thehistoricaldevelopmentofcommunityorganization-200812091500.pdf

THE HISTORICAL
DEVELOPMENT OF
COMMUNITY
ORGANIZATION
SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE WITH COMMUNITIES
JANICA CALDONA
Registered Social Worker

WESTERN BEGINNINGS
Community Organization

WESTERN BEGINNINGS
Elizabethan Poor Law of
1601
 formalized the practices of relief for
the poor in England and Wales which
refined the country’s Old Poor Law of
1597
 could be described as “parochial”
since the administrative unit of the
law system were the parishes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_relief Retrieved on June 20, 2020

WESTERN BEGINNINGS
The Charity Organization &
Settlement Houses Period
(1870 – 1917)
 Charity Organization Society
• Founded by Octavia Hill & Helen Bosanquet
in1869 London
• dealt with the effects of poverty in the
nation with limited government
intervention
https://www.alliance1.org/web/about/History/birth-national-movement.aspx Retrieved on June 20, 2020
OCTAVIA HILL

WESTERN BEGINNINGS
 Charity Organization Society in the
US
• reached Buffalo, New York in 1877
through an English priest
• reached 25 cities in America in 6
years of operations
• Charity Organization Society of New
York City was founded in 1882 by
Josephine Shaw Lowell.
https://www.alliance1.org/web/about/History/birth-national-movement.aspx Retrieved on June
20, 2020

WESTERN BEGINNINGS
 The English Settlement Movement
• Began in 1880
• Peaking with the Tonybee Hall in the East
End in London in 1884
• housed young men from Oxford and
Cambridge who were there to undertake
social work in the deprived areas of the
East End
https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/settlement-houses/origins-of-the-settlement-house-movement/
Retrieved on June 20, 2020

WESTERN BEGINNINGS
 The American Settlement Movement
• Jane Addams and Ellen Gates-Starr established
the Hull House in 1889
• housed immigrants, and provided a
community for women
• study focused on how to engage the residents
and citizens of the neighborhood in problem
solving in the community

Settlements were characterized not by a set of
services but by an approach. If the original stimulus
came from sponsors outside the neighborhood, the
approach consisted of moving in to the
needy area, reaching out in a friendly way to
the neighbors, and deciding together with them
what was wrong and what was needed.
https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/settlement-houses/settlement-movement-1886-1986/ Retrieved on June
20, 2020

WESTERN BEGINNINGS
The Rise of Federation (1917 –
1935)
 1917 saw the rise and growth of community
chests and councils in America
 started with war chests, and ended with the
enactment of the social security act
 produced after World War I in 1918

WESTERN BEGINNINGS
 American Association for Community Organization or ACCO
• Established in 1918
• the national agency for chests and councils which later on was named as Community
Chests and Councils (CCC) of America
*Community chests are voluntary welfare agencies and cooperative
organizations of citizens and welfare agencies, and are the local power force
for community welfare origination that handle large funds

WESTERN BEGINNINGS
 American Association of Social Workers (AASW)
• Organized in 1921
• was the first general professional organization set-up to train social workers and other
volunteers who specialized in community organization
• set the stage for the development of more public welfare programs in 1935

WESTERN BEGINNINGS
Period of Expansion and Professional Development (1935
– Present)
 the National Conference of Social Work undertook a study on community organization in
1938 until 1939, and publicized the nature of “Generic Community Welfare Organization”
 many councils and services came forward to tend to wartime needs during the WWII
(1939 – 1945)
 United Services Organization (USO) is the union of many forces that served the needs of
the military personnel and the communities in the defense

WESTERN BEGINNINGS
 “Community Organization for Social Welfare” by Wayne
McMilen was published in 1945
 the National Conference of Social Work organized the
Association of the Study of Community Organization
(ASCO) to improve the professional practice of organization
in the social welfare area in 1946
 The Department of Health, Education and Welfare was
established in 1953

WESTERN BEGINNINGS
 ASCO then merged with six other professional organizations to form the National
Association of Social Workers (NASW) in 1955
 community organization has been treated and acknowledged as a vital and
integral aspect of the social work education in the American Association of
Schools of Social Work Education
 the production of teaching materials in community organization are done with
the involvement of an active committee in the Council of Social Work education

WESTERN BEGINNINGS
UK Historical Development
• The First Phase(1880 – 1920)
“During this period the community work was mainly seen as a method of social
work. It was considered as a process of helping the individuals to enhance their
social adjustments. It acted as major player to co-ordinate the work of voluntary
agencies” (Joseph and Dash, 2013).

