Approaches and Methods of

Community

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 Various approaches and methods
can be utilized in community
development. Broadly, these
approaches can be divided into three
forms: self-help approach, conflict
approach, and technical assistance
approach.

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 Self-help Approach

 
 Emphasizes processes that encourage community members
to work together, collaborate, and formulate decisions and
actions to improve the conditions in the community.
 In this sense, collaboration is seen as the essential step in
addressing community needs and providing community
services.
 It focuses on institutionalizing processes of decision-
making by strengthening relations within a community to
incur change and progress.
 
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Conflict Approach

 The deliberation and confrontation of those

occupying positions of authority and
professional officials who are charged with
the responsibility of decision-making for
the community.
 The goal of this approach is to ensure that
power and authoritative decision-making is
redistributed.
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 Conflict arises from a general skepticism towards
those in power. As such, action is directed towards a
claim of authority and legitimacy, often coming from
groups within the community who organize and
mobilize their efforts in the hope of regaining their
control in the decision-making process as well as in
determining plans and actions for the community.
Change is achieved through an initial analysis of the
power structure and, related to this, the consequential
problems brought about by the unequal distribution of
authoritative decision-making capacities. In pursuing
such an approach, confrontation, such as publicity,
press releases, strikes, and demonstrations.
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 While this approach might be considered
effective, the confrontation between
community, members and leaders typically
result to:
1. fatigue in maintaining community efforts
2. the loss of leaders and organizers who
eventually coalesce with those in power.
3. the sustainability of financing
confrontational actions.

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 Technical Assistance
Approach

 Employs the use of external actors and experts to address community

issues.
 These actors are contracted by community members to solve specific
problems.
 They are held accountable by community.
 This approach treats communities as consumers of services to be rendered
by external entities, such as development workers and organizations. In this
regard, community participation is limited as the tasks and actions are
expected to be implemented by external actors.
 A general critique of this approach is the lack of direct involvement of the
community, albeit they may perform certain oversight functions in certain
instances.
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METHODS AND STRATEGIES
FOR COMMUINITY
DEVELOPMENT

 Community Organizing
 The process of building power by involving a constituency or
community members in identifying the problems that they share
or experience and selecting the solutions to the problems.
 It requires the community to identify people and structures that
can help solve the problem.
 It also builds an institution that encourages participation,
inclusion, and open involvement to further develop capacities
embodying the will and power of the community to address
issues and solve problems
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  Community Resource
Management

 It is a participatory process that enables communities to manage their own

resources for their benefit.
 This process takes into account the participation of local people, the
importance of local knowledge and values, and the emphasis on self-
sufficiency and benefit-sharing of resources across community members.
 Its aim is towards community stakeholder participation in the planning,
research, development, and implementation of community-centered action
towards community resources.
 It is naturally decentralized and characterized by a bottom-up direction of
decision-making, giving greater credence to community members who partner
with local government officials and external actors, such as non-governmental
organizations and external technical assistance entities.
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 Community Education
and
Learning
 Refers to the conscious efforts of members of the
community of different ages, gender, and other
attributes to develop their skills and capacities to
improve the quality of their lives.
 These may be done through capacity-building
methods like training, seminars, and workshops
that enhance the capability of community
members.
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 However, community learning is not only limited to
structured modes of education. It can also refer to the
extent by which community members learn from their
local history and how they went through experiences of
crises, successes. Failures, and achievements.
 Community education and learning help community
members and stakeholders determine and define their
visions, desires, goals, and objectives.

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Phases of Community Actions
 

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Community action planning plays an important
role in addressing community issues and solving
problems. A community action plan specifically
defines the scope and parameters of a community
based on its profile. It explicitly identifies the
specific needs and problems which a community
intends to address. It also takes into account the
key components of community capacity and the
actions and interventions that the community
intends to undertake in response to its needs and
problems.
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 In addressing the desires and needs of the
community, a community action plan affirms the
vision, mission, objectives, and strategies of the
community. Furthermore, it states the intended
results of an intervention (outputs and targets)
and the expected outcomes (describable and/or
measurable impact of the intervention to the
community).

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 A community action plan also incorporates
the means and methods of evaluating the
efforts and performance of the community. In
this manner, community members can monitor
and track the progress of their actions. 
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Broadly, community action has seven phases, namely: 
1. Establishing links and Partnership building with
local groups 
Establishing links is a process of identifying and
locating different actors and players within the
community who share a common purpose, interests,
and goals. Partnership-building entails coalition
formation and strengthening relations with key
community groups, stakeholders, and individuals. It
also involves assessing their knowledge, perspectives,
resources, and influences that may be consequential in
accomplishing desires and community needs. 

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2. Community Profiling 

It provides advocates with a descriptive insight into

the attributes and conditions of a community. It
typically involves the use of information concerning the
characteristics of a community, such as its demographic
distribution, material resources, territory, institutions,
local economy, and a description of a community’s
history and culture. 

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3. Needs and resources assessment

Need assessments to let the community identify the

things that it needs. It is used to determine the gaps
between the community’s present condition and its
desired condition. Just as important as assessing the
needs of the community is to assess the community
assets and resources. Resources conventionally
refer to money or finances. 

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4. Participatory action planning and leadership
development 

It involves the open and inclusive engagement of groups and

individuals in a community who have decided to pursue a
goal or solve a problem. It is a process that gathers insight
from community members. It involves planning how
community action initiatives are going to be implemented
and evaluated.
Leadership development is another important part of the
community action process that can commence during the
start of the planning phase. It is the most important resource
and it requires due attention.

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5. Resource Mobilization 

It is an important process that deals with the

necessary steps in raising, maintaining, and
sustaining community support. It
encompasses the appropriate, efficient, and
effective use of material support, personal
support, and knowledge support.

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6. Plan Implementation 

It refers to the phase where the actual and

concrete implementation of tasks and
activities are done.

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7. Monitoring and Evaluation

Monitoring focuses on the status and progress of

tasks and activities in the course of the
implementation of the community action plan. On the
other hand, evaluation is typically conducted in the
middle and at the end of the scheduled completion of
the community action plan to evaluate the
effectiveness and success of the project.
There are three types of evaluation namely: process
evaluation, summative evaluation, and impact
evaluation.

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 In the conduct of any community action
initiative and planning, several issues and
problems may surface. These may be factors
innate in communities, such as the repulsion to
participate due to past experiences, collective
action issues, economic and resource
constraints, political factors, and external
factors.

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