THEORIES AND PERSPECTIVES IN COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
- process of finding solutions to social problems by redistributing resources, functions and
decision-making (Perman & Gurin).
- A process of matching needs with resources and
a conscious process of social interaction
( Arthur Dunham)
CO AS A METHOD OF SOCIAL WORK HAS DISTINCTIVE FEATURES:
• Its practice is based on a body of knowledge and principles
• It is practiced by professionally trained social workers
• Its helping process proceeds from the analysis of baseline data on the community problems
and needs with the participation of the
people.
•Its goals and objectives are to empower the people to attain a self-reliant and self-managed
community
• It adheres to the concept of integrated and coordinated efforts with other sectors in the
community and employing multidisciplinary approach for effective results.
Castillo (1983) sees poverty among rural poor as a
consequence of -being unorganized, marginalized, oppressed, and exploited.
Holinsteiner (1979):-"unorganized poor people do not participate actively in societal decisions
affecting their lives because they are powerless."
Ecological perspective
● asserts that organisms are interconnected with their environment.
● This theory focuses on the interaction and interrelationship of organisms and-the
environment.
● In social work In social work practice, individuals, families, groups, and communities
interact with their environment and are influenced by them (Barbra, 2014).
● In helping individuals, families, groups, and communities, it is important always to
examine their interaction with their environment.
Human Behavior Theories in Understanding Community Dynamics
Collective Identity
● Human interaction leads to the formation of a community.
● Through analyzing interaction patterns and the values held by community members,
social workers can enhance their understanding of community dynamics and improve
their effectiveness as community practitioners.
Understanding Human Needs
● The creation of community stems from thuman interactions, which are, in turn, fueled by
human needs.
● Interactions revolve around meeting these needs, and individuals become part of
organizations to satisfy their own needs.
● Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
Community Psychology
● Focuses on the strengths and competencies of community members rather than on
"problems".
● • It incorporates a range of interdisciplinary viewpoints and methods to explore societal
issues and advance the welfare of individuals in their localities:
Theories of Politics, Power, and Authority in Community Practice
● Power is described as the capacity of an individual or group to accomplish their own
objectives or goals when others are attempting to hinder them (Weber, 1922).
● • In addition, Weber asserted that power can be executed authoritatively or coercively.
● Authoritative use of power is considered legitimate since those who are subject to the
power do so with permission.
● coercion is when a person uses his or her power through force.
Strengths Perspective
● This perspective focuses on uncovering the potential within individuals and communities,
acknowledging their strengihs instead of dwelling on their weaknesses.
● Social workers must be keen on recognizing and evaluating community strengths.
● Grounded by social work principles, social workers must have confidence in the inherent
capacity of all clients to change and assist them in recognizing, enhancing, and
employing their inherent strengths (Meneses,2020).
Empowerment Perspective
● The empowerment perspective acknowledges that self-empowerment arises from within
an individual or a community when they realize their inherent strengths and how utilizing
them can bring about the desired. change.
Resiliency Perspective
● Resiliency refers to maintaining a sense of empowerment over time, striving for
community betterment, and resisting the urge to quit when facing conflicts, struggles,
and setbacks.
● By being resilient, you can bounce back repeatedly. Community resilence enables
people to remain empowered despite challenges and difficulties (Lyon, as cited in
Wynne, 2008),
Paolo Freire's
Conscientization Model
● • The ways in which individuals and communiles develop a critical understanding, of their
social reality through reflection and action.
● • Involves examining and acting on the root causes of oppression as experienced in the
here and now
● Reflection and action
Three Models of Community Organizing
Jack Rothman (1995)
Community/Locality Development
● Holds that community changes can be pursued mest effectively by widely involving the
local people in determining and achieving gods (Dizon, 2012)
● Refers to efforts to mobilize the people directly affected by a community condition into
groups and organizations to enable them to take action on the social problems and
issues that affect them (Kramer & Specht, 1975)
● Goal: Solution of specific community problems and needs for the development of the
community and benefit of its people with the participation of the target beneficiaries
themselves (Miclat, 1993)
Community/Locality Development
● •The process by which the efforts of the people themselves are united with the
government authorities to improve the economic, social and cultural conditions of the
communities (Meneses, 2022)
Themes emphasized in this model:
● Democratic procedures
● A consensus approach
● Voluntary cooperation
● Development of Indigenous Leadership
● Self-Help
● Planning
● Community Education
Social Planning
What is Social Planning?
