The Heart of Community THE PROCESS AS THE HEART OF CO

Organizing The process of CO evolves gradually and

is undertaken in a conscious, deliberate
Orlando I. Buenviaje and purposive way. This movement CO
both a methods and a process.

Community Organizing (CO) is considered FIVE MAJOR INTERRELATED PHASES

crucial ‘life-energy’ that has significantly OF THE CO PROCESS
contributed to the tremendous growth and 1. Pre-entry outside – this journey
development of the country’s movements requires some basic
for social transformation. Its essence is considerations and preparation
people’s participation that harnesses from the CDW and the
and strengthens the people’s capacities to Development Organizations to
determine and realize the development which s/he belongs.
agenda of their own communities at 2. Entry into the community - outer
various levels. layer – establishing a friendly yet
Four Fundamental Elements of CO: purposeful relationship starts upon
entry of the CDW into the
Community People (CP) – community community. The aim is to get the
consists of people, now popularly known community’s sanction and
as stakeholders who have different commitment to engage in a
interest in development (Directly Affected, partnership with the CDW/DO for
indirectly affected, and Government- participatory development.
elected official). 3. Immersion with the people – inner
layer – effort of the CDW to
Community development should be
become one with the CP by
concerned with the welfare of the whole
integrating himself/herself in the
community, most especially the majority
community life. Threefold aim: (1)
who are poor, deprived and oppressed
for the CDW. To develop a
(Manalili,p.64)
gradual, appreciative and
Community development worker (CDW) analytical understanding of the
– the partner of the people in people’s lives. (2) To gain mutual
development. They act as a catalyst for respect and trust. (3) To build or
participatory involving multi-stakeholders. reinforce the confidence of the CP
Most cases CDW is an outsiders, s/he in their collective strength to chart
serves only as a facilitator who assists the their own destiny.
people in organizing themselves 4. CO Proper – middle layer – signals
(Manalili:66) that the CP and CDW are already
prepared to work together as
CO Process – It is a process that partners in development.
facilitates participatory development in Nourishing the Filipino
which ‘stakeholders can influence and Indigenous Threads of unity
share control over development initiatives, (bayanihan, damayan,
and over the decisions and resource that barkadahan, bakas-bakas,
affect themselves (ADB, 1994;2) paluwagan and many more).
Community Consciousness – it Onward to participatory
traditionally viewed as the Problem, which development. The aim is to build
brings together the community people or enhance the capacities of the
(CP) and the CDW in a helping process. CP to become self-determined and
socially responsible.
Organizing steps or ingredients: a and subtraction of obstacles side by
multi-stakeholder’ perspective. The side the scaling up efforts.
constituent parts of the CO proper can
be viewed in either of the following
ways: (a) step-by-step sequence; or CORE GROUP FORMATION
(b) ingredients of a process.
- It ensures the sustainability of the
Toward leveling power balance, organization and its development
interest convergence, resource initiatives.
sharing - Solid composite

SOCIAL ANALYSIS ORGANIZATIONAL AND

PROGRAM/ PROJECT
- It is a conscious effort of
DEVELOPMENT
understanding the reality of the
community life as basis for - Capacity development plays a
planning. It leads to transformative pivotal role in the CO process. It is
actions. an integral part of the development
- Approaches to social analysis. and change process where
(A problem-focused approach) interconnectivity of its various
promotes greater awareness and critical elements and evaluation
increased abilities to identify are seen from the contributive
different problems and their causes rather than attribute view
at the micro and macro levels. It is (ISNAR:1)
criticized to be often less useful, - Four Critical Elements of the
reason is that when one problem is Capacity Development (Capacity
solved, another problem Development intervention,
immediately develops. (Asset- Organizational capacity,
focused approach) It argues that Organizational performance,
communities can be brought back Development impact)
to life if local assets, rather than
local needs, becomes the focus.
- Social analysis is a prerequisite to People’s participation in managing
planning and acting to transform development initiatives goes through a
and/or enhance identified aspects cycle – from planning and
of the social reality. implementation to monitoring and
SPOTTING AND DEVELOPMENT OF evaluation of a development program
POTENTIAL COMMUNITY LEADERS or project
AND/OR ORGANIZERS. MONITORING AND EVALUATION
- Definition and selection of leaders (M&E) contribute to empowerment and
by the people themselves. The partnership in the sense of a shared
leaders, both formal and informal, assessment and project management.
have to be indentified among the It is a learning tool for awareness
ranks of the different stakeholders creation.
in the community.
Mathematics of Leadership – It calls PARTICIPATORY MECHANISM
for the addition and multiplication of
leaders, division, of responsibilities Designed to facilitate participation can
be viewed in a continuum.
 (1) Mechanism for sharing information. and competency in participatory and
(2) Mechanism for consultations. integrated development.
(3) Mechanisms for joint
assessments. (4) Mechanisms for
shared decision-making. (5) SOCIAL INVESTIGATION AS INTEGRAL
Mechanism for collaboration. (6) TO CO PROCESS
Mechanisms for empowerment.

