COPAR

(Community Organizing
Participatory Action Research)
COPAR or Community Organizing
Participatory Action Research
❑ is a vital part of public health
nursing. COPAR aims to transform
the apathetic, individualistic and
voiceless poor into dynamic,
participatory and politically
responsive community.
Process
❑ The sequence of steps whereby members of a
community come together to critically assess to
evaluate community conditions and work together
to improve those conditions.
Structure
❑ Refers to a particular group of community members
that work together for a common health and health
related goals.
Emphasis
❑ Community working to solve its own problem.
❑ Direction is established internally and externally.
❑ Development and implementation of a specific
project less important than the development of the
capacity of the community to establish the project.
❑ Consciousness raising involves perceiving health and
medical care within the total structure of society.
Importance
1. COPAR is an important tool for community development
and people empowerment as this helps the community
workers to generate community participation in
development activities.
2. COPAR prepares people/clients to eventually take over
the management of a development programs in the
future.
3. COPAR maximizes community participation and
involvement; community resources are mobilized for
community services.
Principles
❑ People especially the most oppressed, exploited and
deprived sectors are open to change, have the
capacity to change and are able to bring about
change.
❑ COPAR should be based on the interest of the
poorest sector of the community.
❑ COPAR should lead to a self-reliant community and
society.
Core principles in Community
Organizing
❖COMMUNITY ORGANIZING IS PEOPLE-
CENTERED:
❑The basic premise of any community
organizing endeavor is that the people are the
means and ends of development, and
community empowerment is the process and
the outcome (Felix, 1998).
Core principles in Community
Organizing
❖Community organizing is participative:
•The participation of the community in the entire
process-assessment, planning, implementation, and
evaluation-should be ensured. The community is
considered as the prime mover and determinant,
rather than beneficiaries and recipients, of
development efforts, including health care.
Core principles in Community
Organizing
❖Community organizing is democratic:
•Community organizing should empower the
disadvantage population.
•It is a process that allows the majority of people to
recognize and critically analyze their difficulties and
articulate their aspiration.
Core principles in Community
Organizing
❖Community organizing is developmental:
•Community organizing should be directed towards
changing current undesirable conditions.
•The organizer desires changes for the betterment of
the community and believes that the community
shares these aspirations and that these changes can
be achieved.
Core principles in Community
Organizing
❖Community organizing is process-oriented:
•The community organizing goals of empowerment
and development are achieved through a process of
change.
•Community organizing is dynamic. With the
evolving community situation, monitoring and
periodic review of plans are necessary.
GOALS OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

•Peoples Empowerment
➢Aimed at achieving effective power for the
people through the process f community
organizing.
➢People learn to overcome powerlessness and
develop their capacity to maximize their control
over their situation
Core principles in Community
Organizing
❖Building Relatively permanent
structures and people’s
organization
➢Aims to establish and sustain relatively
permanent organizational structures that best
serve the needs and aspirations of people.
Core principles in Community
Organizing
❖Improved quality of life
➢Seeks to secure short and long-term
improvements in the quality of life of
the people.
Critical Steps 5. Meeting
1. Integration 6. Role Play
2. Social 7. Mobilization or
Investigation action
3. Tentative 8. Evaluation
program 9. Reflection
planning 10.Organization
4. Groundwork
Phases of COPAR
COPAR has four phases namely: Pre-Entry Phase, Entry Phase,
Organization-building phase, and sustenance and strengthening
phase.
1. Pre-Entry Phase
Is the initial phase of the organizing process where the community
organizer looks for communities to serve and help. Activities include:

Preparation of the Institution

•Train faculty and students in COPAR.
•Formulate plans for institutionalizing COPAR.
•Revise/enrich curriculum and immersion program.
•Coordinate participants of other departments.
Site Selection
❑ Initial networking with local government.
❑ Conduct preliminary special investigation.
❑ Make long/short list of potential communities.
❑ Do ocular survey of listed communities.
Criteria for Initial Site Selection
❑ Must have a population of 100-200 families.
❑ Economically depressed.No strong resistance from
the community.
❑ No serious peace and order problem.
❑ No similar group or organization holding the same
program.
Identifying Potential Municipalities
❑ Make long/short list of potential
municipalities

