Community Organizing:

A core Structure Building Strategy in

Group Mobilization

ALBERT KEN K. ZAMORA

NSTP Facilitator
 Community – is an aggregation of families and individuals,
settled in a fairy compact and continuous geographical area
with significant elements of common life, as shown by the
manners, customs, traditions and mode of speech.

 Community Organizing – is a social development approach

that aims to transform the apathetic, individualistic and
voiceless poor into a dynamic, participatory and politically
responsive community.
3. It is a process by which a community identifies its needs
and objectives, develops the confidence to take action in
respect to them, and in so doing, extends and develops
cooperative and collaborative attitudes and practices in the
community. (Ross,1967)
A brief on the universal concept of
community organizing (CO)
 As a development tool has been widely used by social community and
extension work practitioners in doing group case work activities.
 Must deal with ;problems that the community recognizes as its problems
 Must provide for community self-determination
 Must engage the community in an active way in the solution of its
problems.
 Must move at a pace that is comfortable for the community.
 Must encourage growth through problem solving
 Must encourage community self-understanding and integration.
Goals of Community Organizing
1. People 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
maximize their control over their situation and start to place the
future in their hands.

2. Building relatively permanent structures and people’s

organizations – CO aims to establish and sustain relatively
permanent organizational structures which best serve the needs
and aspirations of the people.

3. Improved quality of life – CO also seeks to secure short and

long term improvements on the quality of life of the people.
Organizing Approaches
1. Issue- based Approach- this refers to an organizing
approach which revolves around issues or problems
that:
1. Are felt by a significant number of people in the
community

2. Require the people to negotiate from position of strength

in number with a target group, usually outside the
community, for issue resolution

3. Have a high probability of being resolved if a collectively

acted upon.
2. Socio – Economic – Project Based 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. that are identified by
the CO with the community after a study of the felt needs
of the community, or are pre-packaged by the funding
source based on their perceived needs of the community.
 3. The Church/Faith – Based Approach
- this organizing approach is used by organizers within the
structures of the Church or within components of
Church-based programs.
This approach to organizing is used because:

a. For the progressive members of the religious institution, these

religious activities can be used as a way of instilling among the
people pro-social and pro-poor orientation

b. The Filipinos are religious people. If the orientation is directed

towards their active participation in social change process, then faith
becomes more meaningfully manifested in their lives as a community.

c. There are areas where trust can easily be established with their
approach.
Principles of Community Organization and Practices
1. It is rooted in the local indigenous leadership, the local organization and agencies,
and , in short, in the local people.
2. It aims not just towards helping communities to solve their day-to-day problems, but
ultimately towards national social transformation.
3. It recognizes and respects the primary role in the task of social transformation.
4. It recognizes that genuine transformation can be effected only through the people’s
collective strength.
5. It involves learning through praxis, i.e. the continuing refinement of theory and
understanding through experiences.
6. Using the people’s felt needs as a starting point for organization.
7. Using the collective process in most important problem solving, decision-making
and planning activities with people.
8. Developing local leaders who will eventually perform the tasks of the community
organizer.
9. Establishing open legal CO with publicly known leaders, members and activities.
10. Avoiding the imposition of ideology on the people.
 Building Operational Framework of the Community
Organization Process

I. First, the Awakening stage(Reorientation/entry or Re-entry phase)

Focuses on developing the client-beneficiaries awareness on the realities on the
realities obtaining in their environment.
Awakening results when an attitude “intervention” is applied in a community or
organization. This may be in the form of orientation meetings, trainings, public
information through radios, TV, newspapers, personal discussion, etc. through
this interventions, people are able to improve or change their situation.

A. Problem identification. People look into a present problem affecting

their lives. And people identify the resources available.
1. Observation ocular survey
2. Study the existing records
3. Orientation meeting with the barangay captain/leaders
4. Home visitation/informal conversation with the people
B. Problem Analysis. What are the causes of problems?
Participatory analysis of problems in the community assembly.

C. Ranking of the problems according to priority, participatory

ranking of the problems needs during a community assembly.

Goal setting of change target according to ranked problems.

Planning the steps or action to be taken to solve the problem.