Module 2

Community Immersion

TRAINING OBJECTIVES:

1. Enumerate the steps involved in community immersion.

2. Design a community immersion program compliant with the protocols on

intervention.

3. Explain the importance of the various steps in community immersion.

Duration: 6 hours

Relevance to the Society/ Oneself

A. Prepare a demographic profile of your community. ( You can ask your

parents for help since you are not allowed to go out in your home)

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B. Make a needs assessment survey in your Community.

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Processing Feedback

Community immersion is one important requirement for the NSTP program prescribe
to students male or female alike, in private and public higher education institution and
technical vocational courses.

This module discusses the process of community immersion - its importance; venue
selection; different steps, kinds of information, and role of the community in the
needs assessment process; and the methods used in data collection.

Community Immersion

1. Before gaining entry into the community

Information gathering - while the community which will serve as the venue for
immersion is being identified - will help students prepare themselves physically,
mentally, and spirituality. Students must have waivers from their parents or guardians
stating that they have been informed and have agreed that their children or wards will
undergo the CWTS community immersion program.

Lee et al. (2006) prescribe certain pre-immersion guidelines:

1. Students should gather basic information about the community such as its culture,
practices, and lifestyle.

2. Students should not regard themselves as superior to the members of the

community.

3. Students should dress simply and act naturally when making their entry into the
community.
4. Students should not assume the role of “savior” or someone who will solve all of
the community’s problems.

5. Students should remember that development must be for the people from the
people.

The criteria to be used in selecting the venue are the following:

 Inclusion of the community in the deprived, depressed, and underprivileged

(DDU) category.

 Willingness of the local interest groups and community leaders to cooperate with
the project implementers.

 Available resources including manpower.

 Presence of development agencies and other institutions providing assistance to

the area.

 Stability of the peace and order situation

 Accessibility.

2. Gaining entry into the community

Manalili (1990) presents the different ways of gaining entry into a community:

 Ostentatious entry

Most organizers from government offices are familiar with this style. The
community worker, through a padrino, is formally introduced to the people through a
village assembly during which the worker’s image is boosted and project output is
promised.
 With this style the members of the community will naturally expect more from
the project implementer. They will depend on him/her heavily. This, however, runs
counter to the aim of helping strengthen the people’s confidence in their own abilities.

 Banking on the people’s weakness

Outsiders sometimes gains entry into a community by getting the community’s

attention. They focus on a particular weakness or problem in a community and exploit
the members’ dependence on them for its solution. Some organizers believe that they
have to get the community to their side at once. Thus, they come up with even the
cheapest gimmicks just to attract the peoples’ attention. Trying to create a favorable
impression on the community seems to be their aim.

Nevertheless, how can the community learn to be self-dependent if its members

always look foe someone, whom they can depend on all the time and who seems to be
capable of doing everything for them? Community organizing is not a popularity
contest.

 Simple entry

This style can be explained through an example. Suppose the project organizers
accidentally meets a person while in a jeep, and that this person is from a community
where the organizers can conduct an immersion project.

 Academic Entry

Communities are often called social laboratories because they become a field
laboratory where the theories learned in the classroom are put to a test. Academic
institutions field students into a community to address its concerns. Students should
be wary, however, because entry raises the community’s expectations of quick fixes
and band-aid solutions.

 Formal entry
 Some organizations believe that the best way of gaining entry into a community
is through formal protocol or procedures. This is done by paying a courtesy call to the
community leaders first. The barangay captain and other barrio officials usally
anticipate such a visit.

 People Centered entry

In this style, it is not the organizer but the local researchers from the community
who first gain entry into the area. They undertake a preliminary social analysis of the
community and also establish strong links with reliable community members who will
serve as the contact persons. These contact persons will facilitate the organizers entry.

This approach ultimately believes in the capacity of the community to determine

whether “outsider assistance” is really needed. Users of this type of entry invest on
community relations, believing that both parties are partners to community
development.

3. Integration with the people - is a continuous process wherein the students come into
direct contact and become involved with the affairs of the community. In this phase,
the immersion gets more personal (Manalili, 1990). The student should realize that the
community has a number of concerns. Integration is done in any of the following
ways:

A. Border Style - if his/her resources allow it, the student may choose to stay and live
in the immersion area for a certain period of time.

B. Elitist Style - some students tend to stay close to key informants and political
players during their time in the community. Their social circle becomes limited, and
their interaction is confined to conversing with a few people.

C. People centered style

Lee,et al. (2006) presents some basic tips on integration

 A. Students should integrate with the people by living with them, eating their
food. Doing their chores, and patiently learning their way of life.

B. Students should gradually broaden their social group affiliation so they can
continue to expand their knowledge about the status of the community.

C. Students should start working in the community and begin to realize the
hardships and problems that the community members are facing. Realizing that their
problems are also the students problems, students can learn how to emphatize with the
people to help solve their problems.

4. Community Needs Assessment

 A community needs assessment is a process in which the problems. Issues, and

concerns of the community are identified by using several tools.

 Needs assessments, social analysis, or community diagnosis is a concrete basis

for the formulation of programs.

