MODULE 5 - SOCIAL MOBILIZATION AND RESPONSIBILITY

Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:
1. define the important role of social mobilization in achieving the goal of the society
2. enumerate and describe the characteristic features of social mobilization
3. illustrate the planning framework for social mobilization
4. differentiate between social responsibility and commitment

Influencing people to build capacity to act on their own behalf has been called the "central
paradox of social development” (McClelland, 1970). The top down or bottom-up relationship
designed to empower is itself based on unequal power. All communities have individual human
resources that need to be enhanced and mobilized if development is to be sustainable and in the
long run, become autonomous. All communities also have some organizational resources. The
organized people representing different groups/sectors act as a vehicle to develop social harmony
and peace, and increase the general capacity of the people for self-empowerment. Full participation
at the grass-roots level via the grass-roots organization (GRO) is only possible if the rural/urban
people are organized. The community people have to be organized to work together in close
proximity and share common interests for community development. The community organization
(CO) is a mass coalition of all barangay residents whose continuing economic and social interests
are best served by organizing themselves as a group.

A. Social Mobilization (SocMob)

Social Mobilization Defined
1. Social mobilization as defined by UNICEF, is a broad-scale movement to engage people's
participation in achieving a specific development goal through self-reliant efforts.
It involves all relevant segments of society—decision- and policy-makers, opinion
leaders, bureaucrats and technocrats, professional groups, religious associations, commerce
and industry, communities, and individuals.
2. It is a planned process enlisting the support and active involvement of all sectors within a
society that can play a role in achieving an agreed social objective; and in converging
interests, and actions of institutions, group and communities towards that objective. It
mobilizes human and material resources to achieve the defined objective and instills it in
society's and in the community's conscience to ensure sustainability.

The Concept of Social Mobilization

The concept of social mobilization emerged from the recognition that a genuine
participatory approach to development is essential for success and sustainability. Civil society
participation in development efforts is, therefore, increasingly recognized by development agencies
and governments as essential for promoting good governance—improving responsiveness of
national policies to citizen's needs.
1. Social mobilization, as an approach in the implementation of NSTP-CWTS/LTS, requires
working hand-in-hand with individuals (students), school, and community organizations,
policy-makers, and communities who can forge a collective identity to achieve common
goals. This approach involves planned actions and processes to reach, influence, and involve
all relevant segments of society across all sectors from the national to community levels in
order to effect positive behavioral and social change.
2. Effective social mobilization involves community organizations, harnessing the potential
and efforts of government, non-governmental sectors and citizens to work towards
sustainable social, economic, and political development.
Characteristic Features of Social Mobilization
a. It is a broad-scale movement. It engages and mobilizes large numbers of people in
action to achieve development goals.
b. It is a planned process. It seeks to facilitate change and development.
c. It entails accountability. It takes into account the felt needs of the people; embraces the
critical principle of community involvement; and seeks to empower individuals to action.
d. It includes problem recognition. It begins with a conscious recognition of problems
and seeks the probable solutions to these problems.
e. It is a problem-solving advocacy. It involves building consensus between those
affected and those who have the solution to the problems so as to arrive at a decision,
including the allocation of adequate resources.
f. It includes decision-making. It includes initiations, discussion, and making decision for
political will, action, and resource commitment.
g. It fosters acceptance/commitment. It generates acceptance of new ideas, attitudes and
technologies.
h. It avails of all communication resources. It uses all available and potential
communication resources for effective networking and active mobilization of
information.
i. It is a network for institutional sustainability. It sustains awareness, cooperation,
commitment, and action to achieve the common goal leading to the attainment of
community V-M-G (visionmission-goal) for the development of self-sufficiency.

