Community Organizing

subjective and objective dimensions

2 dimension of powerlessness

People's Empowerment, Improved quality of life

AIMS/GOALS OF RURAL CO

Community

An aggregation of families and individuals, settled in a fairly compact and contiguous geographical area, with significant elements of common life, as shown by manners, customs, traditions and mode of speech (Ross, 1967). is also a combination of social units and economic, political and socio-cultural-systems.

Human Rights, Social Justice, Social Responsibility

Basic Values in Community Organizing

A progressive cycle of action-reflection-action.

CO begins and builds upon local, small, concrete issues, which people as want to resolve. It emphasizes intensive and disciplined preparation of as many people as possible, from the identification and clarification of the issue, the decision-making on courses of action, and the evaluation of and reflection on the action taken. As such, CO is a dynamic cycle that builds upon the previous phase, from local to national, and from concrete to more abstract issues.

People's Empowerment.

CO is aimed at achieving effective power for the people. Through the process of CO, people learn to overcome their powerlessness and develop their capacity to control their situation and start to place the future in their own hands. It is the progressive realization of the power that they possess and the ability to influence the course of history that dramatically erodes the dehumanizing effects of powerlessness. In the process of confronting the structures and institutions that oppress them, people are transformed from dehumanized objects into human beings who assert their rights, determine their destiny and stand with dignity.

Participatory and Mass-based.

CO is primarily directed towards and biased for the poor, the powerless and the oppressed. But partisanship is not sufficient, change must be achieved through a participatory process wherein the whole community or as many people as possible are involved in the organizing experience.

Philippine Ecumenical Council for Community Organization (PECCO)

CO was introduced through the

Consciousness Raising Through Experiential Learning.

Central to the CO process is the development of awareness and the motivation to act upon reality. Conscientization is not achieved through rote memorization or banking (where one who holds information deposits his knowledge with those who do not). CO, therefore, emphasizes on learning that emerges from concrete actions and enriching succeeding actions. It is through this dialectical relation between theory and practice that a people's consciousness is progressively raised.

Community organizing involves consciousness-raising through experiential learning.

Central to the community organizing process is the development of awareness and motivation among the people to act upon their problems.

Participatory and Mass-based, Democratic Leadership

Characteristics of the Process

Building Relatively Permanent Structures and People's Organizations.

Community organizing aims to establish and sustain relatively permanent organizational structures which best serve the needs and aspirations of the people. These structures ensure maximum people's participation while, at the same time, provide the venue through which people's organizations can link up with other groups and sectors. It is also through these structures that alternatives can be tested and a new system of values internalized so that localized experiences becomes the basis for a more desirable future.

Improved quality of life

Community organizing also seeks short and long-term improvements in the quality of life of the people. Immediately, the process of mobilization can gain concessions for fulfilling basic needs for food, clothing, shelter, education and health. In the long term, it should create a conducive environment for human creativity and solidarity through equitable distribution of power and resources.

Association of Foundations (AF)

December 1972, ten foundations came together and formed the

Zone One Tondo Organization (ZOTO).

During the early stages of martial rule, all attempts at organizing ground to a halt, except for the

Equitable distribution of wealth

Each is allotted according to his or her own effort, contribution and need.

a) social welfare, b) political activist, c) neighborhood maintenance

Fisher's neighborhood organizing approaches include

1.Task Force Detainees of the Philippines 2. Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) 2 MABINI.

Human rights as an advocacy issue was effectively raised by pioneers in this field such as

National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO)

Independent cooperatives refused to yield and instead formed the

Pluralistic and mass-based.

It allows different political groups the freedom to pursue their own political beliefs on the presumption that, in the final analysis, a political line must be validated by the people.

Community organizing is participatory and mass-based.

It involves the whole community in organizing experiences and is primarily directed towards and biased in favor of the poor.

Democratic.

It is founded on strong, popular and autonomous people's organizations. This is opposed to an over-centralized system where the state exercises overall control and an oppressive bureaucracy is necessary.

Community organizing is based on democratic leadership.

It is group-centered, not leader-oriented.

advancing sectoral agendas.

