Course Code

Description NSTP 2
Pre-Requisites

Department: General Education Department Week

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this module, the students are expected to;

1. Differentiate Community Organization from Community Development.

2. Enumerate and explain the steps in organizing the community.
3. Explain the guidelines of community workers

INTRODUCTION

Community is a group of individuals connected to each other by one or more

attribute(s). The element that links them together is at the core, and is the essence of
the group. Just as denoted by the root and the suffix of the word (common-unity), a
certain segment of the population is united by a familiar thread. In the field of Public
Health, we see community as a group of folks that are at risk of being infected or
affected by certain types of diseases based on their demographic, social, and
economic status. A community is a familiar thread used to bring people together to
advocate and support each other in the fight to overcome those threats. As human
beings, we need a sense of belonging, and that sense of belonging is what connects
us to the many relationships we develop. Communities are also rich in resources,
that is where their collective aspect comes into play. We are all members of many
communities (family, work, neighborhood, etc.), and we constantly move in and out
of them, depending on the situation. Community is where we find comfort in difficult
times. When things are not going well in one community, we have the option to
move to another. For me, the community is where one finds the balance between
physical and mental fitness.
The mark of a community is that one’s life may be lived wholly within it”. One cannot
live wholly within a business organization or a church; one can live wholly within a
tribe or a city. The basic criterion of community, then, is that all of one’s social
relationships may be found within it.
Some communities are inclusive and independent on others. There are a few
primitive communities like that of the Yurok tribes of California which are almost
isolated. But modern “communities have big population and are very much

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 dependent on other communities.
The character of the community and the role of the individual in it depend much on
its territorial size, size of the population, nature of the local government and the
economic pursuits of the people.
One aspect of every community is its territorial base. People tend to develop
attachment or sentimental identification with the area in which they live
permanently. This gives rise to what is often called ‘we-feeling’. This becomes
evident, as MacIver says, when people say ‘we’ and ‘ours’. The we-sentiment
represents the common interests of the group.
It is because of this strong sense of identification that people react sharply whenever
their village, or town, or city, or nation, the community to which they belong, is
criticized, or threatened by others. For an individual the community is “home of his
home and flesh of his flesh”.

COURSE CONTENT

Each and every one of us belongs to a particular community. Each and every one of
us also, may differ in defining what a community is. Our descriptions may be based
on the various books and magazines that we read, television shows that we watched,
and finally, on how we personally perceive our community based on the numerous
experiences that we‘ve had.
The term community was actually derived from the Latin word, communist, a noun
describing quality implying ―fellowship, community of relations and feelings.
Webster‘s dictionaries, on the other hand, define a community as a body of people
living in the same place under the same laws (geographical); a body of people
having common interests (psychological). One of the most common and simplest
definitions was coined by R.M. McIver. According to McIver, a community is: “an
aggregation of families and individuals settled in a fairly compact and contiguous
geographical area, with significant elements of common life, as shown by manners,
customs, traditions and modes of speech.”
According to this view, the term community was defined based on the elements that
it possesses. Other elements that a community may possess are the following:

 History – from public documents, folk history, historical roots

 Space Relations – Internal Relation: within the community
 External Relation – Relation with other communities, nation and state
 Resources – Human, man-made and natural
 Technology – modern or indigenous; the technical know-how of the people
 Knowledge and Beliefs
 Values and Sentiments
 Goals
 Norms
 Position and Roles – elected and not elected
 Power
 Leadership

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  Influence
 Social Rank – standing of a person in the group

TYPES OF COMMUNITIES
Geographical Communities Has boundaries, territories
Rural / Urban Communities The traditional way of classifying
communities
Sectoral Communities Women, Youth, Farmers,
Fisherfolks
Functional Communities Groups of people who share some
common interest or functions
Tribal / Indigenous Communities e.g. Aetas, Mangyans
Special Types of Communities e.g. disabled, parishes, families

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION
The very term “Community Organization” suggests that the community is central in
the use of the method usually linked to social work. The term “Community
Organizing” was first used by American Social Workers in the late 1800‘s to refer to
the specific work they were involved in with settlement houses for new immigrants
and the poor. “Community Organizing” was the term used to describe their efforts to
coordinate services for these groups. Other definitions have evolved all throughout
the years and one is: “Community Organizing is a systematic, planned and liberating
change process of transforming a complacent, deprived and malfunctioning
community into an organized, conscious, empowered and self-reliant, just and
humane entity and institution.”

Community Organizing (CO) is a continuous process of:

 Educating the people to understand their critical consciousness of their
existing conditions;
 Organizing people to work collectively and efficiently on their problems;
 Mobilizing people to develop their capacity and readiness to respond and
take action on their immediate needs towards solving their long-term
problems.

