The Living Commune

The word community in its literal form is defined by two characteristics:

location and social identification. First, a community can be defined simply as a group
of individuals bound within a specific geographic location. It means that a group of
people living in a specific area, and it has precise boundaries that are readily
understood and accepted by others can be called a community. The second definition
surmises that a community is an example of a collective that identifies common traits,
goals, or customs (cultural heritage, language, and beliefs or shared interests). It can
be argued that communities bind individuals into a collective whole.
Most of us belong to more than one community, whether we’re aware of it or
not. For example, an individual can be part of a neighborhood community, a religious
community and a community of shared interest all at the same time. Relationships,
whether with people of the land, defines a community for each individual.
A community is a living social entity and goes beyond the old categorization of
space as its primary definition. More than a space, a community is made up of people:
you and I. Much like a living organism, you may thing of people as living cells that make
up an organic being.
A Community is A Superorganic Organism or System
A community can be seen as being something like an organism (i.e. it is
organized; it has organs). It lives and functions even though its human members come
and go, are born to die.
People within the community act in the same way and of same importance. Like
cells, we need each other to support life. Our society itself has life, has vibrancy, and
every single one is as integral to support this structure as everybody else. Just like an
organic being, a community takes on different periods of evolution as it continues to
survive.
While the composition of the community is by default created by the
personalities therein, the environment, on the other hand, shapes it to its most optimal
social composition and form. This synergy between the self, community, and the
environment seems to be organic.
A society, then, is a system- not an organic system like an engine, not an
organic system like a tree, but a superorganic system build up of learned ideas,
expectations and behavior of human beings. Think of three levels of organization:
inorganic, organic and superorganic.
Although a community is a cultural system ( in that it transcends its individual
persons) do not assume that a community is a harmonious unity. Community is full of
factions, struggles and conflicts, based upon differences in gender, religion, access to
wealth, ethnicity, class, educational level, income, ownership of capital, language and
many other factors.
 In order to promote community participation and development, it is the task of
the animator to bring these factions together, encourage tolerance and team spirit,
and obtain consensus decisions. To promote social change in a community, it is
necessary to know how that system operates, and therefore how it will respond to
changes, and to your interventions.
To know how a community operates, one must not anthropomorphise a
community. To “anthropomorphise” means to assume and ascribe human
characteristics to a non human thing(e.g. thinking that ducks and bears have “ families”
when “ family” is a human institution). A community does not talk, does not think,
cannot feel, and does not act like a human being. It is a superorganic entity, and
therefore moves, responds, grows and behaves through different principles, forces and
mechanisms than a human being does.

Importance of Community Actions to Students Career Options

Students as community workers helps communities to bring about social change
and impart the quality of life in their local area. They work with individuals, families and
whole communities to empower them to:
• identify their assets, needs, opportunities, rights and responsibilities;
• plan what they want to achieve and take appropriate action;
• develop activities and services to generate aspiration and confidence.

A community development worket often acts as a link between communities and

a range of other local authority and voluntary sector provider, such as the police, social
workers and teachers.
They are frequently involved in addressing inequality, and projects often target
communities perceived to be culturally, economically or geographically disadvantaged.

Responsibilities
Community development workers seek to actively engage communities in
making sense of the issues which affect their lives, setting goals for improvement and
responding to problems and needs through empowerment and active participation.
A good deal of the students work is project based, which means that as
community development workers they usually have geographical community or social
group on which to focus.

Community Development workers’ tasks often involve:

• Identifying community skills, assets, issues and needs;

 • Ensuring that local people have their say;
• Developming new resources in dialogue with the community and evaluating existing
programs;
• Building links with other groups and agencies ( government and non- government)
• Helping to raise public awareness on issues relevant to the community; •
Preparing reports and policies;
• Raising and managing funds;
• Developing and implementing strategies;
• Liasing with interested groups and individuals to set up new services;
• Mediating in matters of conflictl
• Recruiting and training paid and voluntray staff;
• Planning, attending and coordinating meetings and events;
• Overseeing the management of a limited budget;
• Encouraging participation in activities;
• Challenging inappropriate behavior;
Part- time, temporary work and career breaks are possible. Short-term contracts are
common, due to the nature of funding within the sector.

What to expect

• Community development workers often have an office but spends much of their time
out and about in the community.
• Self-employment/freelance work is sometimes possible working as a trainer or
consultant.
• The work is usually either rural or urban based, and conditions vary according to the
nature and location of the project funding.
• Coping with social disadvantage and disaffected members of the community can be
stressful.
• There is frequent contact with individuals, agencies and groups in the community.
Therefore, travel within a working day is to be expected. Absence from home
overnight is likely to be rare but may be required on occasion.