Major organizations among the ranks of the peasant, fisherfolks and indigenous peoples were organized for the purpose of

1972

Marcos' declaration of martial rule

1986,

PROCESS entered the community

Paulo Freire

Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

1. improved quality of life, 2. leadership development and mobilization, 3. social transformation.

Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP 1981) adds three other goals of community organizing

a) grassroots, b) lobbying, and c) mobilizing.

The Mondros and Wilson's models of social action organizations include

Democratic Leadership.

The community organizer is not the leader, neither are individuals and personalities. CO is group-centered, not leader-oriented, and leaders are identified, emerge and tested through action rather than appointed or selected by some external force or entity. As a result, leadership must at all times be accountable to the people.

1979

The government formed the Cooperative Union of the Philippines in

The Church/Faith-based Approach

This approach is used by organizers who work within the structures of the Church or within the components of Church-based programs, as in the UCCP community development programs.

Socio-Economic Based Approach

This community organizing approach centers around the introduction of socio-economic projects, such as health care, income generating projects, enterprise development, credit/marketing/production/multi-purpose cooperative formation, etc.

Issue-based Approach

This refers to an organizing approach which revolves around issues or problems. also known as the Alinsky-Freire approach, taken from the principles introduced by Saul Alinsky and Paulo Freire

Collective ownership of the vital means of production

This refers to the collectivization of the means of production whose private ownership deprives others of the means for survival.

1 issue based approach, 2 socio-economic approach 3 faith-based approach.

Three distinct approaches to rural community organizing:

Agrarian and aquatic reforms, Gender equality and sensitivity, Equal access to information and education , Calamity preparedness

To attain this kind of society, rural CO shall pursue the realization of the following: (MISSION/Mission of Rural Community Organizing)

project approach and political action approach

Two other major approaches in community organizing

Democratic, Nationalistic, Self-reliant and self-governing, Equitable distribution of wealth, Pluralistic and mass-based

Vision of Rural Community Organizing

Self-reliant and self-governing.

We must retrieve our sovereignty and chart our own national destiny.

general content objective approach

a group, association, or a council focuses on the coordinated and orderly development of services in a particular area of interest.

community organizing

a major weapon of powerless communities in asserting their demands, holding accountable those who rule and treading their own autonomous path to development.

neighborhood maintenance

aims to maintain the neighborhood status quo and property values.

grassroots or the populist model

aims to organize marginalized citizens into a powerful group with the intention of targeting power holders who tend to resist change.

specific content objective approach

an individual, an agency, or an organization becomes concerned about a needed reform in the community and launches a program to secure this reform.

Human Rights

are universally held principles anchored mainly on the belief in the worth and dignity of people; it includes the right to life, self-determination and development as persons and as a people.

objective dimension

arises because people may lack the economic and political power, and live in the conditions of poverty and resource privation, which they internalize as feeling powerless.

"The Process of Community Work,"

article title that define the practice of CO

community organizing

as a method is a tool for human development.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

attempt to help the oppressed fight back to regain their lost humanity and achieve full humanization

project approach

attempts to organize communities around certain projects that aim for community self-reliance

Basic Christian Communities (BCC)

became a means for witnessing the Teachings and Example of Christ through socio-political work.

Organizational structures

become the venue for people's participation and linkages with other groups.

Links or partnerships

can be especially effective toward community empowerment because the individual partners share the same responsibilities, tasks, and resources.

holistic approach

can deal successfully with problems with which a fragmented approach cannot cope.

Communities of people

can develop capacity to deal with their own problems

organizational structures

concern for community issues, and sense of belonging are crucial for the people to socialize and to address their concerns and problems.

Philippine Ecumenical Council for Community Organization (PECCO)

continued with the refinement and implementation of the community organizing (CO) approach all over the country

World Bank

defines empowerment as "the process of increasing the assets and capabilities of individuals or groups to make purposive choices and transform these choices into desired actions and outcomes"

Unorganized poor people

do not participate actively in societal decisions affecting their lives because they are powerless.

program management

empowers the community includes the control by the primary stakeholders over decisions on planning, implementation, evaluation, finances, administration, reporting, and conflict resolution.

Urban and Rural Missionaries of the Philippines, Task Force Detainees of the Philippines,

engage in organizing despite martial law.

political action approach

focuses on collective action in which the community makes known its grievances and its demands to relevant authorities or to the public.

political activist approach

focuses on obtaining and restructuring power.