Collectively, the above-mentioned definitions suggest that Community Organizing

(CO) is both a process and a method. CO is a process in the sense that it is perceived
as a progressive and forward movement from one condition to another. It is also
considered as a method because it consists of a dynamically conscious and deliberate
undertaking to bring social change.

A BRIEF HISTORY: COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION IN

THE PHILIPPINE SETTING
Through the Philippine Ecumenical Council for Community Organization (PECCO), Community
Organizing was introduced in the Philippines during the First Quarter Storm of the seventies.
The group organized communities in the Tondo area where the program, Zone One Tondo
(ZOTO) was born. The program was replicated in other parts of the Philippines, including the
rural areas and was usually introduced through church structures. Organizing efforts
continued even when the Martial Law was declared. During this time, Community Workers

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began pushing for people ‘s participation and community organizing became the tool for
achieving this. International Development Groups and government both began to support
and fund Community Organizing Programs. Community Organizing began to proliferate.

GOALS OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

Community Organizing transforms a complacent community to become self-propelling
and self - nourishing.

Community organizing is important because through this, people work together in an

organized manner and become more effective when social change takes place. But what,
basically is community organizing for? Read on to learn the different goals/ purpose why this
method is still being widely used in the different parts of our country, and the whole world.

 PEOPLE EMPOWERMENT
 IMPROVED QUALITY OF LIFE
 LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND MOBILIZATION
 SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION

COMMUNITY CHARACTERISTICS
The following are examples of the types of data to collect and incorporate into a
community profile.

1. Population and Demographic Characteristics

 Trends in population growth and demographics
 Ethnicity and race
 Age and gender distribution
 Income levels
 Educational attainment
 Employment status
 Special population subgroups such as disabled persons
 Indian tribal governments, as appropriate

2. Socio-Economic History / Characteristics

 Community historical background and context
 Population of indigenous groups
 Community values and issues (e.g. security and solitude)
 Economic base/livelihood
 Other economic characteristics

3. Physical Characteristics
 Community centers/activity centers
 Infrastructure (e.g. roads, transit, and water and sewage systems)
 Public services and facilities (e.g. schools, police, fire, libraries and hospitals)
 Land-use plans and zoning
 Special areas, historic districts and parklands
 Businesses
 Housing
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  Planned and approved future development
 Community focal points or informal meeting places (e.g. places of worship,
playgrounds, hair salons, and laundromats)

4. Health Status
 Common and endemic diseases
 Disease causes and management
 Maternal and child-care practices
 Sources of water, waste and disposal
 Dietary patterns

5. Access to Service
 Groups and agencies that are providing service, and the type and frequency of the
service they provide

6. Community Organizations
 Organizations in the barangay, their projects, activities and organizational set-up

METHODS OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

Community organizing exemplifies processes and strategies in order to achieve its
goals. The following are several methods of community organizing:

1. Social Preparation - This is related to community readiness. It has four (4) stages:
a. General Assembly
b. Formation of Committees
c. Survey of Needs and Prioritization of Projects
d. Preparation of Trainings All these activities are implemented using the
participatory approach.

2. Education and Training – Community organizing is essentially a learning process

and central to it is the development of awareness through experiential learning
(Apuan 1988).
3. Value orientation – Since the desired ends of community organizing are people
empowerment, self-reliance and participation, there is a need to transform the
negative value of the people from selfish individualism to one that is socially
oriented. It essentially entails value re-orientation or transformation.
4. Mobilization – This refers to the “process whereby a group of people have
transcended their differences to meet on equal terms in order to facilitate a
participatory decision-making process” .
Mobilization arises from a number of factors:
(1) presence of expertise amongst the community members,
(2) the willingness of the community as a whole to give up individual interests
to form a broader cooperative, and
(3) presence of available resources to facilitate the mobilization process (Ben-
Ali & Carvalho 1996).

THE COMMUNITY ORGANIZER ROLE OF A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER

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An organizer, while at the community, plays various roles, depending on what the
situation calls for. Below are the four (4) basic roles they portray, at one time or
another:

1. A Facilitator - Facilitates the community process through listening and questioning

and by giving continuous encouragement and support to the local strivings.
2. An Animator – Stimulates the people to think critically when identifying problems
and finding new solutions.
3. An Enabler – Consistently directed at freeing the community (through key persons
like leaders) to realize their strengths and potentials in cooperative work.
4. A Catalyst – Hastens the process of transformation/change

IDEAL PERSONAL QUALITIES OF A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER

 Integrity
 Creativity
 Courage
 Flexibility
 Objectivity
 Self-discipline
 Tact
 Sensitivity
 Honesty
 Adaptability
 Imagination
 Sense of Humor

The Community Organizer is a vital person in facilitating the whole community

organizing process. A community organizer should have:

 An understanding of development theories and concepts and processing of

community organizing
 Good social and community relation skills to promote social integration in the
community
 An ability to work with other teams of professionals
 Knowledge and skills to enable communities to access specialized technical
assistance in instances when this is needed
 Sensitivity to the local culture
 Gender-sensitivity

Community development
Community development is a structured intervention that gives communities greater
control over the conditions that affect their lives. This does not solve all the problems
faced by a local community, but it does build up confidence to tackle such problems
as effectively as any local action can. Community development works at the level of
local groups and organizations rather than with individuals or families. The range of
local groups and organizations representing communities at local level constitutes
the community sector.

