The Process of Community Immersion
The Process of Community Immersion
The Process of Community Immersion
Introduction
Community immersion generally takes on different overlapping phases, similar to
performing community organizing strategies called social preparation phase, integration,
social analysis, program implementation, evaluation and report writing, and termination
of the project.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this unit, the students must be able to:
Question and answer session may serve as the closing activity. Here, a
representative from each group will act as a member of panel which will provide
answers to questions from the audience (class) should there be points of inquiries
or clarifications in regards the process of community immersion.
DISCUSSION HIGHLIGHTS
The Process of Community Immersion
PHASE 1 – PRE-IMMERSION
This phase regards the identification of the community where the students will be
immersed at. Trainees will have to prepare themselves physically, mentally, and
spiritually for many tasks ahead. Trainees must have waivers from their parents or
guardians stating that they are informed of the mandate to undergo the NSTP
community immersion. The school also needs to organize its own manpower, resources
and other technical needs. According to many who have undergone immersion, the
activities could be both exciting and exhausting.
Aside from preparation of the trainees and the school, the community is primarily
the one to be prepared and informed. With this, trainees must set up criteria in selection
of an area for immersion.
AREA SELECTION
Factors to be consider in area selection:
1. Groups or communities to be chosen belong to deprived, depressed
and underprivileged (DDU). The marginalized sectors are your target clients
because they are the ones needing your assistance more than any other
groups in the society. Examples of marginalized groups are the youth,
women, slum dwellers, the differently-able, among others.
2. Willingness of local groups and community leaders to work with you on
community projects. This goes to say that we should start with the people
and work with the people.
3. Anticipated activities and demands fall within your available resources
and ability to meet them. You cannot extend what you do not have in the
first place.
4. Presence of development agencies and other support institutions
providing assistance to the areas. Supporting agencies are probable
resources waiting to be tapped that can provide additional financial
assistance when it comes to projects that are also within their type of service.
Soliciting their support will also prevent duplication of
services and activities. You have to identify if their schedule of activities
coincide with yours so that you will not confuse the people with your separate
identity. There is a danger that people will not support you if the schedules of
your activities overlap with those of an agency that has long existed in the
community before you came.
Through appropriate communications and relations with these
agencies, they can most likely be the source of other updated baseline of the
data you will need to understand the community.
5. Stable peace and order situation. You have to put into consideration your
own safety when you conduct your immersion. Some of the salient questions
you need to ask are that, “Are the roads and work area secure to travel on?”
“Am I not putting myself and other members of the immersion team in danger
if we conduct our immersion in this venue?” “Will I and my school be
compromised if I continue to work in this area?”
Sometimes despite the community leaders’ commitment to work
with the trainees, when the community in general does not regard their area
as having stable peace and order situation, they themselves will not
cooperate because their community issues go beyond what you can respond
to.
Remember, you are also a student and that one of your main
objectives is to learn and experience community living without disregard to
your own safety.
6. Accessibility. Successful community immersion also relies on how
quickly and how often you can visit the community. If you live in Cavite
and you happen to have chosen Bulacan as an immersion area, would it be
easy for you to conduct, monitor and evaluate your projects in the latter area
mentioned?
You have to take into account how much time you spend traveling,
how much money you spend for transportation or lodging. There is a chance
t6hat you will spend extra effort on tasks like carrying training materials on
the field, etc. that could otherwise be prevented if you have chosen a much
accessible venue for immersion.
If you have been able to select an area for immersion based on
the foregoing factors, you can now proceed to entering the community.
When entering the community, the members of the community immersion team
must establish good rapport and relationship with the community people. Gathering
information and doing a background investigation about the situation in the community
may prove to be of great help in pursuing the goal of establishing linkages in the locality.
Ground working can also be an effective mechanism in knowing the community well.
Talk to as many people as possible and document or record your conversations.
Pay courtesy call to recognized leaders of the community. Make communications
ahead of time of entering the community. Write the community leader a letter of intention
and in turn you should have a letter of acceptance from them. Whatever type of entry to
be used, it is a must to secure a memorandum of agreement between you and the
community. This will set your working parameters. It is giving due respect to them and
formalizing a commitment of the helping contract.
Integration is a continuous process wherein the trainees come into direct contact
and become involved with the community people. This phase is where the immersion
phase gets more personal. The trainees should realize that there is an existing concern
within the community. As the problems of the community become more apparent, you
become aware and validate that you are part of the circle.
Integration may be done through:
Border Style. If provisions allow, the trainees may choose to stay and live-in the
immersion area for a certain period of time. They may live-in the community to
pursue deeper knowledge about the community. However, the ‘boarder’ or guest
status will still be the regard of the people toward them unless they integrate
themselves fully with community life.
Elitist Style. Some trainees tend to stay close to key informants and political
players during their stay in the community. Due to this, their social circle
becomes limited and their interaction is confined to a few people. Immersion
activities must always take into account the involvement of the majority.
But the best way is the People-Centered Method of Living with the People.
Projects must promote civic consciousness imbued with good citizenship values
of Pagkamaka-Diyos, Pagkamaka-Tao, Pagkamaka-Bayan and Pagkamaka-Kalikasan.
The following flow of activities will guide NSTP trainees in the implementation of
their project.
NSTP trainees are expected to complete their projects in the community in the
span of 50-90 hours as prescribed to the CHED-endorsed Program of Instruction for it to
be credited in the training course. Right at the very start the trainee-implementers must
apprise their target participants of the particulars of the projects undertaken especially in
terms of time frame. This will enable their clients or partner community to prepare for any
eventualities should the implementers will terminate the project. Trainees are advised to
inform them with due respect of the status of the project and other details as may be
deemed necessary. Nevertheless, the trainees may decide to continue with the project if
the endeavor proves worthy of continuation, follow-up or replication. If the proponents
and implementers have decided to pursue and push through with their venture, they can
seek the assistance and support of the school’s extension services/community outreach
unit just to sustain the project.
If in case trainees lack hours of community immersion or did not perform well, they
are bound to receive an unsatisfactory rating; more so, failure of compliance must be
noted. If trainees go beyond the required number of hours in the community in their
conduct of the project for failure to conform or comply with the requirements of the plan
of action formulated, then a similar ‘poor’ rating should be accorded.
As trainees, one must learn how to work within the allotted time frame given, for
their convenience and also for the community’s sake. If one stays in the community
beyond the agreed time, the action can be construed by the community for something
else like, extending more help {intensified volunteerism} to them or that they could still
ask for their help even beyond their capability. This might also encourage their
dependency on the implementers.
However, it is not really a problem if trainees want to extend their community
services in the community. In fact, NSTP encourages trainees to continue their
community work. This time, their services will already be regarded as their personal
commitment to doing voluntary work, separate and distinct from the NSTP-initiated
activities. In step with enjoining NSTP students to eventually becoming volunteer
workers, the school may establish volunteer corps either under the auspices of the
school’s NSTP unit or extension services office to ensure the continuity of the immersion
program for volunteers.
SYNTHESIS