Identifying Potential Community

Do the same process as in selecting
municipality.
❑ Consult key informants and residents.
❑ Coordinate with local government and NGOs
for future activities.
Choosing Final Community
❑ Conduct informal interviews with community residents
and key informants.
❑ Determine the need of the program in the community.
❑ Take note of political development.
❑ Develop community profiles for secondary data.
❑ Develop survey tools.
❑ Pay courtesy call to community leaders.
❑ Choose foster families based on guidelines
Identifying Host Family
❑ House is strategically located in the community.
❑ Should not belong to the rich segment.
❑ Respected by both formal and informal leaders.
❑ Neighbors are not hesitant to enter the house.
❑ No member of the host family should be moving out
in the community.
2. Entry Phase
❑ sometimes called the social preparation phase. Is
crucial in determining which strategies for
organizing would suit the chosen community.
❑ Success of the activities depend on how much the
community organizers has integrated with the
community.
Guidelines for Entry
❑ Recognize the role of local authorities by paying
them visits to inform their presence and activities.
❑ Her appearance, speech, behavior and lifestyle
should be in keeping with those of the community
residents without disregard of their being role
model.
❑ Avoid raising the consciousness of the community
residents; adopt a low-key profile.
Activities in the Entry Phase
❑Integration. Establishing rapport with the
people in continuing effort to imbibe community
life.
❑living with the community
❑seek out to converse with people where they
usually congregate
❑lend a hand in household chores
❑avoid gambling and drinking
Deepening social investigation/community study
❑ verification and enrichment of data collected from initial
survey
❑ conduct baseline survey by students, results relayed through
community assembly
Core Group Formation
❑ Leader spotting through sociogram.
❑ Key Persons. Approached by most people
❑ Opinion Leader. Approached by key persons
❑ Isolates. Never or hardly consulted
3. Organization-building Phase
❑ Entails the formation of more formal structure and
the inclusion of more formal procedure of planning,
implementing, and evaluating community-wise
activities. It is at this phase where the organized
leaders or groups are being given training (formal,
informal, OJT) to develop their style in managing
their own concerns/programs.
Key Activities
❑ Community Health Organization (CHO)
✓ preparation of legal requirements
✓ guidelines in the organization of the CHO by the core group
✓ election of officers
❑ Research Team Committee
❑ Planning Committee
❑ Health Committee Organization
❑ Others
❑ Formation of by-laws by the CHO
4. Sustenance and Strengthening Phase
❑ community organization has already been
established
❑ community members are already actively
participating in community-wide undertakings.
❑ At this point, the different committees setup in the
organization-building phase are already expected to
be functioning by way of planning, implementing and
evaluating their own programs, with the overall
guidance from the community-wide organization.
Key Activities
❑ Training of CHO for monitoring and implementing of
community health program.
❑ Identification of secondary leaders.
❑ Linkaging and networking.
❑ Conduct of mobilization on health and development
concerns.
❑ Implementation of livelihood projects.
Community Organizing Participatory
Research
•Proper excreta and Disposal
•The Environmental Health and Sanitation set
policies on the approved types of toilet facilities
categorizing into:
•LEVEL I:
• Non-water carriage toilet facility – no water is
necessary to wash the waste into receiving space.
• Ex. PIT LATRINES, REED ODOR-LESS EARTH CLOSET.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING PARTICIPATORY
RESEARCH

❑ LEVEL II
■ on site toilet facilities of the water
carriage type with water sealed and
flush type with septic vault/tank
disposal facilities
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING PARTICIPATORY
RESEARCH

B.Food safety and Sanitation

●Food safety (NEHAP) – defined food safety as
the assurance that food will not cause any
harm to the consumer when it is prepared
and eaten according to its intended use.
●R. A. 9711- Food and Drug
Administration Act
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING PARTICIPATORY
RESEARCH

● Sanitation Facilities:
➢ Box and can privy (bucket latrine) -
Fecal matter is collected in a can or
bucket, which is periodically removed
for emptying and cleaning.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING PARTICIPATORY
RESEARCH

❑ Pit latrine (pit privy) - Fecal matter is

eliminated into a hole in the ground that leads
to a dug pit. Generally, a latrine refers to toilet
facilities without a bowl. It can be equipped
with either a squatting plate or a riser with a
seat.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING PARTICIPATORY
RESEARCH

❑ Antipolo toilet- It is made up of an elevated pit

privy that has a covered latrine.
❑ Septic Privy- Fecal matter is collected in a build
septic tank that is not connected to a sewerage
system.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING PARTICIPATORY
RESEARCH

● Aqua privy- fecal matter is eliminated into a

water-sealed drop pipe that leads from the latrine
to a small water filled septic tank located directly
below the squatting plate.
● Overhung latrine- fecal matter is directly
eliminated into a body of water such as a flowing
river that is underneath the facility.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING PARTICIPATORY
RESEARCH
❑ Ventilated-improved pit (VIP) latrine- is a pit latrine
with a screened air vent installed directly over the pit.
❑ Concrete vault privy- fecal matter is collected in a pit
privy lined a concrete in such a manner so as to make it
water tight.
❑ Chemical privy- Fecal matter is collected into a tank that
contains a caustic chemical solution, which in turn
controls and facilitates the waste decomposition.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING PARTICIPATORY
RESEARCH