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Community development is a skilled process and part of its approach is the belief
that communities cannot be helped unless they themselves agree to this process.
Community development has to look both ways: not only at how the community is
working at the grass roots, but also at how responsive key institutions are to the
needs of local communities.

Community development works on the following policies.

Community Development is crucially concerned with the issues of powerlessness and
disadvantages as such it should involve all members of society, and offers a practice
that is part of a process of social change.
Community Development is about the active involvement of people in the issues
which affect their lives. it is a process based on the sharing of power, skills,
knowledge and experience.
Community Development takes place both in neighborhoods and within
communities of interest, as people identify what is relevant to them.
The Community Development process is collective, but the experience of the process
enhances the integrity, skills, knowledge and experience, as well as equality of
power, foreach individual who is involved.
Community Development seeks to enable individuals and communities to grow and
change according to their own needs and priorities, and at their own pace, provided
this does not oppress other groups and communities, or damage the environment.
Community Development should seek to develop structures which enable the active
involvement of people from disadvantaged groups, and in particular people from
Black and Minority Ethnic groups.

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION AND COMMUNITY

DEVELOPMENT
There is a common philosophical base between community organization and
community development. Both aims to enable people to live happily and fully
developed life. Both have basic faith in the common man and his right to self-
determination in the framework of the society. Both give emphasis to self-help and
help the people to help themselves to solve their own problems. However,
community organization and community development should not be considered as
synonymous.
CD is concerned with the promotion of all aspects of life including social, economical
and cultural; both in rural and urban areas. While CO is concerned with adjustment
of social welfare needs and resources in cities, states, Nations as well as in villages.
CO is practiced in the USA on a voluntary basis. While CD in almost all the developing
countries are a government-sponsored program.
CO is a product of urbanization and industrialization. Here the main concern is
problems of the population mobility, problems of the family, problems of the aged,
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 problems of the juvenile delinquency, of unemployment and provision of social
security. But CD is concerned with how to induce people to meet their basic human
needs.
CO tends to be more process oriented while CD as practiced in India tends to be
target oriented.

Conclusion
Community is the very essential part in the development of human society and life.
There are various types of communities in the society and sometimes with the
community itself. Community organizing and community development are two sides
of the coin. Both are very necessary in the field of Social Work. A social workers role
must be all times that of a facilitator and he or she must follow the principles
associated with a professional social worker in both as a community organizer and
community developer.

FOCUS QUESTIONS

1. What is community organization?

2. What is community Development?
3. What are the similarities and differences of Community Organization and Development?

RELATED READINGS / REFERENCES

https://www.mapua.edu.ph/Campus%20Life/SOCIP/Assets/CWTS/CWTS
%202019%20Module%201.pdf

https://www.slideshare.net/BimalAntony/community-organization?
next_slideshow=1

https://www.shareyouressays.com/essays/essay-on-community-and-
individual-life/87394

https://www.ikedacenter.org/thinkers-themes/themes/community/
what-is-community-responses

Sergio J. Lee (2015. National Service Training Program-Civic

Welfare Training Service I, Literacy Training Service I, 2nd
edition 2007

Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share
some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest.

The purpose of community organizing is to advance the causes of those who are impacted
by socio-economic or political circumstances. Whether that means cleaning up a local park
or achieving equal rights for minorities, organizing is about harnessing collective action toward
making real changes.

How important is community organizing?

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Community organizing “can build a sense of dignity, restore people's sense of
significance, relevance. 

The goal of community organizing is to generate durable power for an organization
representing the community, allowing it to influence key decision-makers on various issues. It
also focuses on distributing power more equally throughout the community.

What is community development?

Community development is a process where people come together to take action
on what's important to them. At its heart, community development is rooted in the
belief that all people should have access to health, wellbeing, wealth, justice and
opportunity.

What are some activities for community development?

Do Things for Your Community:
 Walk kids home from school.
 Rake leaves for an elderly neighbor.
 Mow your neighbor's lawn.
 Offer dog-walking services.
 Clean up cigarette butts on the ground.
 If you know another language, be a translator at parent-teacher conferences.
 Babysit during PTA meetings.
 Foster a shelter animal.
 hat are the 3 types of community development?




 It includes three main elements: community participation, organization, and work.

What is the main purpose of community development?

 Community development seeks to empower individuals and groups of people
with the skills they need to effect change within their communities. The main
purpose of the community development is to aware the people and build their
capacities for the enhancement and improvement their communities.

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