Choosing your career as community development workers necessitate various

skills. You will need to show:
• Advocacy and networking skills;
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and team-building skills;
• Good listening skills;
• Research and report-writing skills and the ability to interpret or present data;
• Knowledge and understanding of community and social issues;
• A non-judgmental and positive attitude;
• Creative thinking and problem-solving;
 • Political, social and negotiating skills;
• An understanding of how public sector bodies work;
• Compassion and the ability to emphasize with people’s life experiences; •
Fundraising- at management level there is an increasing need to identify and
pursue sources of funding.

Community work is challenging, exciting and at times frustrating. You need to be

prepared to cope with inevitable conflict and setback. Results are long term rather than
ikmmediate, so patience and perseverance are essential. Above all, you need tact and
diplomacy in order to negotiate your entry into a community.
Strong commitment to equal opportunities in the public sector creates a demand
for ethnic minority applications, particularly those with language skills. Life experiences
can also be a factor.

Work experience
Pre-entry paid or voluntary work experience is cruicial. People often become
community development workers after working in teaching, youth work. The health
sector or other roles within the community. Decelopment work overseas may also be
relevant.
It’s important to have a proben interest in community and social issues and at
least a year’s involvement in areas such as:
• Community work;
• Women’s project;
• Pressure groups;
• Youth work.
Try to get involved in voluntary work as a student, in local community projects,
youth groups, tenants’ associations or women’s groups.
Comeptition for jobs is keen, especially for the limited numbers of local authority
post, which often greater job security. Competition is affected by the political because
of the broad remit of community work; a community development worker could be
employed by any of these organizations doing a variety of different types of work.
Sources of vacancies are:
• Guardian brotherhood
• Barangay batch workers
• Social government workers
• Rural improvement offices
• Crime watch
• Barangay leader
 • Community volunteer worker
• Risk and disaster workers
• Sports trainer/consultant
• Police Asset

Professional Development in Community Work

Ongoing training is essential in community work and usually occurs on the job
as a part-time study to gain a recognized qualification.
Since projects and communities vary so much, community development workers
must constantly develop new skills, update old ones and acquire specific knowledge.
Training provision varies depending on the employer, but there are likely to be
opportunities to develop relevant skills.
The voluntary sector is especially rich interesting and relevant training
opportunities, including accredited training programs which are available at colleges
and other learning centers.
It is also quite common for community development workers to pursue their own
continuing professional development (CPD) by undertaking a master’s degree or other
pstgraduate qualificiations. Relevant CPD subjects include:
• Voluntary sector studies;
• Housing practice;
• Business and community studies;
• Legal studies;
• Public health/ community health;
• Social Services management.
Career Prospects
Opportunities for promotion are limited in both the public and voluntary sectors.
Sideways movement into projects with different focus, or from generic to specific
work (vice versa), is common. Senior posts usually involve managing a larger number
of staff, a larger budget or a wider geographical area.
As a community development workers embark on postgraduate study, there is
the tendency to move into more policy-making positions, with a view to becoming
directors of oraganizations with responsibility for implementing large-scale and complex
projects.
With substantial experience and expertise in asepcific field, there is the
possibility of freelance work in the role of a trainer, consultant or adviser.
DEFINITION OF COMMUNITY
Community is a set of descriptions of what is implied. It is essentially a subjective
experience which defies objective definition. It is felt and experienced rather than
measured and defined. People experience communities differently boundaries of a
community may be physical or tangible, as they configure on a map or as an
administrative area. However, some boundaries may be symbolic, in that they may
exist in the minds of the beholders, and therefore people feel a “sense of belonging” to
the community.

Social Science Perspective of a Community

Not only is the concept of a community a “construct” ( model), it is also
“sociological construct.” It is a set of interactions, human behaviors that have meaning
and expectations between its members.
The social sciences are regarded simply as the study of people and societies.
Throughout history, social sciences concetrated on the factors that shaped and dictated
the course of our civilization. A study in social sciences demands a deeper
understanding of people’s behaviors and processes in relation to the scheme of
societal order. Different branches of the field correspond to a specific value of human
processes in varied degrees of scope alongside their inherent limitations.
There are three perspectives under the field of social sciences,
Anthropological,Sociological, and Political.
Anthropological Perspective
Communities are the driving force for civilizations. Human evolution itself came
from the mold of these evolutionary shifts and has drastically accelerated human
development. Renowned naturalis Charles Darwin’s discovery of human evolution
through natural selction highlights the idea that development stemmed from the ability
of a certain speceies to adapt and therefore survive its environment. This shattered the
long
established notion that species retain their characteristics through the course of time.
Now, if we glance into how biological forms survive, we can also use this to map out
not only on how humans survived with the help of their biological characteristics and
advantages but also on how the creation of our own social mechanisms secured our
place at the top of the evolutionary chain.

Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age) – Hunter-Gatherers

Around 2.5 million years ago, our earliest human ancestors survived as hunter
gatherers during this era. Through sheer human ingenuity, the earliest men crafted tolls
from rocks and other materials they could find. These tools were used basically for
cutting and chopping.
 Human development was marked by the development of their tools, which
started with the Oldowan stone tool industry which is the earliest know period where
men first attained such feats of craftsmanship. Moving on, at around 1.6 million years
ago, humans started to slowly improve their tools as they had more robust construction
and are more symmetrical, marking the Acheulean tradition. This also signifies the
earliest period where humans exhibited a form of communal behavior. Foraging is one
of the earliest forms of social stratification where roles were given to certain members
of the group.The formation of these roles emphasized the need for the earliest humans
to form relationships among themselves to improve their chances of survival.
For them to hunt for food, they scoured the land for prey and depending on the
animal to be hunted, they needed the efforts of other members to take down their
intended targets. Hunting demands the physical tools to do the work, therefore, it was
mainly a task for males. Women were known to gather wild plants and smaller preys.
This was the first evidence of how men categorized roles throught the division of labor.
Mesolithic Age (Middle Stone Age) – Horticultural and Agricultural
The Mesolithic Age ( 9,600 BCE, right afte the Ice Age) is arguable the turning
point of human evolution. It was during this time that hunter-gatherers were having a
less vital communal function. This was because during this time, due to the changing
environment they were in, humans started to cultivate more sustainable sources of
food.
The cultivated plants and the later, they formed an agricultural society. However,
this arc did not happen at the same rate because the evolution of many of these
primitive communites was also affected by the environment in which the humans were
situated. Many of our earliest ancestors opted to settle near bodies of water because
fish was more abundant and easier to catch that it is to hunt for animals that may be
riskier and even life threatening in some instances.
The diet of our ancestors were nuts, plants, fish, and other animals. Cultivation
of plants was essential in building communities that were less nomadic, and it was the
start of communal settlement. Humans in this period finally found a way on how to
provide food for themselves, thus causing the creation of more populous communes.

Neolithic Age - Agrarian

In this age, communes were more efficient that in the previous two ages.
Herding was added to agriculture as their main sources of good. Having evolved from
hunting and gathering. Herding was the start of a more complex society moving away
from foraging as the commune’s primary task. Since settlements were more permanent
and work was becoming more structures, it gave time for the communes to use their
free time in other pursuits than foraging.
Materialization of societal relations and dynamics in the commune became more
grounded and systematizes, usherish the dawn of civilization. This gave birth to the
earliest known civilizations, such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and the Indus Valley,
which later on became the origins of modern states.
Agriculture was scaled down during this period as more efficient ways of farming
were developed. Humans developed tools using sturdier materials such as metals,
which they developed later as farming equipment. As the knowledge from thousand of
years contributed, aside from cultivating the land, they also developed water irrigation.
Sociological Perspective
Sociology is a branch of social science that analyzes the history,evolution,
structure and functions of societies. Sociology is employed in observing the community
in a more sociological perspective, by focusing on the subject across agencies, from
the individual (micro level) to a larger and broader subject (macro level) which includes
institutions and other groups. The focus of the study falls within these topics:
• Social Stratification
• Social Class
• Social Mobility
• Religion
• Sexuality
• Deviance
Social Stratification
To study society, a scholar needs to have a cluster of identifiable traits, to
distinguish individulas and grups from one another. The social scientists use social
stratification to delineate subjects based on the individual or group’s shared
characteristics, they identify individuals or groups as cohorts sharing common
experiences. Such categorizations may be based on work, wealth, or wage. The
resulting classification usually will split subjects into lower class, middle class, and
upper class to identify the various strata within societies.
Social Class
A social class is the direct result of classifying people in accordance to material
wealth, relative social value, or other traits. It is determined based on a specified set of
observable and quantifiable characteristics relative to a set benchmark
Social Mobility
Societies today are not only classified and identified by where they are based or
situated. Social Mobility is the study of how individuals or groups move across
classifications and stratifications. Mobility, in this regard, is the transition of subjects in
various social identities within a determined structure. Here we can see stature on
welath, social prestige, and other factors that can determine the current and historical
progress of different sets of collective.
Religion
 It is how people or groups are classified by using core religious belief and
practices as an identifiable social charactertistic. In sociology, religion is recognized as
one of
primary influences that contribute to individual identity and social norms and thus is one
of the factors to be studied.
Sexuality
Sexuality is one of the topics that identify people and groups through their
sexual norms, orientation, interests, and behavior. These characteristics are
manifested from the more obious, life fashion or aesthetic preference, to a more
abstract and less identifiable, such as sexual preference and emotional and spiritual
characteristics. As a part of the human biological functions, cut across other
classifications and is on of the more popular studies in current literature.
Deviance
In sociology, studying deviance is rooted on the interaction of society with a
certain social anomaly such as a deviant act or norm-defying stunt. To become a
deviant, it must be against a preset rule or agreed-upon norm. Sociology studies the
interaction of deviants to emphasize the dynamics within social systems.

