COPAR Jomar P.

Mallonga Community Organizing Participatory Action Research A continuous and sustained process of educating the people to understand and develop their critical awareness of their existing conditions, working with the people collectively & efficiently on their immediate and long-term problems, and mobilizing the people to develop their capability and readiness to respond & take action on their immediate needs towards solving their long-term problems (CO: A Manual of Experience; PCPD) Approaches to Community Development a. Welfare / Dole out Approach - the immediate and / or spontaneous response to ameliorate the manifestation of poverty, especially on the personal level Assumes that poverty is God given b. Modernization Approach - also referred to as the Project Development Approach Considered a national strategy which adopts the western mode of technological development c. Participatory Approach - the process of empowering / transforming the poor and the oppressed sectors of society so that they can pursue more just and humane society

Integration Living in solidarity with the people in the community to understand more deeply their lives Methods of Integration 1. People centered method of living with the people > pabahay-bahay or home visits > huntahan or informal talks > participation in the production process > participation in social activities Usual values that can change the organizer:

1. Respect the people and see the liberating aspects of their culture that give them the strength to struggle 2. See the social / structural analysis of the national health situation concretized in the peoples lives 3. See Gods activity among the poor 4. Accepted as a member of the community 5. Change in values and lifestyle Social Investigation Also known as the COMMUNITY STUDY Systematic process of collecting, collating, analyzing data to draw a clear picture of the community Pointers to conduct Social Investigation 1. Use of survey questionnaires is discouraged 2. Community leaders can be trained to initially assist the community worker / organizer in doing the SI 3. Data can be more effectively and efficiently collected thru informal methods 4. Secondary data should be thoroughly examined because much information might already be available 5. SI is facilitated is the CO is properly integrated and has acquired the trust of the people 6. Confirmation and validation of community data should be done regularly Tentative Program Planning - CO to choose one issue to work on in order to begin organizing the people Ground working - Going around and motivating the people on a one on one basis to do something on the issue that has been chosen Meeting - People collectively ratifying what they have already decided individually Where the problems and issues are discuss Role Play - To act out the meeting that will take place between the leaders of the people and the government representatives A way of training the people to anticipate what will happen and prepare themselves for such eventuality

Social Mobilization - Actual experience of the people in confronting the powerful and the actual exercise of people power A broad scale movement and a planned process that seeks to facilitate change and development Principles in Sustainable SocMob 1. Begins with conscious recognition of health problems 2. Generates acceptance of new health ideas, technologies 3. Initiates discussions and decision making for political will, commitment and action 4. Brings together those affected by problem and those who have the solution 5. Uses all available and potential communication resources 6. Sustains awareness, cooperation, commitment and action to achieve common health goal. Evaluation - An assessment of how the project is going, how well the participants are doing and what effect it is having to the intended beneficiaries ( strength and weaknesses of the program ) CO implies that we assess the impact of the program / project in terms of its over all and varied impact ( both direct and indirect ) Reflection - Dealing with deeper, on going concerns to look at the positive values It gives the people time to reflect on the reality of life compared to the ideal Organization - The result of many successive and similar actions of the people Processes / Methods Used PROGRESSIVE CYCLE OF ACTION REFLECTION ACTION begins with small, local and concrete issues identified by the people and the evaluation and reflection of and on the action taken by them CONSCIOUSNESS RAISING emphasis on learning that emerges from concrete action and which enriches succeeding action COPAR is PARTICIPATORY and MASS BASED primarily towards and biased in favor of the poor, the powerless and the oppressed

COPAR is GROUP CENTERED and NOT LEADER ORIENTED leaders are identified, emerge and are tested through action rather than appointed or selected by some external force or entity

COMMUNITY ORGANIZING PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH An active process where the expected beneficiaries of research are the main actions in the entire research process. A combination of education, research and action. The purpose is the EMPOWERMENT of people

Principles of COPAR People especially the most oppressed, exploited and deprived sectors are open to change, have the capacity to change and are able to bring about the change COPAR should be based on the interests of the poorest sectors of society COPAR should lead to a SELF RELIANT community and society

Importance of COPAR Helps the community workers to generate community participation in development activities It prepares people to eventually take over the management of a development program in the future It maximizes community participation and involvement Community resources are mobilized for community services

Objectives of COPAR to make the people aware of social realities towards the development of local initiative, optimal use of human, technical and material resources

to form structures that uphold the peoples basic interests as oppressed and deprived sections of the community and as people bound by the interest to serve the people to initiate responsible actions intended to address wholistically the various community health and social problems

Phases of COPAR Pre entry phase Entry phase Organizational Building phase Sustenance and Strengthening phase

PRE ENTRY PHASE the initial phase of the organizing process where the community / organizer looks for communities to serve considered the simplest phase in terms of actual outputs, activities and strategies and time spent for it Preliminary Social Investigation To gather information about the different areas, focusing on the data necessary to determine the sit e that best conforms with the criteria set Activities in Site Selection Developing the criteria for site selection Identifying potential municipalities and / or catchment areas Identifying potential barangay/s Choosing the final project barangay Criteria for Initial Site Selection The site must be a depressed rural community with the majority of the population belonging to the poor sector

Health services in the site are inaccessible or inadequate to meet the needs of the majority community residents Poor health status of the community in general The area must not have a serious peace and order problem to ensure the safety of students and faculty members as well as other staff who will be involved in the CO work There must be no strong resistance from the community regarding the program / project being initiated The area is not currently being served by similar agencies or programs to avoid competition and duplication of services. Community Profile made for the sole purpose of introducing the community and it includes the following : > Geography / Demographic profile > Socio economic status > Infrastructure / Physical resources > Health condition / problems > Community Problems Selecting a Staff House It must be located in a cluster of houses where most of the primary project beneficiaries live It must be located in a sitio / purok where it would be easy for the project staff ( students and faculty members ) to move to other sitios / puroks Choosing a Host Family Family should be strategically located in the barangay to enable the project staff to reach out more efficiently and effectively to community residents Family should not belong to the rich segment of the community whose houses offer the best facilities Family should be respected by both the formal and informal leaders and community residents