WESTERN BEGINNINGS
• The Second Phase (1920 – 1950)
“This period saw the emergence of new ways of dealing with social issues and
problems. The community organization was closely associated with central and
state Government programme for urban development. The important development
in this period was its association with community association movement” (Joseph
and Dash, 2013).

WESTERN BEGINNINGS
• The Third Phase (1950 Onwards)
“It emerged as a reaction to the neighbourhood idea, which provided an ideological
phase for the second phase. It was [a] period we see the professional development
of social work. Most of the educators and planners tried to analyze the
shortcomings of the existing system. It was also a period where the social workers
sought for a professional identity” (Joseph and Dash, 2013).

WESTERN BEGINNINGS
• The Fourth Phase
It is a period that has marked the involvement of the community action. It questioned
the very relationship of the community work and social work. It was thus seen as period
of radical social movement and we could see the conflicts of community with authority.
The association of social workers and the community were de-professionalized during
this period. Thus, it was during this period the conflictual strategies that were
introduced in the community work, although even now there is no consensus on this
issue” (Joseph and Dash, 2013).

DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITY
ORGANIZATION IN THE PHILIPPINES

DEVELOPMENT OF CO IN THE PHILIPPINES
Filipino Cultural History
 people were organized in closed-knit, self-
reliant communities along riverine and
coastal areas
 small communities are composed of thirty to
one hundred households with roughly a
population of 100 to 500 individuals which
were called balangay

 communities organized themselves to solve
problems and to attain common goals
 unity among the various balangay against
colonial rule can be considered as the early
beginnings of the Filipino people’s collective
struggle for freedom and social emancipation

 the birth of the Filipino nation was characterized by the masses’ unrelenting struggle for
freedom from foreign domination and for social justice

In the rebellions and uprisings in the course of our history, there were 2 distinct patters of
organizing and mobilizing that evolved:
 People’s movement for genuine freedom and social emancipation
 Colonizers’ concerted efforts to suppress the people’s movement and ensure their
continued domination

Bases of the Early Organizing and Collective Action:
 Anchored on the situation in the community and society in general (oppression
and injustice under the Spanish rule)
 Goals and objectives should not be divorced from the prevailing conditions that
affect the lives of the people. People were easily convinced to join the movement
because they could identify with the leader who suffered the same way as them.

 The masses should be regarded as the prime movers in whatever collective action to be
undertaken, in this case, revolt against the colonial rule. A weakness of the regional
revolts was that it was leader centered, where the members of the movement looked up
to their leaders as saviors. Thus, it signaled the demise of the movement when the leader
was killed or captured. Some organizations, like Cofradia de San Jose (religious
organization established in 1832), saw the need to develop and train young leaders
(kabisilya) and given the responsibility to set up various town chapters of the Cofradia.
The Cofradia held monthly meetings where they analyzed their situation and discussed
what they can do to improve it. Thus, strengthened both their unity and individual resolve
to fight.

 regional revolts were fragmented and
limited in scope
 Intense oppression widened the scope of
revolts
 concept of a nation slowly seeped in and
saw the need for a national revolution that
came into being with the Katipunan

The Katipunan
 provided unity of purpose and direction
to the different movements in the various
parts of the archipelago
 started as a secret society with its own set
of rules, initiation rites and established
administration, as well as its own
publication

Organizing Women During the Katipunan
 An estimate of 20 to 50 women was inducted as recruited by Bonifacio after his
2nd marriage
 brought about by the growing suspicion of the Katipunero’s wives because of
their husband’s nocturnal absence and reduction of their monthly wages
 Membership of women was limited to the close relations of the Katipuneros to
ensure patriotism and moral integrity

Tasks of the Women in the Katipunan:
• To propagate ideals of the Katipunan
• To erase suspicion of authorities about the secret
meeting places of the Katipuneros by staging
galas as front for the meetings
• To safeguard the important confidential materials
and documents used by the Katipunan

