The Concepts

of a Community
National Service Training Program
Civic Welfare Training Service
Benjamen Pelayo Jr.
NSTP Facilitator
 WHAT IS COMMUNITY?
According to the Webster’s Dictionary,
it is a body of people living in the same place who
work towards a common interest.

It is a term which derived from the Old French word

comunete and the Latin word communitas (cum,
“with/together” + gift).

It is a broad terminology for fellowship

or organized society.
 WHAT IS COMMUNITY?
The most common and simplest definition is that, it is an aggregation of
families and individuals who have settled in a compact and contiguous
geographical area and share significant elements of common life as shown in
their manners, customs, traditions, and modes of speech.
For Manalili (2009), it refers to an organization of people who are able to
undertake projects based on its members’ experience, resiliency, motivation,
and willingness to learn.
In archaeology, it is understood in two ways:
First, it is a place where people actually reside in, an
idea quite similar to the concept of an ancient settlement.
Second, it is a group of individuals who live near, and
interact with, each other.
 WHAT IS COMMUNITY?
▪ An active community is an organization of people who strategize,
conceptualize, implement, and evaluate a program, (Bunagan et al., 2009).
▪ In Genesis 1:27 of the Old Testament, the word community encompasses
all God’s creation in the universe, including man and woman whom
He created in His own image.
▫ He allowed them to have dominion over all living things
and other natural creations.
▫ Man and woman are not created to live in isolation from one another.
The first framework established in understanding the essence
of a community concentrates on the relationship of
the Lord with His creation.
 Sociological Concept of a Community
Sociologically speaking, the family is the smallest unit if society.
It is composed of the immediate and non-immediate members,
while a community is composed of different families living
in the same place who share the same interest.

The activities of a family that are also done by a

community include sharing common resources,
working for the common good, and building
harmonious relationships.
Sociological Concept of a Community

According to the Holy Scripture,

the stronger the family, the stronger the community.

An individual person can form a family,

a family can form a community and
a community can form a nation.
AESTHETIC AND MORAL VALUES
OF A COMMUNITY
It is consist of the guiding and sometimes the paradoxical ideas
that its members hold, e.g., how they know what is good from bad,
beautiful from ugly and right from wrong.

As a community develops, its values change. A change in values

(e.g., solidarity, commitment, mutuality, and trust) may result from
innovations in technology or social hierarchy.

It was Aristotle who first postulated the concept of community as

a group established by men with shared values.
AESTHETIC AND MORAL VALUES
OF A COMMUNITY
▪ It has been recognized, that people can belong
to a number of different communities at once:
communities of place; communities of culture;
communities of memory, in which people who may
technically be strangers share “a morally significant
memory”; and psychological communities
“of face-to-face personal interaction” that is
“governed by sentiments of trust, cooperation,
and altruism” (Boyles, 1996- 1997).
AESTHETIC AND MORAL VALUES
OF A COMMUNITY
▪ Human beings have social instincts; they come into this
world equipped with the predisposition to learn new
ideas and values.

▪ As such, the concept of a community has likewise

evolved- from its simple to complex nature and from its
basic to multi-dimensional nature.
 ELEMENTS OF COMMUNITY
▪ The demographics (characteristics of population) tell a
lot about the movement of the population in the
community that you will serve. History allows you to
identify certain patterns of change and people’s way of
adapting to these changes that can be useful in
plotting your activities.
▪ Understanding the economy, culture, and community
structures increases the chances of the success of
activities since anyone can provide culture-based and
more realistic solutions to community concerns.
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1 DEMOGRAPHICS

Refers to the characteristics of a

population. It tells a lot about the
movement of the population in the
community that you will serve.

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2 HISTORY

Allows you to identify certain patterns of

change and people’s way of adapting to
these changes that can be useful in
plotting your activities

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3 ECONOMY

the wealth and resources of a country or

region, especially in terms of the
production and consumption of goods and
services.

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4 CULTURE

Culture is the characteristics and

knowledge of a particular group of people,
encompassing language, religion, cuisine,
social habits, music and arts.

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COMMUNITY
IMMERSION
National Service Training Program
Civic Welfare Training Service
Benjamen Pelayo Jr.
NSTP Facilitator
 What is Community Immersion?
Community Immersion is a social strategy in public safety education and
training designed to bridge the gap between theoretical instruction and
the realities of public safety work through experiential learning.