SocMob's Five Key Mobilization Avenues and Goals

The five key avenues and goals of social mobilization are summed up in Table 6.1.
Key Mobilization Goals
Avenues
1. Political To win political and policy commitment for major goals and source
allocation
2. Government To enlist cooperation of service providers
3. Corporate To secure support, resources, endorsements and communications
4. Community To gain commitment from local, political, religious and social leaders,
and local organizations
5. Beneficiary To inform and motivate to take appropriate action
Table 6.1. Five Key Mobilization Avenues and Goals of Social Mobilization

Elements and Processes of Social Mobilization

1. Advocacy is an element of social mobilization which is focused on the various actors who
create/initiate the advocacy program or service delivery.
2. Information, Education, and Communication (IEC)
a. These are sets of accurate and consistent information on programs and services as a timely
response by those in direct contact with the communities. The information materials
include brochures, posters, handouts, newsletters, and audio-visual materials.
b. IEC Advocacy Program
• The goals of the IEC advocacy program are to introduce or change a policy, program or
registration, or shift the position of influential individuals or organizations on specific
issues
• to change the perspectives, attitudes, beliefs, values, behavior,
3. Community organization involves the process of uniting all inter-sectoral allies to come up with
an organization to raise people's awareness of and demand for a particular development
program. This organization will assist in the delivery of resources and services to individuals and
community groups. In so doing, the individuals and community groups develop a sense of what
they can do to improve their situation through building and joining coalitions.
4. Capacity Building. This refers to the power of the people to do something for themselves or for
their community.
a. Social mobilization can be attained if the network of advocates and mobilizers is continually
expanded through capacity building/coalition building.
b. Capacity building seeks to improve the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of service providers
as well as the beneficiaries for them to do their jobs and to participate actively in the
dynamic process of change.
c. The key levels of concerns in capacity building include the system processes, networks,
financial capacity, physical infrastructure, and management of resources.
 Social Mobilization Continuum
Social mobilization in general aims at a continuum of activities in a broad strategic
framework. The process involves dialogue and partnership with a whole spectrum of societal
elements. It calls for understanding among partners and results in the successful transformation of
development goals into societal action. Figure 6.2 illustrates the societal mobilization strategy in a
social partnership with all the stakeholders.
1. Political Sector—Policy-makers
The first column of the social mobilization continuum names some policy-makers. Advocacy
with leaders in this group helps foster the commitment that will pave the way for action, build
consensus with sound data, and create a knowledgeable and supportive environment for decision-
making. This includes the allocation of resources.
2. Governmental Sector-Bureaucrats and Technocrats
This sector includes disparate groups, each with its own agenda, conflicting interests and
concerns. Harmonizing the disparate units is the greatest challenge in development. Policy-makers
have failed to recognize the difficulty of fostering unity among government units—the bureaucrats
—and of factoring the technocrats, and the service professionals in decision-making and
implementing the programs.
3. Non-governmental Sector
This sector covers a multitude of interests. It includes the nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) for special purposes; social institutions/ associations to represent organized support;
religious groups with their ideological bends; commerce and industry that operates on a profit
basis: and professional groups for the advancement of their respective interests. These are
important partners and allies to mobilize the civil society for various sound objectives.
4. Community Groups-schools, churches and grass-roots groups
Involvement of the communities, schools, churches, mosques leaders. and grass-roots
groups is critical in terms of their participation. Their involvement is much needed to help
transform development goals into action. Nonetheless, these agencies or groups are often not given
a voice in identifying and designing solutions to their respective problems.
5. Families-Households and Individuals
Individual actions are ultimate pay-off to the family problems Theme is a need to have a
deliberate action to inform and educate individuals in the household so as to affirm their
participation in community activities.

Key Elements of Social Mobilization

There are four basic elements of social mobilization
1. Organizational Development
This is a process whereby community members are formed into organizations where their
interests and needs are best served as a group.
2. Capital Formation for Development through Community Savings
Capital formation through mobilization of savings enhances the community's power to
realize its full potential. It is the first step towards community self-reliance. The accumulated
savings are the assets of the community organization and can be used for internal credit with
interest by member-borrowers to engage in income-generating activities. The savings can serve as
the basis for access to external services as microfinance, which is essential in localities where
government capacity to address all social needs of the community is very limited.
3. Training for Human Resource Development
Community members can maximize their potentials by organizing themselves and
upgrading their skills to better manage new businesses and community initiatives, and to establish
effective linkages with local government and other agencies through ‘change agent that supports
direct training programs.
The training programs include organizational development leadership, savings and credit
programs, agriculture, natural resource management, and many other programs.
4. Socio-economic Development
Socio-economic development initiatives are great incentives for community members to
organize themselves. These initiatives provide support in the form of grants or access to credit,
marketing and other services that will lead to tangible improvements in the social and economic
conditions within the community. This will empower people and their organizations. The program
can help improve local conditions, increase the institutional capacity, enhance social status, and
express the voice of disadvantaged people, women, the poor, and the youth. This results in
motivating people to remain organized and to enjoy the benefits of collective action that influences
change in their communities.