Political Perspective
According to Harold Lasswell, the study of politics can be summed up as to “Who
gets what, when, and how.” If we were to closely scrutinize this view, we can unravel
power relationships in this simple yet powerful statement in which other disciplines,
such as economics, can be used to interpret it. Politics is not just the study of power or
systems, nor is it about leaders or laws. Political science, as a field of study, intersects
other branches of knowledge and inquiry; it is, in fact multidisciplinary.
Political science views communities as composed of citizens guided under one
constitution of government. Individuals are considered as constituents whose
identification can be summed by their citizenship proven by a contract such as a
passport or birth certificate.

Nation, State, and Nation-State

A nation is composed of individuals that share a common background such as
language, history, or religion; while a state is a political entity that has the four
characteristics: population, territory, sovereignity, and governement. A nation-state is
when both nation and state come together to form a unified body that has all four
aforemention characteristics bound by a common identification of, culture, alnguage,
and history.
 • Population – The people sharing a geographical space ( towns, cities, countries) •
Territory – Physical area under the rule or jurisdiction under a political system or
ruler
• Sovereignity – Authority of a state for self- governance and rule
• Government- A gorup of individuals that administers the function of the state.

Institutional Perspective
Institutions are grand social structures that are made up of individuals which,
when viewed as a whole, exhibit patterns of behavior that create conventions and
norms in our society. Institutions also set patterns of behavior by motivating and
restricting conduct vy set of rules and regulations. These social structures are
considered as social creations whose meaning and importance depend on its
members. Our societies’ transactions, from the individuals to group collectives and
even states, all contribute to this grand narrative of institutional structures.
A community is not merely a collection of houses. It is a human (social and
cultural) organization. Also, it is not just a collection of human individuals; it is a socio-
cultural system; it is socially organized.
Social animation (prompting community participation or self help) mobilizes and
organizes a community. This means that the social, organization of the community is
changed, however slightly or greatly. The mobilizer or animator, therefore, is a social
change agnet, or catalyst.

Civil Society Perspective

Stresses the idea of forming a group, foundation or an organization in service to
society. This perspective views society as a community of citizens linked by common
interests and collective activity. Examples include people’s organization, civic
organization, and social movements.
This is considered the affective model of community since a sense of belonging
is achieved due to the collaboration of shared interests and identities in serving the
humanity. Groups of people come together regardless of location, and organize plans
to render support and assistance to society.
Local and Grassroots Perspectives
This perspective highlights volunteerism. Members of communities may involve
themselves in various programs or activities. The community uses self-organization
and encourages the local citizen to contribute to the community by taking
responsibilities and actions. Leaders and other members identify the sources of
concerns in a local setting and determine ways to address these problems. Volunteers
are mobilized in cooperation with government decision-makers who will be accountable
for their actions. The community also formulates programs for others, and employs
actions according to the needs of the community.

We have learned before that a community is a group of people who occupy a common contiguous
territory, possessed of a common set of traditions associated with their living together in that territory,
and served by a set of local institutions in which the people are conscious of their common interest.
Community is a place where people live, work and play. In other words, in a community there is a
common territory, common ties and a sense of belongingness. There is a social interaction among the
people. The types of communities are:

1. Formal Communities - In putting their interest in their domains, the members in these communities
engage in joint activities and discussions, help each other, and share information from each other; they
care about their standing with each other. Example of these communities are eco-villages, co-housing,
co-ops, and religious communities. Ecovillages are generally communities with strong ecologoical focus.
Co- housing communities generally incorporates both private home and shared common facilities and
support neighbors connections. Co-ops communities are cooperative, members generally expense
sharing and shared housing communities. Religious communities are communities that are identified as
spiritual or religious in nature, such as Muslim communities, Christian societies, etc.

2. Informal Communities - These communities consist of a set of personal relations, social networks,
common interest and emmotional sources of motivation. They are built among people who share a
common organizational affiliations. Some of these types are academic communities, recreation
communities and retirement communities. Academic Communities include schools, colleges,
universities, research laboratories, corporate training facilities, tutorial centers in which the people have
common interests. Recreation Communities or tourist forums are usually the historical sites or scenic
views where travelers and tourist spend money on food, hotels etc. Retirement Communities tend to
house large number of elderly people who have left the workforce. These retirees bring pensions, social
securities and savings which infuse the area with capital.

3. Urban Communities - it is usually large, in terms of land area and population, advance in science and
technology, with favorable physical environment and varied diverse cultures, and the people are
engaged in varied occupations. At least 150, 000 inhabitants, with a contiguous territory of at least 100
sq. Km and an average annual income of Php 70 million.

4. Rural Communities - In this types of communities, the people usually produce their own food for
subsistence. The major sources of their livelihood are crops and livestock production, farming, fishing,
mining ( in other provinces) and small cottage industries.

5. Global Communities - It is the international aggregate of nation-states. It may also be called “ World
Community”, This type of community is typically used to imply the existence of a common point of view
towards such matters as specific issues of human rights, global warming and climate change, peace and
order, socio-economic conditions of the people as wells as disputed issue such as territorial conflict.