● Emphasizes a technical process of problem-solving with regard to substantive social
problems, such as delinquency, housing and mental health (Mendoza, 2008)
● Rational, deliberately planned and controlled change has a central place in this model
(Mendoza, 2008)
● Presupposes that change in a complex industrial environment requires expert planners
who, through the exercise of technical abilities, including the ability to manipulate large
bureaucratic organizations, can skilfully guide complex change processes (Mendoza,
2008)
● Data-driven approach and expert centered-strategy to achieve change (Meneses, 2022)
● Does not encourage active participation among the community members and that they
remain passive objects of development
● Translates social goals into programs and services of an agency, group of agencies,
public or private in collaborative efforts with the community (Miclat, 1993)
What are its basic elements ?
MICLAT 1993
a. Research taking) (fact finding, projection_and inventory
b. Value analysis and facilitation of expression of various positions, sometimes through political
machinations
c. Policy formulation
d. Programming
e.Measurement and feedback
What are Possible Outcomes ?
MICLAT 1993
a. New policies (standing plans)
b. Program and policy coordination
c. Service integration
d. Innovations in programs
e. Choice in priorities in any of the foregoing of for t allocation of services
f.Administrative decisions
Social Action
● Popularly associated with activism, protest, rallies and other forms of group dissent or
dissatisfaction - a power-coercive approach (Miclat, 1993)
● Refers to individual or group activity designed to influence a change in social policy or to
lobby for the formulation of needed policies or social legislations for the benefit and
welfare of the people (IMiendoza, 2008)
● Practitioners seek redistribution of power, resources, or decision-making in the
community or changes in basic policies of formal organizations (Mendoza, 2008)
● Assumes that in a community, people have differential access to ownership and control
of economic and social resources (UP Open University, n.d.)
● Has a clear pro-poor bias as it highlights and confronts existing conficts, and the
structural and systemic bases of community problems (UP Open University, n.d.)
The disadvantaged sectors should be organized to attain any / all of the following (UP Open
University, n.d.): -
1. Increased resources
2. Non-discriminatory and gender-fair conditions and treatment
3. Exercise of democratic rights
4. Shift in power relationships
5. Policy changes
6. Redistribution of resources and power
Themes emphasized in this model:
a. Social Justice
b. Democracy
c. Redistribution of power, resources and decision-making
In a nutshell…
Locality/Community Development
● Bottom-Up Approach
● • Self-help, participatory model
● • Emphasizes self-determination and democratic process
● Process is as important as the outcome
Social Planning
● • Top-Down Approach
● • Technical Problem Solving Processes
● • Sophisticated data collection and analysis
● • Manipulation of large-scale systems bureaucracies)
Social Action
● • Inside-Out Approach
● • Focus on injustice, oppression and discrimination
● • Challenging existing power distribution and social institutions
● • Tendency toward disruptive strategies, confrontation and conflict
Community Organizing
Philosophy, Values, Principles, and Assumptions
C.O Philosophy
"Acceptance of the right of the community to decide what it wants rather than having the
organizer's views imposed upon it, belief on the capacity of the people to find richer and more
satisfying ways of living if they are helped to use the resources within themselves and their
environment which are and could be made available to them."
VALUES OF Community Organizing
THE VALUES OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION AS A METHOD OF SOCIAL WORK ARE:
1. A commitment to democratic processes and goals.
2. The right of a client community to self-determination.
3. Belief on the capacity of people to change.
4. Belief on the innate dignity of the individual in the community.
5. The commitment to seek social justice.
Values of C.O UP open University
1. Respect for Human Rights
2. Social Responsibility
3. Social Justice
PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
1. Trust in people
2. Critical and active participation is crucial element in people's empowerment
3. The responsibility to direct change lies with the people and not with the practitioner.
4. Avoid raising expectations and false hopes to the people
5. CO is not an end to itself. It's a means to achieve a just, humane and democratic society.
6. Organizing work is biased for the poor
7. Start where the people are, and with their needs, resources and capabilities.
8. People's participation should be geared towards the promotion of the interest of greater
majority.
ASSUMPTIONS OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
1. Changes in which individuals, groups and communities determine their own destiny in a
democratic process have a better chance of enduring than changes that are imposed
2. Readiness to change is a variable which affects the potential and the rate of community
change obtainable at a given time.
3. Skills in participating in democratic process can be taught and learned by individuals and
groups.
4. Society can provide ways to achieve maximum compatibility of individual and community
interest.
5. Social welfare provisions, services and programs can enhance human welfare and
prevent and reduce social ills.
6. Planning, coordination and integration of social welfare provisions are by individuals;
social ills are inter-related and social welfare provisions are inter-dependent.
GOALS OF COMMUNITY Organizing
TASKS GOALS
Are concerned with concrete tasks to be undertaken to meet specific needs and people's
aspirations or to solve particular problems.
PROCESS GOALS
Are concerned with the process of helping people in a community or group strengthen their
quality of participation, self-direction, and cooperation. Its concern is to help people grow and
develop to
prepare them for their specific roles in community building and development.
