurate
information
representative of the needs
of a community. Assessment
is performed prior to taking
action
and
is
used
to
determine current situations
and identify issues for action.

A needs assessment will:

1.

identify the essential resources that

are
already
available
within
the
organization.

2. identify the essential resources to be

acquired.
3.

determine how to use, develop or

obtain those resource.

 The concept of community needs assessment

connotes a process by which assessment of the

current
situation
in
the
community
is
undertaken, value-based judgments regarding
the preferred or desired situation are reached,
and some determination of the priority status
of local needs is made.
The accurate appraisal of the current situations

an important element in this process. In most

instances, this entails the collection of first
information from relevant sources.

 The goal of needs assessment is

to identify the assets of a

community
and
determine
potential concerns that it faces.
A straightforward way to estimate
the needs of a community is to
simply
ask
residents
their
opinions about the issues and
problems they are dealing with.

Why is Needs Assessment

Important?
Change

is the main reason to obtain accurate

information regarding the needs of a community. All
communities are in a continual state of change. As
they experience natural growth and development,
communities encounter fluctuating demographics.

The

community needs assessment process is an

invaluable tool for involving the people in solving
problems and developing goals. People have a natural
tendency to resist change due to the lack of adequate
information or lack of involvement in the decision
making process.
Taking advantage of a needs
assessment can be an excellent way for people to
become involved and contribute to the outcome(s).

NEEDS ASSESSMENT IS
USED:
* To learn more about what the community needs are.
* To get an honest and objective description of needs from

the people themselves.

*
To anticipate and remain responsive to changing
demographics, attitudes and needs.
* To become aware of possible needs which are particularly
important.
*
To document the needs, as is required in many
applications for funding.
* To get group and community support for the actions to be
undertaken in the near future.
* To get people actually involved will attract new members.
* To make sure that any actions carried out are in line with
needs expressed by the community.
The Community Needs Assessment allows the community to

How to Carry Out a Needs Assessment

Important questions to ask when planning for needs assessment:
1. Who is the assessment attempting to inform, influence, or

persuade?
2. What purpose is the needs assessment intended to accomplish?
3. Whose needs are to be assessed?
4. What questions need to be asked? Do you already know the

answers? Can you do anything to change the situation?

5. How will the information be used?

TECHNIQUES IN COMMUNITY NEEDS

ASSESSMENT
Existing Date Approach: Already existing statistical

data is used to obtain insights about the well-being of

people. This approach uses descriptive statistics to
prepare an assessment report for the community.
Community

Attitude
Survey
Approach:
Information is gathered from a representative sample
of community residents about issues affecting their
well-being. Data are collected by personal interviews,
telephone surveys, or door-to-door surveys.
Responses are generally representative of the whole
community.

Key

Informant Approach:
The key
informant approach identifies community
leaders and people who are knowledgeable
about the community and can accurately
identify priority needs and concerns.
Key
informants complete a questionnaire or are
personally interviewed to obtain their thoughts
of community needs. The information is then
analyzed and reported to the community
through publications or a community meeting.

Community Forum:

A Community meeting(s) is held

during which time the participants discuss the needs
faced by the community, what some of the priority needs
are and what can be done about these priority needs. All
members of the community are encouraged to attend
and express their concern and perceived needs.

Focus Group Interview: A group of people selected for

their particular skills, experiences, views or position are

asked a series of questions about a topic or issue to
collect their opinions. Group interaction is used to obtain
detailed information about a particular issue.

KEY RELATED
CONCECPTS
Evaluations are the counterpart to needs assessment.

Needs assessments are completed before evaluations.

Evaluations
assess
the
relevance,
adequacy
and
appropriateness of current individual programs, activities and
events.
They measure the relevance, satisfaction and
effectiveness of an existing activity.
A Focus Group is an informal technique used to help assess

the needs and feelings of participants on particular subjects.

Participants engage in informal discussions about the
particular study area(s). Focus groups are typically small in
size and usually range between six to twenty participants.
They are commonly used during the needs assessment
process.

Organizational Planning involves creating a

to do list for an organization. It lists the

plan of work, programs and organizational
growth over a period of time.
Plans are
created
relatively
easily;
writing
an
organizational plan includes crafting a list of
the work for action, identifying the work tasks,
assigning staff or members to them tasks and
projecting calendar dates the work will be
accomplished.

Program

Evaluation
carefully
collects
information about a program or an aspect of a
program in order to make necessary decisions
about the program.
Program evaluation can
include any or a variety of at least 35 different
types of evaluation, such as needs assessments,
accreditation, cost/benefit analysis, effectiveness,
efficiency,
formative,
goal-based,
process,
outcomes, etc.
The type of evaluation you
undertake to improve your programs depends on
what you want to learn about the program,.

 Strategic Planning is a systematic process through which

an organization agrees on and builds commitment among

key stakeholders to prioritize which are essential to its
mission and responsive to the operating environment.
Surveys are a particular form of data collection utilized

during the needs assessment process. Types of surveys

commonly applied are person-to-person interviews,
questionnaires and telephone interviews.
SWOT Analysis evaluates the Strengths and Weaknesses

Opportunities and Threats of an organization.

Swot
analysis is a broad overview of the most important internal
Strengths and Weaknesses and the most important external
Opportunities and Threats. It is a function performed

STUDY QUESTIONS
1.

Discuss the importance of community needs

assessment in community service.

2.

Among the techniques which are used in

community needs assessment, identify the
technique which you think is more appropriate
to use in communities which are assisted by the
NSTP students. Explain your answer.

3.

What do you think would be the implication

of implementing community projects without
needs assessment?

PROJECT PLANNING ,
MANAGEMENT, MONITORING
AND EVALUATION
PROJECT PLANNING
Projects become successful due to planning.

People are trapped with the experience that

work is done without appropriate planning.
Proper planning results to a slot of saving in
terms of money, materials, machines, and
manpower resources.

ELEMENTS OF A PROJECT
PLAN
1. Clarity of statement of goals
2. Feasibility studies conducted
3. Approaches/Methods to be used
4. Target Time Frame
5. Resources Required

PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
It is a carefully planned and organized

effort to accomplish specific objectives.

The right people with the right

combination of skills should be put to

ensure effective project outcomes. They
should follow well-defined processes and
utilize tools that ensure effective project
implementation. Everything should be in
place before the work starts.

PROJECT MONITORING
It provides an understanding of and

communicating the progress of a project that

is being undertaken. It is also referred to as
controlling as a function in administration. It
helps identify when the project performance
is significantly deviating from the plan. This
will involve the use of appropriate corrective
actions and preventive actions. Project
monitoring is performed throughout the
project. Effective project monitoring and
controlling can lead to a successful project
outcomes.

PROJECT EVALUATION
It is a step-by-step process of

collecting,
recording
and
organizing
information
about
project results, including the
immediate results of activities,
and immediate and longer-term
project outcomes, like changes in
behaviour or practice.

IMPORTANCE OF CONDUCTING
PROJECT EVALUATION
1. For accountability
2. Evidence of effective, efficient and equitable use of
financial and other resources
3. Demonstration of actual changes and progress made
4. Presence of success indicators, need for
improvement or where expected outcomes are
unrealistics
5. Proof for project partners that desired outcomes are
being achieved by project staff

STUDY QUESTIONS
1. Discuss the importance of project
planning.
2. That may happen if an NSTP student
implement a community project without
planning? Present five practical
measures to address this concern.
3. What is the difference between
monitoring and evaluation? Explain how
these processes are conducted.