The Katipuneras
 learned how to use different weapons and guns and joined their male
counterparts in the fighting
 tended to the sick and wounded members, as well as solicited food and money
for the revolution
 because they had personal interest in the safety of their loved ones who were
members themselves

American Occupation and Japanese Invasion
 A struggle for freedom against colonizers
 Gen. Malvar saw the peasants and workers had the will and strength to keep the
fight going and mobilized them by relating national issues with their daily
problems
 The struggle continued to include fighting against rich landlords
 focal point of the struggle was the heavily unbalanced sharing system between
the landlords and tenants

 When the Japanese invasion
occurred, the people of central
Luzon met the Japanese with
greater unity.
 The HUKBALAHAP, constituted in
1942, was a guerilla organization
led by peasant leaders.

After WWII
 Devastation intensified the need for relief, welfare and reconstruction
 Religious and civic organizations rose to these challenges.
 Apart from American-supported government programs that focused on rural
development to undermine the growing popularity of the communist movements
led by the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP) and its mass-based organizations,
the private sector and the Catholic Church were the most active in the anti-
communist initiatives.

 Organizations were founded to further undercut peasant support from the
communist movement like the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF), Federation of
Free Workers (FFW) and Philippine Rural Reconstruction movement (PRRM).
 welfare work continued and the parish based activities of the Catholic Church
expanded, while the government passed new laws and set up the Presidential
Arm of Community Development (PACD)
 The rallying cry was community development; sanitation, livelihood backyard
gardening and beautification

City Slum Dwellers
 there was an increase in the migration of people living in the country side to the
cities hoping for better opportunities in the 1960s
 host cities were not prepared to provide enough jobs, housing and other basic
services to these migrants however
 Increase in unemployment and underemployment resulted in this uncontrolled
urban settlement growth, thus, migrants were unable to support themselves

 In 1970, the Tondo Foreshore Land was the biggest colony
of slum dwellers in the Philippines.
• had a land area of 137 hectares
containing 27,000 families with 6.6
persons as the average family size; 75%
of which were informal settlers
• was also scheduled to be demolished in
favor of an international airport,
spearheaded by IMF and World Bank

 the urban poor mobilized and resulted to the formation of Zone One Tondo Organization
(ZOTO) on October 20, 1970
 Currently, ZOTO is a federation of 182 urban poor local organizations in 14 relocation
sites in Metro Manila and other nearby areas such as Cavite, Caloocan, Malabon and
Pampanga

 Other urban poor organizations formed in city slums nationwide and federated into the
Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng mga Maralita ng Lungsod (KPML)
• the symbol of the urban poor’s militant struggle for security
of abode, decent housing, livelihood social services, and the
recognition of their democratic rights, especially their right to
participate in the decision making process and in the affairs
of goverance

 KPML met with Pres. Aquino to suspend demolitions
 On December 8, 1986, the Executive Order No. 82 by Corazon Aquino, created the
Presidential Council on Urban Poor (PCUP), “a coordinative and advocacy body mandated
to serve as the direct link of the urban poor to the government in policy formulation and
program implementation addressed to their needs.”

Martial Law Years
 Student activism intensified in the 1970s that gave rise again to communist
organizations such as Kabataang Makabayan (KB), where they staged protests
that resulted in damages to persons and property
 CPP-NPA started mobilizing and wanted to create a national democratic state
through guerilla
 These events prompted Marcos to declare Martial Law in 1972 which altered the
terrain for social movements in the country.

 All progressive groups were subjected to
repression, while some individuals were
eliminated or arrested
 At the early stage of Martial Law, all attempts at
organizing ground to a halt wherein the repressive
environment led other organizations to go
underground or simply laid-low while others
cautiously resumed open activities under the
auspices of the church

The Church
 played a major role in initially protecting and later on mobilizing urban poor communities
and continued to take a lead role in organizing above ground and mobilization until the
late 1970s
 the Philippine Ecumenical Council for Community Organizations (PECCO) was still able to
conduct training programs in ZOTO
 Philippine Ecumenical Action for Community Development (PEACE) and Church Labor
Center (CLC), National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace (NASSA) created by
CBCP, and Basic Christian Community – Community Organization (BCC-CO) were
established during the same period

 women religious congregations were very prominent during
this time
 nuns formed themselves to task forces to assist political
detainees and the urban poor for their struggle for decent
living and livelihood and assisted the minorities in their right
to live in their ancestral land
 Nuns made available their houses, institutions and facilities
for these purposes, and their presence boosted the morale
of the participants