Family should have a house where neighbors, especially the poor are not hesitant to enter No member of the host family should be displaced once the project staff moves in Guidelines during this phase : CO should recognize the role of local authorities by paying them visits to inform them of their presence and activities COs appearance, speech, behavior and lifestyle should be in keeping with those of the community residents without disregard of their being role model CO should avoid raising the consciousness of the community residents, adopt a low key profile Integration with the Community the process of establishing rapport with the people in a continuing effort to imbibe community profile by living with them Methods of Integration Participation in direct production activities of the people Participation in social activities Conversing with people where they usually gather Doing household chore with the family Conduct of Deepening Social Investigation The use of survey-questionnaires as tools for SI is strongly discouraged Community leaders can be trained to initially assist the CO in doing SI until such time when the leaders are trained to do SI by themselves Data can be more effectively and efficiently gathered through informal methods Secondary data should be thoroughly examined because much of the information needed might already be available Potential Leaders = considered the future community organizers and possible partners of NGO in the delivery of health services to community residents Core Group = a group of individuals / community residents who possess leadership potentials formed / organized into a cohesive participation in project activities Characteristics of Potential Leaders / Core Group member

He/She must belong to the poor sectors or classes in the community He/ She must be a respected member of the community He/She must be responsible, committed and willing to work for social change and transformation He/She must willing to learn He/She must possess relatively good communication skills Techniques in Identifying Potential Leaders Ask community residents to name three to five persons whom they consider as community leaders Observe the people who are in small mobilization activities Observe who in the community readily responds to community problems and emergencies Observe the people in their natural environment Roles and functions of Core Group Members : The social preparation of the community for health and development work Organizing a community research team for the conduct of a community assessment diagnosis Setting up the CHO and facilitate in the identification of second liners Scrutinizing and mobilizing the community to act on their own immediate health services Entails formation of more formal structures and the inclusion of more formal procedures of planning, implementing and evaluating community wide activities Community Health Organization The CHO is charge with the management of relevant and appropriate health programs Ensures collective participation in decision making, planning, implementation and evaluation of community projects Establish a network of linkages Raising the communitys consciousness on health

Mobilizing the people to act on their health problems and issues affecting them Roles and functions of CHO It is not an organization of the leaders of the people but of leaders among and with the people There should exist a collective type of leadership that is, no individual should monopolize decision making Regular planning, ARAS must always become a part of the group activity The CHO should always take the lead in PIME of all organizational, educational and mobilization activities of the people The CHO officers / members should act as a role model for all community residents to emulate Difference between PAR and Traditional Research People as active collaborators of change and development Veers away from dependence on outside researchers PAR tries to come up with the real desire, aspirations and problems of the community People as objects of research Caters only to the interests of the academe TR fails because of the researchers preconceived theoretical frameworks, sometimes dictating what reality will be seen 3 Issues to consider A. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION - involves the community in defining the problems B. DATA GATHERING METHOD - no standard design - determined by local culture and innovativeness - manner of data collection is through discussion and direct observation than formal questioning C. Use of Results

- it is direct, planned for and applied by the community A. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION - the professionals or outside researcher identifies the problems of the community B. DATA GATHERING METHOD - makes use of quantitative methods; presents a static picture of social milieu - survey research approach forces choices or asks the ask wrong questions, thus not reflecting the peoples attitude, decisions and behavior C. Use of Results - survey research is not conducive to subsequent action Community Diagnosis It is a comprehensive documentation of data about the community gathered through social investigation It is both a profile and a process Whom does it serve? CDx should serve its target beneficiaries, the COMMUNITY Its results should guide the programs planning and implementation that will involve peoples participation towards the solution of their own problems Occurs when the community organization has already been established and the community members are already actively participating in community wide undertakings Major Strategies used : Education and Training Networking and Linkaging Conduct of mobilization on health and development concerns Implementation of livelihood projects Developing secondary leaders Development Action Plan

NEEDS ANALYSIS = an exhaustive study or evaluation of the differences between a desired performance versus an actual performance Methods : - Interview - Survey - Observations - Performance appraised system - Counseling sessions - Tasking committees TASK ANALYSIS = systematic process for defining a job, determining discrepancies exist in that job and providing a basis for selecting important instructional objectives to teach Steps : - identify the role - identify the major tasks or function of the job - identify KSA needed to effectively implement the task - determine whether or not the employee is performing according to the measures identified Task Needs Analysis Role Task : Core Group Members : Formation of CHO

COPAR CURRICULUM SELF AWARENESS LEADESHIP TRAINING Concept of Man Concept of Communication National Health Situation Local Health Situation Community Organizing Primary Health Care Basic Health Care

Leadership Training Self Awareness Training COPAR CURRICULUM COPAR CURRICULUM ADVANCE HEALTH SKILLS TRAINING Review of Basic Concepts in BHST First Aid and Emergency Measures Bandaging Hypertension Concept Diabetes Mellitus Problem Urinary Tract Infection Concept High Risk Pregnancy COPAR CURRICULUM SPECIALIZED HEALTH SKILLS TRAINING Traditional Medicine Finger Pressure Herbal Medicine Responsible Parenthood and Family Planning Thank you ! ! !