RELATIONSHIP GOALS
Are focused in changing certain types of relationship and decision-making process in a
community by diffusing power to a wider base.
CO believes in participative leadership rather than in an authoritarian leadership since people's
participation in the community undertakings develops enlightened citizenry.
Community Organizing Approaches
Baranganic Approach
According to Miclat (1990)
• Baranganic approach emphasizes the crucial role of barangays in community development.
• The role was stipulated in the local government code, which stipulates that barangays must
implement a comprehensive and cohesive barangay development plan.
Baranganic Approach
• The Baranganic Approach as a community organization model will lead to the formation of
Barangay Development Council which serves as the core group to initiate necessary
development initiatives and processes in the barangay.
According to DILG:
The barangay, as the basic political unit, "shall serve as the primary planning and implementing
unit of government policies, plans, programs, projects and activities in the community".
Barangay Development Plan
- A three-year comprehensive multi sectoral development plan that is formulated through an
inclusive and participatory approach led by its development council and approved by its
Sanggunian.
Barangay Development Plan
- an official document of the barangay that specifies policy options, programs, projects and
activities intended to contribute towards the achievement of the barangay's developmental goals
and, objectives.
Baranganic Approach
This approach led to the establishment of the Barangay Development Council, which became
the core group that facilitates the required development initiatives in the barangay (Meneses,
2020).
Who can use this approach?
Social workers employed in:
- Public Sectors
- CSWDO
- MSWDO
Basic Ecclesial Community (BEC)
Tracing the history of social work, providing welfare activities for the poor and needy was rooted
in religious motives.
The Philippines is known to be a Christian nation, which was influenced by the Spanish
colonizers.
Many churches have emerged in the country, and these institutions implemented charitable acts
and welfare activities.
Basic Ecclesial Community (BEG)
•BCC or BEC is a Christian movemént stirred by the Liberation Theology and the Second
Vatican
Council.
• Community organizing is a fundamental Christian ideology. The church is instructed to help the
poor, the disadvantaged, the oppressed, and the marginalized in their struggle to enhance their
social well-being and reinforce their faith (Manali,1990).
Community-Driven DevelopmentApproach (GDD)
Community-Driven Development Approach is a mode of project design and delivery that turns
over decision-making power and, frequently, financial and technical resources directly to
communities (Holmlund & Rao, 2021).
Community-Driven Development Approach (CDD)
Common aspects of CDD are the following:
1. Forming a local committee to facilitate and manage the process or project.
2. External facilitation to support decision-making inside the CDD framework.
3. Community members contribute through cash or labor.
In the Philippines, CDD is implemented in one of the DSWD's programs, the KALAHI-CIDSS.
• This program highlights the importance of active participation and involvement of community
members in identifying and prioritizing their needs.
• Building infrastructures, such as schools, roads, water systems, multipurpose buildings, etc.,
are among the elements of this program. People are capacitated and empowered to_get
involved in the decision-making process.
KALAHI-CIDSS
Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services is a
poverty alleviation program of the National Government implemented by the Department of
Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Employing community-driven development (CDD) as a strategy, KALAHI-CIDSS trains and
engages communities together with their local governments (barangay and municipal) to
choose, design, and implement development projects to address their most pressing needs.
GENDER-RESPONSIVE COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
In order to understand the context of gender-responsive community organizing, a review of
different perspectives of women, gender and development should be discussed.
There are four perspectives:
Women in Development (WID), Women and Development (WAD), Gender and Development
(GAD), and Women, Environment and Development (WED)
Women in Development (WID)
•concept refers to a systematic consideration of women and their concerns in the development
process.
• women's need as women are rarely addressed in mainstream projects or programs, thus, the
need to support efforts designed to involve and benefit women primarily.
• It is an approach that views the absence of women in development plans and policies as the
problem.
Women and Development (WAD)
• WAD focuses specifically on the relation between patriarchy and capitalism.
• The WAD perspective states that wömen have always participated and contributed towards
economic development, regardless of the public or private spheres.
• The WAD approach sees development work as a means to empower women.
GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT (GAD)
• It sees society as a gender system in all its aspects - economic, political, and social.
• It views women's oppression in both the private (domestic) and public (productive) spheres.
•household conflicts arise both from gender divisions and from generational differences.
Women, Environment and Development (WED)
•WED position argues that, within the WID approach, women were presumed to be universally
subordinate to men.
• WED position on developmentalism is that the task is not simply to add women into the known
equation but to establish a new development paradigm
GRASSROOTS COMMUNITY ORGANIZING
• is based on the notion that ordinary people can and should join together to gain more control
over their life conditions.
• Grassroots community organizing is the collective action by community members drawing on
the strength of numbers, participatory processes, and indigenous leadership to decrease power
disparities and achieve shared goals for social change.
•Organizing is not a top-down but a bottom-up process.