The Benefits of Social Mobilization

1. Poverty Alleviation
Social mobilization is an important tool in the poverty alleviation process. It enables
communities and the poor to help themselves to engage in activities that will solve their own
problems and track poverty in its multi-dimensional form.

2. Promoting Democratic Governance

 Poverty and bad governance mutually reinforce each other. Social mobilization must be
institutionalized within the government to encourage community participation in decision-making,
to build capacity for participatory planning, to form a common vision of development, and to
ensure transparency. A decentralized system of governance, including fiscal decentralization must
be in place and functional. Social mobilization can facilitate tripartite leadership at the local level,
making civil society more effective as a third and legitimate partner. The development demand for
good governance through social mobilization must be complemented with increased capacity of the
local government to manage and respond to the demands of improved governance practices.

3. Conflict Prevention
Social mobilization helps organize people to address common problems, and to collectively
improve the socioeconomic conditions in an equitable, democratic and transparent manner. The
possibility of conflict can be significantly reduced.

4. Sustainable Environment
Social mobilization organizes people to better manage their natural resources, fight illegal
practices, and establish organizations that promote sustainable environmental management
programs through appropriate legal, regulatory, and institutional frameworks and policy dialogue.

B. Social Responsibility and Commitment

Social responsibility is defined as a moral, legal or mental accountability. It relates to
interaction between the individual and the group taking into consideration the welfare of the
human being as a member of society. Man must accept the responsibility for himself. There is no
meaning to life except the meaning that man gives to his life by the unfolding of his powers to live
productively. The true liberation of man is to serve the people. This is how we commit ourselves to
accept the responsibility to strive for spiritual synergy, to experience unity and oneness in living
productively, and to become a leader for transformation. This is a matter of commitment as a
personal pledge to do something in the future to help those who are in need.
With social mobilization as a strategy that helps improve the ability of community
organizations to carry out their mandated vision, mission and goals (V-M-G), there is a need for a
leader to effectively lead the group. A leader must be accountable, responsible, and reliable. Social
responsibility and commitment in capacity building to unite the government organizations (GOs)
and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), school and community organizations as multi-sectoral
partners are necessary to implement more functional projects, and to properly manage and provide
services to the community.

1. Proliferation of Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs)

The proliferation of NGOs increases opportunities for interaction with government, thus
advancing the larger and longer-term process of political development. Political development can
be defined as an interactive public decision-making and learning process, based on power creation
and dispersion within and between governmental and non-governmental groups. This process
leads to increased individual and group autonomy of grass-roots organizations and more
responsiveness of government and its institutions or agencies (Fisher, 1993).

2. Provision of Services and Goods

Provision of goods and services complements cash assistance to the poor. The welfare
system must undertake programs to provide necessities such as medical care, food and shelter, as
well as supportive services designed to improve the quality of life of poor people.
a. Health Services
 The linkage between poverty and poor health has long been recognized. Health
services are now considered to be essential ingredients of even a minimum standard of
living. The delivery system for health services is generally inefficient in the communities.
The social responsibility of community officials regarding this problem must be brought to
the attention of higher government authorities that can come up with health care programs
such as medicare and medicaid which provide health care coverage to persons or public
assistance from the government. A medicaid system can be supported or sponsored by a
civic welfare services organization or a group under the CWTS/LTS program.
b. Shelter
More low-income families reside in substandard units/dwellings that lack plumbing,
kitchen facilities, and water supply, and have structural defects. The concentration of poor
families in deteriorating neighborhoods often leads to problems of vandalism, crime, drug
abuse, and general malaise among the residents. Homelessness has become a more visible
problem, particularly in the urban areas. Many homeless adults who are unemployed for
nearly two years have a history of alcoholism, drug addiction, or had been in prison. These
problems have to be properly addressed by concerned government agencies through
proper housing subsidy. Advocacy and initiative can come from the CWTS/LTS group
c. Food
Providing food to the poor during economic depression or calamities can be done
through school food stamps and lunch programs. Food assistance to the poor has grown to
include elderly nutrition and distribution of surplus foods solicited from the NGOs and GOs,
other agencies and university students who voluntarily share what they can give to the
poor.
School nutrition programs for the elderly and 'feeding of malnourished children are
organized and implemented as academic service learning options or as a requirement under
the community extension services of the university. Others favor direct food distribution to
the concerned poor. All benefits under the food programs are given on the basis of need,
and, the poor including the working poor receive an overwhelming share of these food
subsidies more than, perhaps, in any other in-kind aid programs.