 It reflects the sentiments, needs, aspirations, and recommendations of the

community.

 It becomes significant when conducted as the students get integrated with the
people.

 Assessing the needs of the community is a prelude to effective program

implementation. It hopes to solve the problems, issues, and concerns of the
people in the locality.

Needs Assessment Process

The steps in the needs assessment process are as follows:

1. Gather information about the community’s attitudes and options in order of

importance.

2. Determine how citizens rank local issues, problems, and opportunities.

3. Give the citizens a voice in determining policies, goals, and priorities.

4. Evaluate current programs and policies.

5. Speculate on what the people are thinking and what they may really want.

Information essential to the community needs assessment

1. Historical data

2. Geographical data

3. Demographic data, including age, size, race, growth patterns, and population
distribution

4. Economic data, including the nature of the economic base in relation to the social,
cultural, educational, moral and cultural superstructure.

Data Collection Methods

1. Focus group discussion (FGD) by key informants - The key informants of the
community are the people who sold socially relevant positions such as educators,
public officials, clergymen, business representatives, or volunteers.

2. Community forum/assembly - this involves holding group events which include the
entire community.

3. Public records - like the national census provide social and demographic indicators
of the community. The data include the profile of the population as to age, gender,
educational level, etc.

4. Survey - survey and questioners involve asking individuals in the community about
their everyday needs. These can be implemented through the following:

 Mailing questionnaires to randomly selected members of the community.

 Doing telephone surveys

 Handing out surveys during assemblies

 Posting questionnaires on the Internet

Steps in conducting a Needs Assessment

1. Establish a working committee to solicit community involvement and develop a
plan of action.

2. List important aspects that need to be analyzed.

3. Identify the population to be surveyed

4. Determine the information that is needed.

5. Select a random sample of people to survey.

6. Develop and pre-test a questionnaire.

7. Collate the information gathered.

8. Analyze the data.

9. Go back to the community to validate the results or findings.

10. Finalize the report.

Roles of the Community in a Needs Assessment

1. Help identify interest groups and citizens who can be a part of working committees.

2. Facilitate a group discussion to determine important issues and priorities.

3. Select the sample to be surveyed and design a system to identify respondents.

4. Provide a pool of question from which the working committees will draw upon in
addressing issues and concerns.

5. Design a way of distributing and collecting survey questionnaires and encoding and
analyzing reports of data.

6. Provide summary reports of data.

7. Suggest programs whereby results can be reported and strategies on community

involvement solicited.

8. Work with citizens to come up with well-informed courses of action.

An NSTP-CWTS class has a maximum of 54 hours to complete its planned projects.
The limits is prescribed by the CHED in line with the Revised Implementing Rules
and Regulation of RA 9163

Let us process the information discussed by answering the following questions.

1. Enumerate the essential information of the community needs assessment.

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2. Explain why is community immersion is very important for NSTP students?

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3. Which of the following gathering entry into the community is much more
effective? Why do you say so?

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4. Explain the importance of the various steps in the community immersion.

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C. Reflection

1. What is the physical,political, and social structure of your community?

2. What is your ideal community?

D. Exercise

1. Community immersion as a requirement in the NSTP-CWTS. Explain

E. Activity.

Propose a Project that is based in your own community

Instruction: As a student of NSTP-CWTS make a proposal project within your

local community where you live by using the S-M-A-R-T method and briefly explain
why do you think that this project should be implemented?

RUBRIC

Activities 4 3 2 1

All questions All and nearly Nearly all Almost all

leading to all questions questions questions
relevance to the leading to leading to leading to
society/oneself relevance to the relevance to the relevance to the
were answered society/oneself society/oneself society/oneself
Relevance to the clearly, all are were answered were answered were not
Society/Oneself justifiable. clearly, some Acceptable answered
Grammar and were justifiable. grammatical and
Mechanics were Grammar and mechanical error
observed Mechanics
 properly. found to have
minimal errors.

Processing All questions All and nearly Nearly all were Almost all
Feedback were answered all were answered questions were
answered not answered

All questions All and nearly Nearly all Almost all

leading to all questions questions questions
reflection were leading to leading to leading to
answered reflection were reflection were reflection were
clearly, all are answered answered not answered
justifiable. clearly, some Acceptable
Grammar and were justifiable. grammatical and
Reflection Mechanics were Grammar and mechanical error
observed Mechanics
properly. found to have
minimal errors.

The Proposed The Proposed The Proposed The proposed

project output project output project output project is
shows an shows an shows an unacceptable
explicit explicit implicit
relevance to the relevance to the relevance to the
community community community
needs. It is needs. It is needs. It is
Activity organized and somehow almost somehow
creative organized and organized
creative

Exercise All questions All and nearly Nearly ll Almost all

were answered all questions questions were questions were
clearly, all are were answered answered not answered
justifiable clearly, Some clearly,
Grammar and were justifiable Acceptable
mechanics were Grammar and Grammar and
observed mechanics mechanics
properly found to have errors.
minimal errors.

Over all Score