● Compost Privy- fecal matter is collected into a pit

with urine ad anal cleansing materials with the
addition of organic garbage such as leaves and
grass to allow biological decomposition and
production of agricultural or fishpond compost.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING PARTICIPATORY
RESEARCH

● Pour flush latrine- it has a bowl with a water

seal trap similar to the conventional tank flush
toilet expect that it requires only a small
volume of water for flushing.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING PARTICIPATORY
RESEARCH

Tank-flush toilet- feces are excreted into a bowl

with a water sealed trap. The water tank that
receives a limited amount of water empties into
the bowl for flushing of fecal materials through
the water sealed trap and into the sewerage
system.
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING PARTICIPATORY
RESEARCH

C. Vermin and vector control

●Vermin Control
➢ Vermin – A group of insects or small animals
such as flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, fleas,
lice, bedbugs, mice and rats which are vectors of
diseases.
 VERMIN
● General Requirements. –
1. A vermin abatement program shall be
maintained in places by their owners,
operators or administrators. If they fail,
neglect or refuse to maintain a vermin
abatement program, the local health
agency will undertake the work at their
expense.
 VERMIN cont.

2. Vermin control in public places shall be

the responsibility of the provincial, city or
municipal governments which have
jurisdiction over them.
3. The procedure and frequency of vermin
abatement program shall be determined
and approved by the local health authority.
 METHODS OF VECTOR CONTROL
Environmental management
❑seeks to change the environment in order to
prevent or minimize vector propagation and
human contact with the vector-pathogen by
➢ destroying,
➢ altering,
➢ removing or recycling non-essential containers
that provide larval habitats.
 METHODS OF VECTOR CONTROL

Environmental modification – long-lasting

physical transformations to reduce vector
larval habitats, such as installation of a
reliable piped water supply to communities,
including household connections.
 METHODS OF VECTOR CONTROL

Environmental manipulation –
temporary changes to vector habitats
involving the management of
“essential” containers
 METHODS OF VECTOR CONTROL

Changes to human habitation or behaviour

– actions to reduce human – vector contact,
such as installing mosquito screening on
windows, doors and other entry points, and
using mosquito nets while sleeping during
daytime.
 METHODS OF VECTOR CONTROL

● Improvement of water supply and water-

storage systems
● Improving water supplies is a fundamental
method of controlling Aedes vectors,
especially Ae. Aegypti.
 METHODS OF VECTOR CONTROL

❖ Mosquito-proofing of water-storage
containers
➢ Water-storage containers can be
designed to prevent access by
mosquitoes for opposition
 METHODS OF VECTOR CONTROL

❖ Solid waste management

➢ In the context of dengue vector control,
“solid waste” refers mainly to non-
biodegradable items of household,
community and industrial waste.
 METHODS OF VECTOR CONTROL

Street cleansing
● A reliable and regular street cleansing system
that removes discarded water-bearing
containers and cleans drains to ensure they do
not become stagnant and breed mosquitoes
will both help to reduce larval habitats of Ae.
aegypti and remove the origin of other urban
pests.
 METHODS OF VECTOR CONTROL

❖ Building structures
● During the planning and construction of
buildings and other infrastructure, including
urban renewal schemes, and through
legislation and regulation, opportunities arise
to modify or reduce potential larval habitats of
urban disease vectors, including Ae. aegypti,
Culex quinquefasciatus and An. stephensi.
 METHODS OF VECTOR CONTROL

● Chemical control: larvicides

● Although chemicals are widely used to
treat Ae. aegypti larval habitats,
larviciding should be considered as
complementary to environmental
management and – except in emergencies
 METHODS OF VECTOR CONTROL

● Target area
● Productive larval habitats should be treated
with chemicals only if environmental
management methods or other non-chemical
methods cannot be easily applied or are too
costly.
● Perifocal treatment involves the use of hand-
held or power-operated equipment to spray
 METHODS OF VECTOR CONTROL

● Treatment cycle
● The treatment cycle will depend on the
species of mosquito, seasonality of
transmission, patterns of rainfall, duration
of efficacy of the larvicide and types of
larval habitat.
 METHODS OF VECTOR CONTROL

● Precautions
● Extreme care must be taken when
treating drinking-water to avoid dosages
that are toxic for humans. Label
instructions must always be followed
when using insecticides
THANK
YOU!!!