C. The Fundamentals of Direct Action Organization (Bobo et al. 1991)

The personal is political. An organization is overwhelmed by personal relationships. It is
about changing the world and how individuals act together. To form good relationships, it is
essential that an organizer is motivated by strong feelings of love and care. What motivates people
is their self-interest, not as the organizer interprets it, but as the organizer actually expresses it to
those who listen carefully. Self-interest then refers to what makes people feel good as well as to
what materially benefits them. Helping others, being useful, doing something important, or doing
what is morally right are all forms of self-interest motivation. Self-interest can have a very wide
range, as in working for peace or the environment. As an organizer, you can assume nothing about a
person's self-interest that is not actually expressed to you by that person.

The Three Principles of Direct Action

There are three principles of direct action. Understanding these principles will help you do
direct action in the organization of people.
1. Win real, immediate and concrete improvements in people's lives.
Whether the improvement is better health care, lower insurance rates, street lighting, police
protection, etc., an organization attempts to win it for a large number of people.
2. Give people a sense of their own power.
 Direct action organization mobilizes the power that people have. It teaches the value of
united action amidst the realities of life. Power, meanwhile, builds the self-confidence of both the
organization and the individuals in it.
3. Alter the relations of power.
Building a strong, lasting, and staffed organization alters the relations of power.

A Tactical Guide to Power

Following are brief guidelines for measuring the power that you actually have:
1. Political/Legislative Power - getting something passed or approved by an elected body.
2. Consumer Power - the ability to conduct a boycott
3. Legal/Regulatory Power – the ability to win in court or in a regulatory process
The Stages of an Issue Campaign
1. Choose the issue.
2. Develop your issue strategy.
3. Announce the campaign.
4. Begin outreach activities.
5. Stage direct encounters with target.
6. Plan for building the organization.
7. Win or regroup.
Choosing an Issue
What are the criteria for a good issue? A good issue is one that matches most of these criteria.
The issue should:
1. result in a real improvement in people's lives
2. give people a sense of their own power
3. alter the relations of power
4. be worthwhile
5. be winnable
6. be widely felt
7. be deeply felt
8. be easy to understand
9. have a clear target
10. have a clear time frame that works for you
11. be non-decisive
12. build leadership
13. set your organization up for the next campaign
14. have a pocketbook angle—issues that involve people's money or some people's money are
usually widely and deeply felt
15. raise money to obtain funding sources for your campaign
16. be consistent with your value and vision
17. be chosen to work and the values and vision for an improved society must be reflected.

D. Building and Joining Coalition for Social Mobilization (Kendall, 1996)

If you think of building coalition, beware! Coalitions are not built because they are good,
moral or nice to get everyone working together. Coalitions are about building power. A coalition is
an organization of organizations working together for a common goal. It comes in a variety of
forms. It can be permanent or temporary, single or multi-issue, geographically defined, limited to
certain constituencies, or a combination of all the above.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Working in Coalitions

1. Advantages
 • Win what couldn't be won alone. Many issues require large number of people and many
resources to win.
• Build an ongoing power base.
• Increase the impact of individual organizations' efforts.
• Develop new leaders - open slots to have new coalition leadership.
• Increase resources - you may directly benefit from additional staff and money of other
organizations joining the coalition.
• Broaden scope - coalition may provide the opportunity for your group to work on state or
national issues.

2. Disadvantages
• Distraction from other work.
• Coalition can divert your time and resources.
• Weak members cannot deliver. Organizations providing leadership and resources may get
impatient with some of the weaker groups' inexperience and inability to deliver
commitment.
• Too many compromises—to keep the coalition together, it is often necessary to play to the
least common denominator especially on tactics.
• Inequality of power—the range of experience, resources and power can create internal
problem.
• Individual organizations may not get credit. Groups that contribute a lot often feel they do
not get the credit or recognition.

