LECTURE/REVIEW NOTES IN COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT,
SOLIDARITY, AND CITIZENSHIP
MODULE 1: THE IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING COMMUNITY DYNAMICS AND COMMUNITY ACTION
Learning Objectives:
1. Understand the meaning of community;
2. Identify the types of community; and
3. Appreciate the importance of studying the community and its dynamics.
WHAT IS A COMMUNITY?
1. Derived from the Latin “communitas”, meaning, “community” and from the Latin “communis”,
meaning, “common”.
2. Community as shared territory and heritage.
3. Community as a network of interpersonal ties based on common interests.
4. Group of people with a common characteristic or interest living together within a larger society.
5. A social unit with commonality such as norms, religion, values, and identity.
TYPES OF COMMUNITY
1. Formal Group - a formal group is formed when people come together to accomplish specific
goals and objectives.
2. Informal Group - an informal group is formed when two or more people come together to
accomplish a specific task which is mainly socially geared.
3. Urban Area - an urban area is the region surrounding a city. An area with high density of
population.
4. Rural Area - a rural area is an open swath of land that has few homes or other buildings, and not
very many people. A rural area’s population density is very low.
5. Global Community -a global community are the people or nations of the world, considered as
being closely connected by modern telecommunications and as being economically, socially,
and politically interdependent.
6. Social Space - a social space is physical or virtual space such as a social center, online social
media, or other gathering place where people gather and interact.
FIVE COMMON FEATURES OF COMMUNITY
1. Interest - communities of people who share the same interest or passion.
2. Action - communities of people trying to bring about change.
3. Place - communities of people brought together by geographic boundaries.
4. Practice - communities of people in the same profession or undertake the same activities.
5. Circumstance - communities of people brought together by external events/situations.
THE IMPORTANCE OF UNDERSTANDIN COMMUNITY DYNAMICS AND COMMUNITY ACTION
COMMUNITY DYNAMICS
▪ Community Dynamics is the process of change and development in communities of all living
organisms.
▪ Community Dynamics is the change and development involved in a community that includes all
forms of living organisms.
▪ This can be used to bring additional depth into the understanding of your local areas.
COMMUNITY ACTION
▪ Community Action is any activity that increases the understanding, engagement, and
empowerment of communities in the design and delivery of local services.
▪ It puts communities as the center of services development and services delivery.
▪ This initiative aims to cater the primary needs of the communities before implementing it. In
such way, community action will help the community dynamics or the degree of improvement
of the community.
▪ It is important to understand these two because these will propel the success and stability of
the communities.
▪ They go hand in hand and are proportionally related.
THE 5 MAJOR SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND THEIR FUNCTIONS
1. Family - responsible for reproduction.
2. Education - a way to pass on culture, knowledge, and values.
3. Religion - helps people find purpose in their lives / develops spiritual side of people / provides
guidelines for personal behavior and social interaction.
4. Economics - produces and distribute goods.
5. Politics - assist group in decision making.
MODULE 2: FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNITIES IN TERMS OF STRUCTURES,
DYNAMICS, AND PROCESSES
Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the community networks and functions;
2. Analyze the functions of communities in terms of structures, dynamics, and processes; and
3. Appreciate the value of networks and functions of community.
THE COMMUNITY AND ITS FIVE FUNCTIONS
1. Production, Distribution, Consumption
2. Socialization
3. Social Control
4. Social Participation
5. Mutual Support
THE COMMUNITY AS A SUPPORT SYSTEM
1. Preventive - these attempt to lessen the stresses and strains of life resulting from social and
technological changes and to avert problems.
2. Supportive - these include education programs, counselling services, health services,
employment trainings, and community development projects.
3. Rehabilative - these services enable or restore people’s ability to participate in the community
actively.
STRUCTURES OF COMMUNITY
▪ Community Structure means the internal structure of an employment area, town, city,
neighborhood or another urban area. It includes the population and housing, jobs and
production, service and leisure time areas, along with transport routes and technical networks,
their location and relationships.
PROCESSES OF COMMUNITY
1. Community Organization - refers to organizing aimed at making desired improvements to ca
community’s social health, well-being, and overall functioning.
2. Community Development - is a process where community members come together to take
collective action and generate solutions to common problems.
THE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
1. Create a community collaboration team
2. Broaden civic engagement
3. Determine your community’s assests
4. Develop a community vision
5. Create a community plan
6. Implement your plan
7. Evaluate, measure success
8. Adgust, regroup, reassess, and begin again
Effective community development should be:
1. A long endeavor
2. Well planned
3. Holistic and integrated into the bigger picture…
4. Initiated and supported by community members…
5. Of benefit to the community…
6. Grounded on experience that leads to best practices…
Community development is a grassroots process by which communities…
1. Become more responsible; organize and plan together;
2. Develop healthy lifestyle options;
3. Empower themselves;
4. Reduce poverty and suffering;
5. Create employment and economic opportunities; and
6. Achieve economic, social, cultural, and environmental goals.
MODULE 3: COMMUNITY ACTION MODALITIES
Learning objectives:
1. Understand the importance of community action;
2. List the three (3) different community action modalities; and
3. Determine the similarities and differences of the three community action modalities.
COMMUNITY ACTION
▪ ‘Community Action’ refers to collective efforts of people to address social problems in order to
achieve human well-being and community development.
▪ ‘Community Action’ can take the form of community engagement and solidarity, which bolster
citizenship in the process.
MODALITIES OF COMMUNITY ACTION
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
▪ ‘Community Engagement’ refers to the process of developing partnerships and sustaining
relationships with and through groups of people, who are affiliated by geographical proximity or
common interests, to work for their common good and address issues that affect their well-
being.
LEVELS OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:
1. Information - information is a one-way dissemination of information to community members.
2. Consulatation - consultation involves obtaining stakeholder approval for a particular initiative.
3. Active participation - active participation allows the involvement of community members in the
planning, implementation, and overall assessment and development of initiatives.
4. Involvement - involvement is about enlisting community stakeholders as volunteers and/or
consumers of service learning, community outreach, and other associated activities.
MODALITIES OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
1. Transactional - transactional are one-way community projects or activities that come from the
service providers to the community. (volunteer work, free consultancy services, cash donations,
skills transfer, giving of technical support, etc.)
2. Transitional - transitional are two-way community projects brought about by the process of
consultation and collaboration between the service provider and the community. (repeated
engagement with the community and the service provider, but resources mainly come from the
service provider; Community members as volunteer workforce or participants)
3. Transformational - transformational are two-way community projects characterized by active
dialogue and critical reflectivity brought about by the process of involvement and active
participation between the external agent and the community. (involvement of joint learning and
value-generation, and community leadership in the decision-making process; control of the
engagement process is between the service provider and the community)
SOLIDARITY
▪ ‘Solidarity’ refers to the firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common
good by mutually supporting and sustaining movements for social change and social justice.
“Solidarity” often entails establishing ties with those considered vulnerable in the community.
CITIZENSHIP
▪ A citizen is a member of political community who enjoys full social, political, economic, and
cultural rights.
