COMMUNITY

ENGAGEMENT
SOLIDARITY AND
CITIZENSHIP

CHRISTINE T. RAÑESES, LPT, RN, MBA,

MAED, Ph. D.
 SYSTEMATIC
METHODS OF
COMMUNITY
ACTION IN
UNDERSTANDING
COMMUNITY
 COMMUNITY ACTION
IS AN ALTERNATIVE RESEARCH
METHOD THAT USES THE
COMMUNITY AS THE UNIT OF
ANALYSIS.
THIS APPROACH FORGES
RESEARCH ALLIANCES WITH
RELEVANT STAKEHOLDERS IN
THE COMMUNITY TO EXPLORE
AND DEVELOP SOLUTIONS TO
LOCAL PROBLEMS.
 COMMUNITY ACTION INCLUDES
A BROADER RANGE OF ACTIVITIES
AND IS SOMETIMES DESCRIBE AS
“SOCIAL ACTION” OR ‘COMMUNITY
ENGAGEMENT’
THAT INCREASES THE
UNDERSTANDING, ENGAGEMENT
AND EMPOWERMENT OF
COMMUNITIES IN THE DESIGN AND
DELIVERY OF LOCAL SERVICES
INCLUDING:
 ACTION RESEARCH MAKES A
REASONABLE RESOLUTION OR
ACCURATE EVALUATION MORE
PROBABLE IN TWO WAYS.
FIRST, BY INVOLVING THE
PEOPLE DIRECTLY AFFECTED BY
THE ISSUE OR INTERVENTION, IT
BRINGS TO BEAR THE BEST
INFORMATION AVAILABLE ABOUT
WHAT’S ACTUALLY HAPPENING
SECOND, IT ENCOURAGES
COMMUNITY BUY-IN AND SUPPORT
FOR WHATEVER PLANS OR
INTERVENTIONS ARE DEVELOPED. IF
PEOPLE ARE INVOLVED IN THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF SOLUTIONS TO
COMMUNITY ISSUES, THEY’LL FEEL
THEY OWN THE PROCESS, AND WORK
TO MAKE IT SUCCESSFUL. (E.G.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IN
DECISION MAKING- THROUGH PUBLIC
ENGAGEMENT EVENTS WHERE THE
COMMUNITY HELPS TO DECIDE LOCAL
PRIORITIES, CODESIGN OR CO-
 A RESEARCHER CONDUCTING COMMUNITY
ACTION SHOULD APPLY SYSTEMATIC
METHODS TO UNDERSTAND COMMUNITY
SUCH AS
PARTNERSHIP, COMMUNITY PROFILING
WHICH IS A PROCESS OF CREATING A SERIES OF
INFORMATION THAT IS APPLIED TO SOMETHING
OR SOMEONE THROUGH TECHNIQUES OF DATE
ELABORATIONS, NEEDS ASSESSMENT,
PARTICIPATORY ACTION PLANNING, RESOURCE
MOBILIZATION, IMPLEMENTATION PLAN, AND
MONITORING AND EVALUATION.
IT IS ALSO FIGURED OUT
BY TAPPING THE
PARTICIPATORY AND
INTERACTIVE PROCESS
BETWEEN THE
COMMUNITY AND THE
SUPPORT GROUPS OR
INSTITUTIONS
• Another method to be used in conducting
community action is the need assessment
that identifies the strengths, weakness,
needs, and resources which could help tear
down the barriers and resistances that
prevent the community from achieving their
goals. Community profiling and needs
assessment are the most basic methods
used in conducting community action.
THIS TOOLKIT PROVIDES GUIDANCE
FOR CONDUCTING ASSESSMENTS OF
COMMUNITY NEEDS AND RESOURCES.