Community Immersion refers to the mingling of the interested people

with the community purposely to attain a common goal or interest (i.e.
winning hearts and minds, establishing trust and confidence, building
good rapport, etc.)

It is a strategy designed to cope up with the gap between realities of the

community through learning and theoretical instruction, social strategy
and training to attain common goal and interest.
 WHAT IS COMMUNITY IMMERSION?
▪ Community Immersion is a strategy of transforming deprived,
depressed, and underprivileged (DDU) communities and NSTP
students into self-sustaining ones as persons for others imbued with
good citizenship values of being:
▪ MAKA-DIYOS
▪ MAKA-TAO
▪ MAKA-BAYAN
▪ MAKA-KALIKASAN

▪ Community Immersion is a means for NSTP students to value the

critical role they play in nation building as they begin to have a
deepened sense of awareness and involvement in real life situations.
Whom do you immerse
with in the Community?
When one goes to a community, he associates with the people whom he
intends to work with as his partners or allies in the community. Examples of
these community partners are the parents, youth, the differently-abled
constituents, and professionals, members of people’s organizations and other
formal and informal group, and others who can be a potential collaborator of
your projects or activities.

We do not just work for and serve the people but rather we encourage their
participation. This practice of enjoining people’s support is adherent to the
Confucius’ philosophy of “give man a fish and he will live for a day; teach him
how to fish and he will live for a lifetime.” Community immersion is
empowering the people towards development of the locality.
 What conditions may qualify one to go
into community immersion?
▪ It is so desired that one fundamental prerequisite qualification
among those who intend or are tasked to undergo community
immersion is a full understanding of the concepts and theories
behind the dynamics of groups and community. In the same breath,
knowing the very process of immersion is a primordial condition.
This is so because this endeavor requires a great deal of know-how
and skills in facilitating interventions, planning and managing
community service projects, among others.
▪ Training-wise, community developers/organizers and social workers
are most qualified because it is assumed that they have more or less
formal background on carrying out these kinds of undertaking.
 What conditions may qualify one to go
into community immersion?
▪ Volunteers in social organizations and involvements also undertake
immersions. They undergo professional training in development work.
Such immersion typically proceeds to organizing work.

As forNSTP NSTP-CWTS 102

, students enrolled in
are mandated to undergo community immersion for a period covering a
minimum of 54 hours to maximum of 90 hours as cited from
CHED-prescribed Program of Instruction (POI), 2007 edition.
What personal gains may a student get
from community immersion?
The community immersion aspect of NSTP will be able to benefit not only
the communities served but more so the CWTS students who may be
accorded with the following advantages to :

❑ Comprehend people’s lives because of the chance given to see real life
situations, live, identify and associate with the people therein;
❑ Gain social acceptance derived from community relations coupled
with the right to offer services;
❑ Enhance experiences in conducting asset mapping such as identifying
geographic coverage, point out resources and the use, and the
relationships of people with the existing resources;
❑ Establish rapport and relationship with different people who may
be of help to them at some future time;
 What personal gains may a student get
from community immersion?
The community immersion aspect of NSTP will be able to benefit not only
the communities served but more so the CWTS students who may be
accorded with the following advantage to :
❑ Develop their conscientization ability. It helps them realize issues that
will help solve problems in the community. It is important for them to
do something that can change their situation.
❑ Acquire first-hand experiences in dealing with the community works;
and
❑ Take chance to learn life skills that will enrich and better their persons.
Succinctly, community immersion improves the CWTS students’
understanding of himself or herself in relation to others. And by
understanding others, the CWTS students can be able to give a
part of himself to help others.
 What you should and should not do in
the community immersion?
▪ It is a basic rule that trainees must be well-versed with the area,
skilled to communicate with community people and disciplined to
keep yourself from responding indifferent towards diverse types of
personalities.

▪ Prudence, therefore, orders that community ‘immersions’ must be

well-informed of the prescriptive and proscriptive norms in the
conduct of community immersion.
 THANK
YOU!!!
COMMUNITY
IMMERSION
National Service Training Program
Civic Welfare Training Service
Benjamen Pelayo Jr.
NSTP Facilitator