Social Investigation (SI) is an

SCALING-UP AND CONSOLIDATION indispensable aspect of CO. It is
systematic process of gathering, analyzing
In the face of the globalization and
and utilizing pertinent data about the
rapidly advancing communication
community.
technology, linkages, and networking
have gained wider access and have 1. Preliminary Social Investigation
opened more possibilities for (PSI) – is undertaken during the
community organizing beyond national Pre-Entry Phase of CO in order to
boundaries, the purpose of the equip the DO/CDW with the basic
expansion is to extend reach of information about the community.
community development to a many The documentary output of PSI is
communities as possible a tentative community profile
(Buenviaje:66). This process of (TCP). It is a systematized
expansion, covering more quality documentation featuring a holistic
benefits for s growing number of view of the community. It consists
people over a wider geographical area of two interrelated parts, namely:
more quickly, more equitably and more (a) Description of the community,
lasting is known as scaling-up. (b) Analysis of the community.
The data in the TCP are usually
Types of Scaling-up
derived from the secondary
1. Horizontal scaling-up (mass-based sources, such as the available
or micro organizing) – written reports or documents and
geographical spread to cover more news clippings; although direct
people and communities and data gathering, whenever possible,
involves expansion within the should also be done through ocular
same sector or stakeholder group. survey or transect walk and
2. Vertical Scaling-up (secondary interviews of key informants from
level or macro organizing) – this the community.
type of scalers higher up the 2. SI Proper – takes place during the
ladder. It is institutional in nature in Immersion Phase of the CO
that involves other sectors/ Process. The technique used us
stakeholder groups in the process ‘pakiki-randam’, the ability to feel
of expansion. the pulse of the people, their
dreams and aspirations, concerns
and sentiments, needs and
5. Phase-over – outer layer problems, success and failures,
striving and best practices.
The CP have already been made aware of 3. Deepening of SI – It signals
the progressive nature of their working growing the and continuous
relationship with the CDW. This phase- genuine people’s participation in
over enables the CP to leap gradually to a managing development initiatives,
higher consciousness level, commitment as they get involved in the
 systematic knowledge generation  Gender Analysis – focuses on
and as they use the knowledge understanding and
created to improve their solution. documenting in gender roles,
This level uses the following twin activities, needs and
techniques: (a) pakiki-alam, and opportunities in a given
(b) pakiki-sangkot. context.
 Force field analysis (FFA) – is
a tool for problem solving
The operational community profile derived from the work of Kurt
serves as concerns basis for the Lewin’s Field Theory of social
people to come up with their plan of change. A process of
action designed to transform their identifying the dimensions
realities. (driving forces and restraining
forces) of a problem and
determining the strategies for
VARYING STEPS/ INGREDIENTS IN solving it.
ORGANIZING AN OVERVIEW  SWOT Analysis – focuses on
the identification of the
Three classic CO models / approaches dynamic interrelationship
that have been appropriated over time. between and among the
strengths and weaknesses of
(1) Social Action / conflict-
the internal environment of the
confrontation
organization as well as the
(2) Community Development /
opportunities and threats
Locality Development / Project-
posed by the external
oriented
environment.
(3) Social Planning / Agency- oriented
 Appreciative planning and
action (APA) – is an
organizational methodology
METHODS AND TOOLD FOR MULTI- based on Appreciative Inquiry
STAKEHOLDERS PARTICIPATION (AI) and built on searching for
Participatory methods and tools the positive, for success, for
what works, as opposed to
(1) They can build their confidence of problem-oriented focus of most
the traditionally disadvantage other planning and
groups in their local indigenous development strategies.
knowledge ad collective strengths;  Participatory Rural Appraisal
(2) they can generate constructive (PRA) – is a tool that
collaboration among different emphasize local knowledge
stakeholders of development. and enables local people to do
their own appraisal, analysis
and planning.
 Stakeholders analysis-  Writeshops – a method of
understanding a system by producing information materials
identifying the key actors or or publications where the
stakeholders and their mutual different stakeholders come
relationships in the system and together and engage
assessing their respective themselves in a process of
interests and involvements in pooling their resources and
that system. knowledge to document a
 subject of common significance
to them and to a larger society.
 Participatory training – it
deemphasizes technical
competence and permits
sharing of experiences. It is a
multi-sectoral, multi-level; and
it creates a relationship of
equality between the trainees
and trainers.
 Checklist for identifying
participatory components of
projects

A matter of Attitude
The attitudes of the users of these
methods and tools are the most
important for these users are the
ones who encourage and enable
participation.
In the ultimate analysis, the CDW
and CP have shared responsibility
to use these methods and tools in
creative, flexible, open-ended
ways, thereby truly promoting an
equilibrium in power relations
among different stakeholders for
their genuine participation.