Principles for Successful Coalitions

• Hire experienced coalition staff.
• Choose a unifying issue.
• Develop a realistic coalition budget.
• Understand and respect institutional self-interests.
• Agree to disagree - seldom do all member organizations of a coalition agree on all issues.
• Play to the center with tactics.
• Recognize that contributions vary.
• Structure decision-making carefully.
• Help organizations to achieve their self-interests.
• Achieve significant victories.
• Urge stable, senior board representatives.
• Clarify decision-making procedures.
• Distribute credit fairly.

E. Planning and Facilitating Meetings

Meetings can make or break an organization. All meetings should help meet the basic
principles of direct action organizing. First, meetings should help the organization win concrete
goals that matter and that are accomplished. Second, meetings should give people a sense of their
own power through active participation in discussions. Finally, meetings should begin to change the
relations of power to build or strengthen the organization, and to plan for the growth and
development of the organization that has real power in the community.

Meeting Facilitation
Facilitating a meeting requires someone to:
 • understand the goals of the meeting and the organization
• keep the group on the agenda and move forward
• involve everyone in the meeting, both controlling the domineering people and drawing out
the shy ones
• make sure that decisions are made democratically.

Every meeting needs a facilitator, a person who helps the meeting of the board or upon
members who are qualified to act as the chairperson of the meeting. The chair must assure that
decisions are made; plans are developed; and commitments are made in a manner that is enjoyable
for all concerned.

Some Guides for Meeting Facilitation

• Start the meeting promptly.
• Welcome everyone.
• Introduce people.
• Review the agenda.
• Explain the meeting rules.
• Encourage participation.
• Stick to the agenda.
• Avoid detailed decision-making.
• Move to action.
• Seek commitment.
• Bring closure to the discussion.
• Respect everyone's rights.
• Be flexible.
• Summarize the results of the meeting as well as the follow-ups.
• Thank people.
• Close the meeting on or before the ending time.
• Ask the "note-taker" to prepare meeting notes (minutes of meeting) soon after the meeting.
• Place a copy of the 'minutes' in the organizational file so that everybody knows where it is
kept or can be accessed. The minutes are legal records of the organization.

Participating in Community Meetings

Everyone who participates in meetings has a responsibility to help make the meeting a
success. Below are some dos and don'ts for participating in meetings.
DO
• Personally welcome new people.
• Actively listen to others.
• Support the facilitator in moving the agenda ahead.
• Recommend ways to resolve differences.
• Participate in the discussions.
• Encourage new people to speak and volunteer.
• Help set up and clean up the room.
• Be positive and upbeat throughout the meeting.
• Tell a joke or add a light comment to ease the tension in a different discussion.

DON'T
• Dominate the discussion.
 • Bring up tangents.
• Dwell on past problems.
• Insist that people support your ideas.

Activity 1
1. What is social mobilization?
2. Give the characteristic features of social mobilization.
3. What are the elements and process of social mobilization? Describe each.
4. How can social mobilization be effectively used as a means for advocating social
responsibility and commitment in the community?
5. What is a solicitation? How are you going to organize a strong coalition group of different
organizations working with a common goal?

Activity 2: Role-play
a. Form a group or cluster of 20 students. Ask the students to elect among themselves the
officers or leaders of political, governmental, non-governmental or community group, family
representatives, and other private members of the community. Assign a “role” that each student
will play to resolve the following:
1) issues on solid waste (garbage) disposal system to be conducted with in the vicinity of
the community or town
2) issues on the impeachment of a top town official who is caused of graft and corruption
Present this role-play to the class for critiquing.
MODULE 6 - COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, 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 for community workers
4. implement strategic planning as well as the steps of planning community development
program/projects

A person is a social being. He/She cannot develop unless he/she is a part of society. He/She
must work together with his/her fellow human beings for common interests. The problems of other
men are his/her problems. Together, they must search for solutions. Thus, it is the people of the
community who must organize themselves.