6. Sectoral Type of Community - This include the voluntary sector or community sector (also non-profit
sector or “ non-for profit” sector). Social activities are undertaken by organizations that are non-for-
profit and non-governmental. This sector is also called third sector, in contrast to the public sector and
the private sector. Civic sector or social sectorare other terms for the sector, emphasizing its
relationship to civil society.

7. Social Space Type of Communities - A social space is a physical or virtual space such as social center,
online social media or other gathering place where people gather and interact. Some social spaces may
be in public or in private and owned/ regulated.

Overview of Community Action

Community Action is a campaign undertaken by he people living in a
particular place. It is an action undertaken (and usually also initiated and organized)
by tmembers of a community or by a community organization for that community’s
own improvement.
Community Action changes people’s lives, embodies the spirit of hope,
improves communties and makes the Philippines a better place to live. We care
about the entire community, and we are dedicated to helping people help
themselves and each other.
Community action encompasses community engagement, community of
solidarity, and citizenship building.
Community Engagement
Community engagement refers to the process by which community benefit
organziations and individuals build ongoing, permanent relationshops for the
purpose of applying a collective vision for the benefit of a community.While
community organizing involves the process of building a grassroot movement
involving communities, community engagement primarily deals with the pracitice of
moving communities toward change, usually from a stalled or similartly suspended
position.
Origin of Community Engagement
Community engagement can trace its roots to the concept of community
benefit, a term that grew out of an English common law concept, articulated in an
1891 legal decision that defined four types of charitable organizations; trusts for the
advancement of education; trusts for the advancement of religion; and trusts for
other purposes beneficial to the community.
As community benefit became an important method of institutionalizing ideal,
methods evolved to effectively reach the communities those entities were meant to
aid. This led to the both of community organizing. Practitioners of community
engagement run the gamut, from local community members to professionals such
as business developers or social workers.
Methodologies of community engagement are a result of problems in the
community where local leaders are unable to initiate the projects by themselves or
the community people to engage in the project/s they became involved in. Due to
lack of funding, mismanagement of resources and politics in the local government
and some overlaying problems, some plans are not pushed through.
Current Methods And Implementations
Practical community engagement is used as an active method of
implementing change. While most current standards implore more static means
through standard marketing techniques, community engagement involves actively
implementing a specific

process towards activism such as the 8- step guideline listed below developed by
Hildy Gottlieb of Creating the Future. While the process may have similarities to a
controversial form of friend raising. The emphasis in community engagement is that
of honest relationship building for the sake of community, not for the sole purpose of
money- making. The steps are:
1. Determine the goals of the plan
2. Plan out who to engage
3. Develop engagement strategies for those individuals you already know
4. Develop engagement strategies for those individuals you already not know
5. Prioritize those activities
6. Create an implementation plan
7. Monitor your progress
8. Maintain those relationship

Other programs exist to assist communities in the process of building

community coalitions for engagement. One such program is Communities That
Care which helps communities asses their needs and implement tested and
affective programs to address their identified issues.

Key Concepts of Community Engagement

Community engagement may involve the use of particular key concepts
relevant to the community benefit sector such as:
 Friendraising
  Community impact planning
 Community-driven governance
 Asset-based resources development
 Vision-based community impact planning
 Organizational wellness planning
 Building programs on shared resources
 Community sleuthing
 Community-based program development

Differences Between Civic, Social, and Community Engagement

Civic engagement refers to political activity, membership and volunteering in
civil society organizations.Social engagement refers to participation in collective
activities. Community Engagement refers to the process by which community
benefit organizations and individuals build ongoing, permanent relationship for the
purpose of applying a collective vision for the benefit of a community.

Community Solidarity
Solidarity is a mutual commitment to one another’s well being. Solidarity is
about more than investing a week in one another’s lives; more than knowing one
another’s name and caring about one another’s lives. Solidarity is about knowing
what the real struggles and joys are in a partner’s life, and making those struggles
and joys your own in a way that has real, concrete effects on the priorities you set.
Solidarity means not only asking how something will affect you and your
neighborhood, but how it will affect others. It means considering not only how the
way you budget your money or your time will affect your family.

Citizenships for Community Development

Citizenship is the status of a person recognized under the custom or law as
being a member of a country. A person may have multiple citizenships and a
person who does not have citizenship of any state is said to be stateless.
Nationality is often used as a synonym for citizenship in English- notably in
international law - although the term is sometimes understood as denoting a
person’s membership of a nation ( a large ethnic group).

A person can be a citizen for several reasons. Usually citizenship of the

place of birth is automatic; in other cases an application may be required. Each
 country has its own policies and regulations which change the criteria of who is
issued citizenship.
 Parents are citizens (jus sanguinis). If one or both of a person’s parents are
citizen of a given state, then the person may have the right to be a citizen of
the state as well. Citizenship is granted based on ancestry or ethnicity, and
is related to the concept of a nation state. Where jus sanguinis holds, a
person born outside a country, one or both of whose parents are citizens of
the country, is also a citizen.