 Ninoy Aquino’s assassination in 1983 widened the
political opposition to Marcos and resulted in the
increasing large number of organizations forming
coalitions and broad alliances
 In February 22, 1986, a massive mobilization held in
EDSA, led by various political groups, religious
groups, military defectors and militant groups,
involving over 2 million Filipinos gathered in support
of the coup by Juan Ponce Enrile and Gen. Fidel
Ramos.

Sectoral Organizing for Conscientization and
Community Development
 A key concept in Paolo Freire`s approach is conscientization, meaning the ways in
which individuals and communities develop a critical understanding of their social
reality through reflection and action, involving examining and acting on the root
causes of oppression as experienced in the here and now

 Around 1965, as the Philippine social
situation was rapidly deteriorating, there was
a resurgence of nationalism and student
activism and a groundswell of public outrage
that resulted to a series of protests and
demonstrations against the government
which culminated in the First Quarter Storm
and grassroots organizing dominated the
NGOs directions.

 the National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA) in 1967 and the Philippine
Business for Social Progress (PBSP) in 1971 were established
• NASSA served as a clearinghouse and coordinating mechanism for the
Philippine Catholic Church’s social involvement
• PBSP established itself as a network among business corporations and NGOs
they supported

 community organization approach as an alternative to the limitations of
community development emerged in this period which led to the establishment
of the Philippine Ecumenical Council for Community Organization (PECCO) in
1971
• PECCO continued the refinement and implementation
of CO approach combined with Marxist structural
analysis and the teachings of Paolo Freire
 many NGOs were organized bearing the new approach as a result

 Politicized NGOs used the structural analysis approach in conscientization and
mobilization, while BCC-CO was developed by the progressive church as a
response to the need of the time
 Programs like education and health, economic enterprises and cooperative
development were used as entry points for organizing to avoid getting in trouble
with the government

CURRENT TRENDS: THE PLACE OF CO IN
THE GENERALIST SOCIAL PRACTICE

CURRENT TRENDS: THE PLACE OF CO IN THE
GENERALIST SOCIAL PRACTICE
• CO is a method workers use to bring together people from a community who share
common interests and goals for addressing social problems through collective action.
• The generalist social worker can pattern the same generalist process with individuals,
families and groups to structure community change efforts, and can be easily applied to
community work.

Example of the Processes:
 Forming partnerships with community residents, LGU and community elders
 Articulating situations that interfere with the competence of the community
 Defining the purpose and direction of the change strategies
 Identifying community strengths
 Assessing community resource capabilities

 Framing solutions to address community challenges
 Activating and mobilizing existing community resources
 Creating alliances among and between formal and informal community structures
 Expanding opportunities in community institutions through advocacy, policy changes and
resource development
*The social worker needs to have advocacy skills if they are to help social institutions
become more responsive to the needs of all people. The worker serves as an expert, an
enabler, a negotiator or whatever is needed by the people who direct the change activity.

LEGAL FRAMEWORK
Article II Declaration of Principles and State
Policies
Section 23. The State shall encourage non-governmental,
community-based, or sectoral organizations that promote the
welfare of the nation
Article III Bill of Rights
Section 8. The right of the people, including those employed in
the public and private sectors, to form unions, associations, or
societies for purposes not contrary to law shall not be abridged.

LEGAL FRAMEWORK
 Article XIII, Sections 3, 15 and 16
 RA 7160, Section 17, No. 2:
(iv) Social welfare services which include programs and projects on child and youth welfare,
family and community welfare, women's welfare, welfare of the elderly and disabled
persons; community-based rehabilitation programs for vagrants, beggars, street children,
scavengers, juvenile delinquents, and victims of drug abuse; livelihood and other pro-poor
projects; nutrition services; and family planning services;
*In the code, the provincial, municipal and barangay government units shall recognize and
support the existence and establishment of different community organizations.

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