A. Definition of Terms
Community is a dynamic entity composed of people living in a given territory who share
common culture, needs, aspirations, resources, lifestyles, and the like bounded by a feeling of
belongingness and interacting with one another in consonance with its structure and institution to
achieve common goals. (Norman, 1998a).
Community organization is a process forged along people's empowerment and the essential
formation of a self-reliant organization that will facilitate development in a sustainable manner
(Norman, 1998b). As a process, it involves a series of interrelated activities aimed to unify the
people into an organization. It also involves people's participation in all stages of the organizing
process. Lastly, it manifests the people's collective will to participate, voice out and be heard, and to
decide as a unified group.
Community development is an intermittent process of social action of the people of a
community in organizing themselves for democratic planning and action on common problems and
solving the felt needs of the society.

B. Community Organizing
Goals in Organizing the Community (Norman, 1998b)
1. People's empowerment
2. Building organization
3. Building alliances/coalitions
4. Popular democracy
5. Social transformation
6. Leaders in development

C. Steps in Organizing the Community

Entry in the Community
• Gather basic information about the place such as culture, practices, and the lifestyle of the
people.
• Do not regard yourself as superior or different from the people in the community.
• Dress simply as possible and act as naturally as you can as you enter the community.
• Do not appear as a savior or someone who will solve people's problems.
 • Remember that development must be for the people and from the people.

Integration with the People

• Integrate yourself with the people by living with them, eating their food, doing their chores,
and slowly learning their way of life.
• Gradually join their small groups so you can continue to expand your knowledge about the
conditions of the community or place.
• Slowly start working in the community. Begin to realize the hardships and problems that
the people are facing. Realizing that their problems are also your problems, you have to
learn the way how the people feel about these problems.

Community Study or Situation Analysis

• You have entered the community, now you are with the people.
• You are now with the people, not alone by yourself.
• Facilitate people's participation in analyzing their situation and problems.
• Adjust the level of the study or analysis to the level of the community people.
• Do not limit their participation to merely answering the survey questionnaire.
• Raise the awareness and consciousness of the people in handling national problems.

Identifying and Developing Potential Community Leaders

• As early as possible, identify potential leaders from among the people who seem to have a
deep understanding and concern in solving their problems.
• Equip them with useful knowledge and experiences to develop them into leaders.
• Educate and convince them that they can be potential leaders to represent the group.

Core Group Formation

• Form a core group consisting of the identified potential leaders. These leaders are expected
to meet and accept the challenge to organize the rest of the community projects.
• Each core group is expected to represent its organization.

Setting Up and Developing the Organizational Structure

• At this stage, the people are now ready to set up their organization.
• They will elect their own leaders through the democratic or participatory process of
selection or rotation.

Strengthening the Organization

• Do everything in your capacity to strengthen the organization.
• Give a chance for the leaders to move and work together on their own.
• Let the people learn how to identify the issues and problems confronting them.
• Let them plan the various activities they can perform together for the common good. Let
them see their financial problems and how to solve them by coming up with income-
generating projects.

D. Community Development
Community development is a planned and organized effort to assist individuals to acquire
the attitudes, skills, knowledge, and general capabilities required in democratic participation in the
effective solution of community problems in an order of priority determined by increasing level of
competence.
 The Aims and Objectives of Community Development
The aim of community development is community action. In reality, the primary object of
community development is to a) promote, b) sustain, c) support, and d) maintain community
action.

Major Purposes/Objectives of Community Development

• To help people employ the right methods to organize self-help initiatives
• To develop techniques relevant to the situation for socio-economic and cultural progress

E. Principles of Development
1. Development should focus on people's participation.
2. Development should be attuned to the demands of the people.
3. Development should be based on a theory that is tested, validated and relevant.
4. Development should be integrated in approach.
5. Development should lead to the empowerment of people.
6. Development should sustain the natural environment as a socio-economic base.

F. Five Elements of Community Development

1. A focus on the goals and needs of the community
2. The encouragement of self-help
3. Technical assistance from governmental or voluntary organizations which may include
personnel, equipment, supplies, and money
4. Integration of various specialties such as agriculture, animal industry/husbandry, public
health, education, home economics, and work
5. Felt needs of the people in the community

G. Four General Phases of Basic Community Development/Organization Work (Andres, 1994)

1. Issue/problem identification and information dissemination
• This is the phase where real needs are distinguished from felt needs; problems are defined
and analyzed; relationships are developed; rapport is established, and face-to-face
interaction with people is made. In this phase, opinions are elicited and information is
disseminated.