•1. Describe the makeup and

history of the community to
provide a context within which to
collect data on its current
concerns.
• a. Comment on the types of information that best
describes the community (e.g., demographic,
historical, political, civic participation, key leaders,
past concerns, geographic, assets)
• b. Describe the sources of information used (e.g.,
public records, local people, internet, maps, phone
book, library, newspaper)
• c. Comment on whether there are sufficient resources
(e.g., time, personnel, resources) available to collect
this information
• d. Assess the quality of the information e. Describe
the strengths and problems you heard about
• 2. Describe what matters to people in the
community, including a description of:
a. Issues that people in the community care about
(e.g., safety, education, housing, health)
b. How important these issues are to the community
(e.g., perceived importance, consequences for the
community)
c. Methods the group will (did) use to listen to the
community (e.g., listening sessions, public forums,
interviews, concerns surveys, focus groups)
• 3. Describe what matters to key stakeholders,
including: a. Who else cares about the issue
(the stakeholders) and what do they care
about? b. What stakeholders want to know
about the situation (e.g., who is affected, how
many, what factors contribute to the problem)
c. Prioritized populations and subgroups that
stakeholders intend to benefit from the effort
d. Methods you will (did) use to gather
information (e.g., surveys, interviews)
4. (For each candidate problem/goal) Describe the evidence
indicating whether the problem/goal should be a priority issue,
including:
a. The community-level indicators (e.g., rate of infant deaths or
vehicle crashes) related to the issue
b. How frequently the problem (or related behavior) occurs
(e.g., number of youth reporting alcohol use in the past 30
days)
c. How many people are affected by the problem and the
severity of its effects
d. How feasible it is to address the issue
e. Possible impact and/or consequences of addressing the
problem/goal
5. Describe the barriers and resources for addressing the
identified issue(s), including:
a. Barriers or resistance to solving the problem or
achieving the goal (e.g., denial or discounting of the
problem) and how they can be minimized (e.g.,
reframing the issue)
b. What resources and assets are available and how the
group can tap into those resources to address the issue
c. Community context or situation that might make it
easier or more difficult to address this issue.
• To build effective community partnership, first, you have
to connect with leaders at partner organizations to
promote engagement to a community with the same
mind set. Define and prioritize your goal make sure that
goals and directives are clearly defined so everyone is
on the same page.
• Build new partner relationships and strengthen long-
standing ones. Lastly, ensure screening and referral
protocols are seamless, designate a person or group to
take ownership of resource collection so team members
know who to talk to for those concerns. There are seven
steps for conducting a successful needs assessment:
 (1.) Clearly define your needs assessment
objectives, when defining objectives, ask
yourself why are you conducting the needs
assessment and what do you plan to do with the
findings.
(2.) Be realistic about your resources and
capacity. Consider how much time, money and
staff capacity you can devote to the needs
assessment. The availability of resources will
greatly impact the needs assessment activities
you are able to conduct.
(3.) Identify the target audiences and data sources.
Given your objectives and resources, consider the
target audiences and data resources that will help you
assess your needs. Consider, also, the competing
priorities of your target audience and how to
encourage them to participate in your needs
assessment.
(4.) Think small and big when summarizing results.
Upon collecting the necessary data to your needs
assessment, it’s time to dig in to that data, try to
summarize and reflect on data for each of your needs
assessment objectives individually
• (5.) Get feedback, it is important to engommunity
members as equal partners in understanding and
translating results from the needs assessment.
This ensures that the people most affected by the
program will have power in determining its design.
• (6.) Disseminate- this helps ensure that the
project stakeholders are on the same page
regarding project priorities and resource allocation
and present your finding internally and externally.
• (7.) Take action. At the conclusion of the
needs assessment process, review your
original objectives with the final results
and recommendations. Doing so will
highlight what steps are needed to
achieve your goals and most importantly,
take action and use those findings to
develop your project approaches
• In Participatory action planning it is grounded in the belief that
blending local knowledge and expert knowledge leads to strong
outcomes. Here are the steps how we implement participatory action
plannin;
• (1) Launch- establish a partnership with local stakeholders and lay out
an action plan.
• (2) Understand- Create a diagnostic portrait of the use of public space.
• (3) Explore- Identify design scenarios that will meet needs and resolve
issues.
• (4) Decide- with the various stakeholders, validate and improve upon
the developed solutions.
• (5) Act- implement the design solutioons and advocate for citizen
vision.
• (6) Inaugurate-celebrate the project’s accomplishment.
 Tools/Steps for Resource Mobilization:
• 1. Submitting proposals to typical donor agency is the most
conventional way of getting support.
• 2. Organizing fundraising events where you invite guests and
request donations for your organization.
• 3. Donation boxes where you request small amounts of money from
public.
• 4. Collecting in-kind contribution such as used clothes, books, etc.
• 5. Volunteer support where volunteers provide their time and
resources to support the work organization.
• 6. Income from business-oriented projects of your organization
like selling publications, offering consultancies, microfinance, or
micro-enterprise-based activites.
ALL THE ABOVE LISTED
TYPES OF SUPPORT ARE
ESSENTIAL FOR NGO’S
THOUGH ALL OF THEM DO
NOT CONTRIBUTE EQUALLY
TO THE FUNDING NEEDS
OF AN ORGANIZATION.
• TRUE OR FALSE! Direction: Assess whether the statement is
true or false. Write C if the statement is true and W it is false.
• _______1. Conducting community action requires community profiling.
• _______2. Needs assessment is a tool to give solution to the problem
of community.
• _______3. Applying systematic methods in conducting community
action promotes positive change in the community.
• _______4. Methodologies and approaches in community action
increases understanding, engagement, and empowerment of
communities.
• _______5. Different stakeholders are engaged in community action