ARELLANO UNIVERSITY

Jose Abad Santos Campus, Pasay City

College of Arts and Sciences
Community Development
Name: STEPHANIE GRACE ALMAZAN Date:
Year/Course: BSHM 2A Dr. Marlowe Louis F. Fabunan
FINAL
Activity 14- Community Action Plan

A community action plan is a road map for implementing community change

by identifying and specifying WHAT will be done, WHO will do it and HOW it will be
done. In other words, the action plan describes what the community wants to
accomplish, what activities are required during a specified timeline and what
resources (money, people and materials) are needed to be successful. The
community action plan shall become a framework for implementing sustainable
sanitation and water management activities that are decided by the community
itself. It is important to emphasize that the community members should be the main
actors in preparing their own community action plan regarding sanitation and water
management.
The community action plan should become a framework for implementing the
activities that are decided by the community itself. The focus is more on the process
of understanding and overcoming problems in order to rebuild the people's lives
rather than just physical development such as building houses, providing clean
water or toilet facilities. It is important to understand that the community should be
the main actors in preparing their own community action plan. Producing the action
plan helps people to take realistic and concrete steps toward participatory
development planning in order to improve the sanitation and water system. By
bringing everyone together to think and discuss about resources and group
involvement, this tool increases awareness about the skills and resources already
available in the community.

Part I.
Answer the following questions.
1. What is a community action project?
The Community Action Project (CAP) is NWSA's way of boosting civic engagement. Our goal
is to build future leadership so that NWSA members, during their service and after their service
with NWSA, will be active agents of change, rather than passive members of society.
2. How do you write a community action plan?
 Brainstorm and identify specific tasks.
 List the tasks and identify what's needed to complete them.
 Use SCHEMES to double check your action plan.
 Prioritize the tasks.
 Set deadlines and milestones.
 Complete each task with the end goal in mind.
 3. What are the general principles of community action plans?
The general principles of community action plans are:
 It is a process for action; not a blueprint for future development.
 The solution for problems comes from the community itself and the role of the facilitator is more on
formulating the problems in the community.
 It is not determined from outside the community but grows/emerges from the affected community.
 Avoid activities such as lecturing or teaching the people; but concentrate more on workshops as a form
of discussion with the community.
 Guarantee that all relevant groups participate in the activities, particularly the women and other
community groups that are often forgotten.
 Facilitate input from all groups; do not allow one group or leader to dominate the discussion.
 Remember that one issue might appear to be not very important for one group, but is important for
another group.
 Avoid too many pictures and text; it is better to absorb and remember several points rather than make a
long list.
 Use simple language and avoid difficult terms.
 Make the material as simple as possible.
 

4. What are the key elements of a Community Action Plan?

The key elements of a Community Action Plan are:
 Cover page
 Executive summary or letter from the state or community's top elected official 
 The table of contents
 A community profile
 An introduction to the plan
 An explanation of how the plan was developed
 Information about who was involved in the development of the plan
 Information about who will manage the implementation of the plan
 Other information that is important to the plan
 The action plan
 Appendices and supporting documentation

5. What are the steps in formulating a Community Action Plan?

Step 1: Identify strategic and SMART (targets) Step 3: Prioritize, group, and select barriers.
goal(s) Step 4: Brainstorm and prioritize strategies.
Step 2: Brainstorm resources and barriers.

6. What are the considerations for completing a Community Action Plan?

The following points should be taken into consideration in completing a community action plan:
 Partnerships among people.  Close alignment with
 Budget. the community's mission and vision.
 A feasible plan does not have to be
“perfect”.

7. What are the advantages and disadvantages in formulating a Community

Action Plan?
Advantages of Planning
Planning is an important per-requisite for attaining the cherished goals of a business enterprise. Of all
the managerial activities, it comes first because of the following benefits:
1. Planning leads to more effective and faster achievements in any organization.
2. Since planning foresees the future and also makes a provision for it, it gives an added strength to the business
for its steady growth and continuous prosperity.
3. It secure unity of purpose, direction and effort by focusing attention on the objectives. Hence, unnecessary
duplication, overlapping and cross-purpose workings are eliminated.
4. It has the effect of minimizing the cost of operations.
5. It ensures an even flow of work, minimizes false steps and protects against unwanted deviations.
6. It enhances the efficiency of other managerial functions.
7. It provides an effective basis for control in all organizations whether small or big.
8. It facilitates the process of decision-making.
9. It enables the management to implement future programmes in a systematic way so that the management may
get the maximum benefit out of the programmes framed. It enables all the activities to be conducted in an orderly
and coordinated manner in order to achieve the common goals of the enterprise.
10. With the rapid growth of technological development, it is essential for a manager to keep abreast of the up-
to-date technology. Otherwise, the products are likely to become obsolete. Planning helps in this process.
10. With the rapid growth of technological development, it is essential for a manager to keep abreast of the up-
to-date technology. Otherwise, the products are likely to become obsolete. Planning helps in this process.
11. By avoiding waste of men, money, materials and machinery, planning indirectly leads to large-scale
economies.
12. Planning encourages the sense of involvement and team spirit. Planned targets provide a basis upon which
good performances can be rewarded and poor performances can be improved.
13. Planning is the essence of all management activities. Once it is. done well, other activities automatically
follow.
14. It educates people. It orients people. It gives them a sense of direction and the stimulating feeling that their
efforts are being put to useful purpose, rather than being wasted. They begin to feel that they are worthy partners
in a productive enterprise.

Disadvantages or Limitations of Planning

Planning aims at forecasting and providing a means for examining the future and drawing up a plan of
action. The very purpose of planning is to develop creative and innovative policies to guide company’s
activities in the market place. This is not an easy task. There are many obstacles in the path leading to
successful planning. They are:
1. Accuracy of facts and information about the future is one of the limitations of planning.
2. Time, money and effort are required in the collection and analysis of data and in the formulation and
revision of plans. It is a time consuming process. It is an expensive process. Planning is useful only
when the expected gains from it exceed its costs. Often it is remarked that the cost of planning is in
excess of its actual contribution.
3. Planning takes time i.e., adequate time. Sometimes, it may cause delay in taking decisions. A
manager may be bogged down by procedures, rules, etc., when quick decision is essential.
4. Planning may create a false opinion that all problems will be solved if the plans are implemented. In
practice, management has to revise the plans continuously and check on their execution.
5. Another major limitation of planning is that there are various alternatives to combat certain
problems. Every alternative has its own merits and limitations. Every alternative presents different
results also. In this way, diversity of alternatives cause many difficulties in the way of formulating
planning.
6. The effectiveness of planning may be greatly influenced by external forces, the controllability of
which is not in the hands of planners. Government control, natural calamities, etc., may create hurdles
in the implementation of managerial plans.
7 It makes the entire organizational set up extremely rigid.
8 It leads to probable results and not assured goals.
9. Machinery of planning cannot be free from bias. Forecasting methods, statistical data supplied, etc.,
are all inaccurate and the results of operation research cannot be applied to all cases that come under
planning.
10 In the planning process, the quality of the output depends upon the quality of input.
11. Tendency towards inflexibility or reluctance to change, is another drawback of planning.
12 It encourages a false sense of security against risk of uncertainty.
13. Standing plans demand repetitive operations, but in the absence of such operations, plans lose their
significance.
 Part II. Complete the table below. Make a comprehensive action plan in your
community using the format below.

COMMUNITY ACTION PLAN of Brgy. ______________________

Project Name Project Objectives Priority Area

Description of the Project Benefactors of the Project Timeframe

Approximate Number of People

Reached

Activity Title Description

Activities