2. Mobilization of people/community
• In this phase, people are stimulated to come together to discuss problems. Meetings are
called to identify community problems; to analyze the problem together with the people; to
set objectives, and plan and implement action. In this phase, potential leaders are identified
and committee work is stimulated.

3. Organization
• This is the combination of constructive forces of men and materials, machinery and money,
so that these may work together in an orderly way, to turn out finished goods for profit, or
render services to the community.

4. Education
 • This is the phase where the members of the community are educated to assume
responsibility for their organization and to acquire the organizational skills and techniques
essential to organization maintenance.

H. Qualifications of a Community Development Worker (Andres,

1994)
1. He/She has demonstrated potentials for community
development work.
2. He/She has demonstrated professional commitment, direction, motivation and maturity as
manifested in his/her work history.
3. He/She is willing to understand and respect the values and culture of people.
4. He/She has the genuine intention of sharing whatever goods he/she has with his/her
fellowmen,

I. Guidelines for Community Workers (Norman, 1998c)

1. Work with the poor and oppressed, not for them.
Help them to understand, analyze, plan, and carry out their developmental
program/project. But do not do it for them. They have the right to reject expert advice and to
make mistakes. Development comes from within a people's own understanding of their needs
and rights. So they must decide the major issues and the basic needs and how to tackle them.
2. Development is an awakening process.
Development is a way in which people see themselves and awaken their right to live as
human beings. Without this awakening, there is little that the animator can do or should try to
do. The people are intelligent and have much experience. Draw out their strength. Listen to
them.
3. Let the people grow.
Development is building up the people, so that they can build a future for themselves.
Development is an experience of freedom as people choose what to do. It is a difficult
experience for those who have lived in dependence and without hope for a long time. Deciding
and doing something bring dignity and self-respect. Development efforts should, therefore, start
with the people's potential, and proceed to their enhancement and growth.
4. Build up the people's solidarity.
Development occurs as liberated people build together with other people, in solidarity.
As oppressed people, moving into freedom and opportunity can either make them become
selfish and oppressive or place them into relations of solidarity with others, sharing and caring
for one another, and marching together towards a new society in which their own full humanity
is assured.
5. Build up the people's organization.
People must carry out liberating activities which keep their local community free from
exploitation. They must establish links with other groups and with national coordinators in
order to increase their bargaining power, and make it possible to participate more widely in the
struggle for a new society.

J. Strategic Planning
All leaders plan and think about what the organization should be doing and how objectives
might be achieved. Planning contributes to strategic management in several ways (Thompson,
1997).
1. Planning system represents analytical strategy creation and can lead to an intent.
 2. Planning system provides a useful framework for managing the organization's strategic
resource. It can provide a means of controlling resource allocation and fostering internal
linkages.
3. The primary benefit of planning is that it forces people to think. Planning is everything.
4. Planning is one aspect of strategy creation. It is necessary for the organization to plan.
5. Planning is the process of translating goals/objectives into specific activities to meet
community needs or solve community problems. It involves a holistic situational analysis of
the community towards identifying community needs/problems, resources, and responses.
Planning basically answers the following questions:

• how much? (quality of resources)

• of what? (programs, projects, services)
• for whom? (target beneficiaries/clients)
• why? (to achieve what goals)
• for how much? (the social and economic costs); and
• what conditions? (with what other consequences).

Seven Steps of Planning

This outline helps a real working group plan practically.
1. Diagnosis
• What are the problems?
• What are the needs?
2. What do we want to achieve (objective) in a particular period? This week, this month, this
year?
3. What are the possible ways of achieving this objective?
4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each proposal? How much time, money, and
personal effort will be needed for each proposal?
5. Which proposal (plan) do we accept?
• This may include several suggestions.
6. Who will do what, when, where, and how?
7. At what point do we need to evaluate?
• Who should be involved in the evaluation?

Activity 1
1. Differentiate community organization from community development?
2. What are the main steps involved in community organizing? Explain each.
3. What are the principles of development?
4. Explain four (4) general phases of basic community development.