 Born within a country (jus soli). Some people are automatically citizens of
the state in which they are born. This form of citizenship originated in
England where those who were born within the realm were subject of the
monarch ( a concept pre-dating citizenship), and is common in common law
countries.
 Marriage to a citizen ( jure matrimonii). Many countries fast-track
naturalization based on the marriage of a person to a citizen. Countries
which are destinations for such immigration often have regulations to try to
detect sham marriages, where a citizen marries a non-citizen typically for
payment without them having the intention of living together.
 Naturalization. States normally grant citizenship to people who have
entered the country legally and been granted permit to stay or been granted
political asylum, and also lived there for a specified period. In some
countries naturalization is subject to conditions which may include passing a
test demonstrating reasonable knowledge of the language or way of life of
the host country, good conduct ( no serious criminal record) and moral
character, vowing allegiance to their new state or its ruler and renouncing
their prior citizenship.

Major issues affecting poor and marginalized communities

1. INEQUALITY AND MARGINALIZATION

“Inequality” is an easy, but sometimes misleading term used to describe the systemic
barriers leaving groups of people without a voice or representation within their
communities. For a population to escape poverty, all groups must be involved in the
decision-making process — especially when it comes to having a say in the things that
determine your place in society. Some of these may be obvious, but in other situations,
it can be subtle. Gender inequality, caste systems, marginalization based on race or
tribal affiliations are all economic and social inequalities that mean the same thing: Little
to no access to the resources needed to live a full, productive life. When combined with
different combinations of vulnerability and hazards which comprise the rest of this list —
a marginalized community may become even more vulnerable to the cycle of poverty.
2. CONFLICT
Conflict is one of the most common forms of risk driving poverty today. Large-scale,
protracted violence that we’ve seen in areas like Syria can grind society to a halt,
destroying infrastructure and causing people to flee (often with nothing but the clothes
on their backs). In its tenth year of conflict, Syria’s middle class has been all but
destroyed, and over 80% of the population now lives below the poverty line.
But even small bouts of violence can have huge impacts on communities that are
already struggling. For example, if farmers are worried about their crops being stolen,
they won’t invest in planting. Women also bear the brunt of conflict, which adds a layer
of inequality to all conflict: During periods of violence, female-headed households
become very common. And because women often have difficulty getting well-paying
work and are typically excluded from community decision-making, their families are
particularly vulnerable.

3. HUNGER, MALNUTRITION, AND STUNTING

You might think that poverty causes hunger (and you would be right!), but hunger is
also a cause — and maintainer — of poverty. If a person doesn’t get enough food,
they’ll lack the strength and energy needed to work (or their immune system will weaken
from malnutrition and leave them more susceptible to illness that prevents them from
getting to work). The first 1,000 days of a child’s life (from womb to world) are key to
ensuring their future health and likelihood of staying out of poverty. If a mother is
malnourished during pregnancy, that can be passed on to her children, leading to
wasting (low weight for height) or stunting (low height for age). Child stunting, both
physical and cognitive, can lead to a lifetime of impacts: Adults who were stunted as
children earn, on average, 22% less than those who weren’t stunted. In Ethiopia,
stunting contributes to GDP losses as high as 16%.

ADULTS WHO WERE STUNTED AS CHILDREN EARN, ON AVERAGE, 22% LESS

THAN THOSE WHO WEREN’T STUNTED. IN ETHIOPIA, STUNTING CONTRIBUTES
TO GDP LOSSES AS HIGH AS 16%.

4. POOR HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS —ESPECIALLY FOR MOTHERS AND

CHILDREN
Extreme poverty and poor health often go hand in hand. In countries where health
systems are weak, easily preventable and treatable illnesses like malaria, diarrhea, and
respiratory infections can be fatal — especially for young children. And when people
must travel far distances to clinics or pay for medicine, it drains already vulnerable
households of money and assets, and can tip a family from poverty into extreme
poverty.
For some women, pregnancy and childbirth can be a death sentence. In many of the
countries where Concern works, access to quality maternal healthcare is poor. Pregnant
and lactating mothers face a multitude of barriers when seeking care, from not being
allowed to go to a clinic without a male chaperone to receiving poor or even abusive
care from a doctor. This is especially true for adolescent girls aged 18 and under,
leaving mothers-to-be and their children at increased risk for disease and death.

5. LITTLE OR NO ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER, SANITATION, AND HYGIENE

Currently, more than 2 billion people don’t have access to clean water at home. This
means that people (which is to say, women and girls) collectively spend some 200
million hours every day walking long distances to fetch water. That’s precious time that
could be used working, or getting an education to help secure a job later in life.
Contaminated water can also lead to a host of waterborne diseases, ranging from the
chronic to the life-threatening. Poor water infrastructure — such as sanitation and
hygiene facilities — can compound this, or create other barriers to escaping poverty,
such as keeping girls out of school during menstruation.

6. CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate change creates hunger, whether through too little water (drought) or too
much (flooding), and its effects contribute to the cycle of poverty in several other ways
including disproportionately affecting women, creating refugees, and even influencing
conflict. One World Bank estimates that climate change has the power to push more
than 100 million people into poverty over the next decade. Many of the world’s poorest
populations rely on farming or hunting and gathering to eat and earn a living — for
example, Malawi is 80% agrarian. They often have only just enough food and assets to
last through the next season, and not enough reserves to fall back on in the event of a
poor harvest. So when climate change or natural disasters (including the widespread
droughts caused by El Niño) leave millions of people without food, it pushes them
further into poverty, and can make recovery even more difficult.

7. LACK OF EDUCATION
Not every person without an education is living in extreme poverty. But most of the
extremely poor don’t have an education. There are many barriers to education around
the world, including a lack of money for uniforms and books, a bias against girls’
education, or many of the other causes of poverty mentioned here. But education is
often referred to as the great equalizer, because it can open the door to jobs and other
resources and skills that a family needs to not just survive, but thrive. UNESCO
estimates that 171 million people could be lifted out of extreme poverty if they left
school with basic reading skills. Poverty threatens education, but education can also
help end poverty.

8. POOR PUBLIC WORKS AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Imagine that you have to go to work, but there are no roads to get you there. Or
heavy rains have flooded your route and made it impossible to travel. A lack of
infrastructure — from roads, bridges, and wells, to cables for light, cell phones, and
internet — can isolate communities living in rural areas. Living off the grid often means
living without the ability to go to school, work, or the market to buy and sell goods.
Traveling further distances to access basic services not only takes time, it costs money,
keeping families in poverty. Isolation limits opportunity. Without opportunity, many find it
difficult, if not impossible, to escape extreme poverty.

ISOLATION LIMITS OPPORTUNITY.

9. LACK OF GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
Many people living in the United States are familiar with social welfare programs that
people can access if they need healthcare or food assistance. But not every
government can provide this type of help to its citizens — and without that safety net,
there’s nothing to stop vulnerable families from backsliding further into extreme poverty.
Ineffective governments also contribute to several of the other causes of extreme
poverty mentioned above, as they are unable to provide necessary infrastructure or
healthcare, or ensure the safety and security of their citizens in the event of conflict.

10. LACK OF JOBS OR LIVELIHOODS

This might seem like a no-brainer: Without a job or a livelihood, people will face
poverty. Dwindling access to productive land (often due to conflict, overpopulation, or
climate change) and overexploitation of resources like fish or minerals puts increasing
pressure on many traditional livelihoods. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
for example, most of the population lives in rural communities where natural resources
have been plundered over centuries of colonial rule — while conflict over land has
forced people away from their source of income and food. Now, more than half of the
country lives in extreme poverty.

11. LACK OF RESERVES

All of the above risk factors — from conflict to climate change or even a family illness
— can be weathered if a family or community has reserves in place. Cash savings and
loans can offset unemployment due to conflict or illness. Proper food storage systems
can help if a drought or natural disaster ruins a harvest. People living in extreme poverty
usually don’t have these means available. This means that, when a risk turns into a
disaster, they turn to negative coping mechanisms, including pulling children out of
school to work (or even marry), and selling off assets to buy food. That can help a family
make it through one bad season, but not another. For communities constantly facing
climate extremes or prolonged conflict, the repeated shocks can send a family reeling
into extreme poverty and prevent them from ever recovering.

THE ROLE OF THE YOUTH IN COMMUNITY ACTION

Youth involvement can benefit organizations and their programs as well as the youth
themselves. Programs that are developed in partnership with youth are more likely to be
effective at engaging the population and, therefore, to have a greater impact. Involving
youth as partners in making decisions that affect them increases the likelihood that the
decisions will be accepted, adopted, and become part of their everyday lives. In
addition,
empowering youth to identify and respond to community needs helps them become
empathetic, reflective individuals, setting them on a course to potentially continue this
important work in their future. Meaningful youth engagement views youth as equal
partners with adults in the decision-making process. Programs and activities are
developed with youth, rather than for youth. In this kind of equal partnership, both adults
and young people need to be fully engaged, open to change in how things are done,
and share a unified vision for the partnership.
Considerations for organizations that want to involve youth in a meaningful way
Here are some suggested steps to consider when trying to engage young people
and ensure the experience is meaningful for the youth as well as for the program.

Assess
Consider where your program currently is on the continuum of youth engagement
and where you would like to be. Not every program or activity can or should always
involve youth at Level 5. Youth’s level of involvement may vary based on the capacity of
program staff to spend time and resources on involving youth, the purpose of involving
youth, and support within the organization for involving youth. Organizational
infrastructure and support for involving youth are key concerns for sustainability of youth
involvement.

