The

development of a healthy community

is the ultimate end of all the efforts and energy in the implementation of community organizing, participatory action research, effective primary health care delivery system, training seminars and the empowerment of the residents of depressed,
underserved, and far-flung communities.

working with the people collectively and efficiently, discovering their immediate and long-term problems and mobilizing them to develop their capabilities and readiness to respond and take action on their immediate needs toward the solution of their long-term problems

involves investigation of problems and issues concerning the life and environment of the underprivileged, by way of research collaboration with the underprivileged themselves

PARTICIPATION

Traditional

PAR

Community needs or problems are defined by experts or researchers external to the community group and considered neutral or non-biased.

The research problems are defined by the community members themselves who are viewed as experts of their own reality.

A social development approach that aims to transform the apathetic, individualistic and voiceless poor into dynamic, participatory and politically responsive community.

A collective, participatory, transformative, liberative, sustained and systematic process of building peoples organizations by mobilizing and enhancing the capabilities and resources of the people for the resolution of their issues and concerns towards effecting change in their existing oppressive and exploitative conditions (1994 National Rural Conference)

A process by which a community identifies its needs and objectives, develops confidence to take action in respect to them and in doing so, extends and develops cooperative and collaborative attitudes and practices in the community (Ross 1967)

A continuous and sustained process of educating the people to understand and develop their critical awareness of their existing condition, working with the people collectively and efficiently on their immediate and long-term problems, and mobilizing the people to develop their capability and readiness to respond and take action on their immediate needs towards solving their long-term problems

COPAR is an important tool for community development and people empowerment as this helps the community workers to generate community participation in development activities.

COPAR prepares people/clients to eventually take over the management of a development programs in the future.

COPAR maximizes community participation and involvement; community resources are mobilized for community services.

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.

COPAR should be based on the interest of the poorest sectors of society

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

Pre- entry Phase Entry Phase Research Phase Community Organization and Capability Building Phase Community Action Phase Sustenance and Strengthening Phase

Is the initial phase of the organizing process where the community/organizer looks for communities to serve/help.

Community consultations/dialogues Setting of issues/considerations related to site selection Development of criteria for site selection Site selection

Preliminary social investigation (PSI)to gather data or information about the different barangays to aid in the selection of a potential site for the program. Networking with local government units (LGUs), NGOs and other departments

The site must be a socioeconomically depressed and underserved community with majority of the population belonging to the poor sector. Health services in the site are inaccessible or inadequate to meet the needs of the community residents.

The community is in poor health status. The area must have relative peace and order to ensure the safety of the staff, students and faculty members who will be involved in the program.

There must be acceptance of the program by the community to ensure their participation in the planned activities. The area is not currently served by similar agencies or programs to avoid competition and duplication of services.

Sometimes called the social preparation phase. This phase signals the actual entry of the community worker/organizer into the community.

Integration with the community.

Integration is the process of establishing

rapport with the people in a continuing effort to be involved in community life, sharing their hopes, aspirations and hardships toward building trust and cooperation.

Sensitization of the community; information campaigns

Continuing social investigation. Social investigation is the systematic process of collecting, synthesizing and analyzing data to draw a clear picture of the community.

Core group formation Coordination/ dialogue/ consultation with other community organizations Self-Awareness and Leadership Training (SALT)/ action planning Training of community researchers.

Participatory Action Research is used in this phase of the program This study is a comprehensive documentation of the data about the community gathered through social investigation.

Clustering of households and spot mapping Selection of the research team. Training on data collection methods and techniques; capability-building (includes development of data collection tools) Planning for the actual gathering of data Data gathering

Training on data validation (includes tabulation and preliminary analysis of data) Community validation Presentation of the community study/ diagnosis and recommendations

Prioritization of community needs/problems for action

Entails the formation of more formal structures and the inclusion of more formal procedures of planning, implementation, and evaluating community-wide activities.

Community meetings to draw up guidelines for the organization of the Community Health Organization (CHO).

Election and induction of officers for the CHO

Development of management systems and procedures, including delineation of the roles, functions and tasks of officers and members of the CHO.

Team building activities Action-Reflection-Action Sessions Working out legal requirements for the establishment of the CHO

Organization of working committees and task groups (e.g., education and training, membership of committees) Training of the CHO officers/ community leaders

Organization and training of community health workers (CHWs) Setting up of linkages/network referral systems

Planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of health services/ intervention schemes and community development projects
Initial identification and implementation of resource mobilization schemes

At this point, the different committees setup in the organization building phase are already expected to be functioning by way of planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluating their own programs with the overall guidance from the community-wide organization.

Formulation and ratification of constitution and by-laws Identification and development of secondary leaders Setting up and institutionalization of a financing scheme for the community health program/activities

Formalizing and institutionalization of linkages, networks and referral systems Development and implementation of viable committees, management systems and procedures

Continuing education and training of community leaders, CHWs, CHO members and officers and community residents Development of medium- and long-term community health and development plans