1. access to information, 2. inclusion and participation, 3. accountability, 4. local organizational capacity.

four elements of the empowerment practice (world bank)

Saul Alinsky

his method of conflict-confrontation developed in Chicago was adapted to conditions in Tondo. Father of Community Organizing

Locality development model

holds that community changes can be pursued most effectively by widely involving the local people in determining and achieving goals. used when populations are homogeneous

Community Organizing (CO)

is a social development approach that aims to transform the apathetic, individualistic and voiceless poor into a dynamic, participatory and politically responsive community.

Mobilizing Model

is also referred to as the movement approach, which views the government as resistant to change and that change can be achieved through political activism.

lobbying model

is based on a pluralist pressure change orientation, which sees the government and the legal system as the mechanisms for change.

practice of community organizing

is based on certain assumptions and propositions, which were derived from the ideological background and value orientation of community organizing.

Municipal tax mapping

is being undertaken although there was an agreement in the CSC that the awardees will not pay in the first five years and that after five years, they would pay not more than P10 per hectare.

Problem assessment

is most empowering when the community carries out the identification of problems, solutions to the problems, and actions to resolve the problems.

Community organizing

is one of the strategies adopted in any community development project that requires the full participation of the community.

Social Responsibility

is premised on the belief that people as social beings must not limit themselves to their own concerns but should reach out to and move jointly with others in meeting common needs and problems; society has the responsibility to ensure an environment for the fullest development of its members.

Social action

is premised on the belief that there are disadvantaged segments in society that need to be organized to enable them to voice out their demands for social justice or democracy.

Subjective dimension

is when people feel powerless because they may learn helplessness, have an external locus of control, or feel alienated from the world in which they live.

Nationalistic

its focus is on the Philippines. Considering our insertion into the world capitalist order and the degree to which we have become subservient to the interests of larger, more powerful nations, an organizer must be consciously pro-Filipino and, therefore, anti-imperialist.

assassination of Benigno Aquino in 1983

led to widespread street protests

geographic community

may have similar special interest groups and sectors, such as, farmers, fisherfolk, women, etc.

alliances

may include sectoral, regional, and national multi-sectoral coalitions, political parties, and international organizations.

Social Justice

means equal access to opportunities for satisfying basic needs and dignity; it requires an equitable distribution of resources and power through people's participation in their own development.

1. locality development, 2. social planning, 3. social action

models of community organizing

Social planning

necessitates the services of experts in effecting planned change processes, especially in solving social problems. is adopted when community problems are fairly routinized and can be solved through the application of factual information.

powerlessness

opposite of empowerment

participatory action research (PAR)

partnership between PROCESS and grassroots groups usually starts with

leadership

plays an important role in the development of small groups and community organizations, which are part of the continuum of community empowerment.

1. Community organizing involves consciousness-raising through experiential learning. 2. Community organizing is participatory and mass-based. 3. Community organizing is based on democratic leadership.

principles that should guide community organizers

Church-based programs

programs which functioned as non-government organizations (NGOs) were the first to engage in organizing despite martial law.

Social planning model

refers to efforts directed toward integrating and coordinating the efforts of agencies and organizations inside and outside the community.

Community development model

refers to efforts to mobilize the people directly affected by a community condition into groups and organization to enable them to take action on the social problems and issues that affect them.

Democracy

requires cooperative participation and action in the affairs of the community, and that people must learn the skills that make this possible.

process

response to particular behaviors connotes naturalness

Empowerment

sustained process in which people, through collective action and reflection, gain deeper understanding of the root causes of their powerlessness and gain self-confidence so that they can become authors of their lives and their destiny in the pursuit of total human development."

social welfare approach

tends to focus on increasing access to social services through coalition building and lobbying

process objective approach

the group aims to initiate and nourish a process in which all the people of a community are involved

1. specific content objective, 2 general content objective, 3 process objective

three approaches to community organization depending on the objective of the group

Basic Christian Community framework

was developed by the progressive church as a response to the needs of the time.

method

what community organizers do. implies a set of artificially created procedures

parliament of the streets

widespread street protests