Plan
Look at your organization’s programs and determine where it would be most
beneficial and feasible to involve youth. Define the purpose of involving youth in the
selected activity. Based on the purpose, determine how to engage youth and the most
appropriate level of involvement. Talk with other organizations and agencies that are
already partnering with youth to learn how they went about doing this and any
recommendations they have. Collaborating with other organizations that are engaging
youth may help you avoid implementation challenges that others have faced.

Implement
Identify how you will recruit youth and how you will keep them engaged in the
process. Issues to consider are how to recruit youth who are representative of the
population you serve, what skills and capabilities the youth need, and what training
should be provided.Provide training for organization staff who will be working with youth
to ensure they have an understanding of the rationale and purpose of partnering with
youth, how it will benefit both the program and the youth, and the skills necessary to
effectively work with youth.

Evaluate
Develop a plan to review and monitor the youth involvement process.
Engage the youth and adults to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of involving
youth in the organization and program as well as its impact on the youth themselves.
Share successes and challenges with others.

SELECTED CASES OF COMMUNITY-ACTION INITIATIVES

Community action initiatives are created by the framework, policies, practices and
needs in a certain community such concerns of citizens and officials helps address
problems in their place are the main objectives in making this initiative actions.
Cooperation of family members is the fundamental execution to have stability in life.
As for the community, all citizens ahave roles and be responsible enough to oversee the
needs of the community and its people.
Community action initiatives cannot be carried out successfully without its citizens
and citing other factors that might affect the success of a certain community.
Philippine Open Government Partnership National Action Plan
Homeless People’s Federation Philippines, Inc. (HPFPI), a network of organizations
that has implemented projects to help those people who have lost their homes because
of calamities and incidents.

The HPFPI, has performed activities such as:

- Providing the communities with savings that they can use to improve their finances
and rebuild their communities.
- Helping the disaster victims obtain land tenure, build or improve their homes and
access opportunities to improve their financial status.
- Coordinating with poor communities in disaster-prone areas and helping them find
ways to reduce the risks that they may experience.

Community Disaster Intervention Project of HPFPI

Open Government Partnership (OGP), is a worldwide initiative that aims to empower
people and improve government around the world. As a member of OGP, the Philippine
government has sought to fulfill and formalize initiatives in reforming the government.

Philippine Open Government Partnership National Action Plan is a product of their

efforts. In 2015-2017 the action plan was entitled Shared Commitment for Better
Outcomes.
Shared Commitment for Better Outcomes contains the following objectives:
- increasing the integrity of the governmet by being more transparent about how the
state budget is spent and how much is earned from industries that are dependent on
natural resources.
- approving the freedom of information act, and providing the public with greater access
to the datas from government.
- Strengthening the involvement of citizens from the government affairs by letting
them participate in auditing the state finances and in budgeting, as well as in providing
businesses an avenue to address economic problems in the country.

Community Action Extension Programs in State Colleges and Universities

Higher education institutions in the Philippines such as State Colleges and
Universities offer promising platforms towards extension programs where activities
related
to community actions are conducted.
State Colleges and Universities (SCU), have launched community action extension
program that involves the use of technology to improve farm productivity and attaining
Livelihood Enterprise Developer to reduce poverty.

Comprehensive Community Initiatives

Comprehensive Community Initiatives involved in partnership that takes part in several
interrelated activities occuring simultaneously. It may have both narrow and broad
goals. As this goals achieved and the project becomes successful, it can be adapted by
other communities. Some of the problems that can be addressed by comprehensive
community initiative are the following:
- Education related concerns such as the increase of drop-outs.
- Unjust treatments of the minority or the marginalized.
- Abuse or neglect of the vulnerable people in the community.
- Self- destructive behaviors such as suicide, substance abuse and excessive
drinking.
- Problems in one’s physical and mental health.
- Crimes and violence committed by your people.
- Poverty cause by unemployment.An example of comprehensive community initiative is
the training provided by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to health workers.
It teachers the health workers how to administer immunizations to childrens in remote
areas.

The Philippine Shell Foundation, Inc. (PSFI) also launched projects like Sanayan sa
Kakayahang Industriyal (SKIL), where out-of-school youth are trained to gain
technical skills. Another project launched by SHELL was the Sanayan sa Kakayahang
Agrikultura (SAKA). It provides the poor and out-of-school youth with opportunities for
employment and livelihood. SAKA has the following objectives:
- Enhancing the employability and earning potential of out-of-school youths from poor
families, particularly those with small land holdings.
- Providing training on how to manage small farms and improve their productivity,
based on an innovative curriculum.
- Providing agro-based training for highschool graduate who seeks employment, or
want to conduct trade on their own.
- Promoting personality development, desirable socio cultural values, a positive work
attitute, and self discipline.