Community Action: Values and Principles

• Community Engagement, Solidarity, and Citizenship is the title
• Quarter 4, Week 2.2 is the reference
• Core Values and Principles of Community Action Initiatives and Participatory Development are covered
• Its goal is to explain the importance of commitment and action in participatory development for community well-being
• Integration of social science perspectives and community action initiatives is understood

Core Values of Community Action Initiatives

• Participatory Development:
• Everyone can contribute to the development of their community with their talents, knowledge and abilities
• Sharing time, talent, and treasure can improve lives and communities and make a personal difference
• Commitment from everyone is important to achieve goals with "Munti man at maliit basta't malimit patungong langit."
• Achieving community dreams happens when working together, contributing regardless of color, gender, or social status
• "Gawad Kalinga" promotes sharing and caring, regardless of poverty

Essential Reasons for Participatory Development

• Strengthens civil society and the economy by empowering groups, communities, and organizations allowing them to negotiate with institutions and keep government accountable
• Efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability of development programs are enhanced

Participatory Development Explained

• Engaging local populations in development projects
• Stakeholders can influence and share control over development initiatives, decisions, and resources affecting them

Stakeholders and Participatory Development

• General Public: Those directly or indirectly affected like women's groups, individuals, families, indigenous groups, and religious groups
• Government: Civil servants in ministries and cabinets
• Representative Assemblies: Elected government bodies (parliament, national and local assemblies, district and municipal assemblies, and elected community leaders)
• Civil Society Organizations: Networks, national and international NGOs, grassroots organizations, trade unions, policy development and research institutes, media, and community-based organizations
• Private Sector: Umbrella groups representing groups within the private sector, professional associations, and chambers of commerce
• Donor and International Financial Institutions: Resource providers and development partners
• Changing dynamics of development planning involve increased participation of:
• Local Government Units (LGUs)
• CSO/NGOs and the Private Sector
• Development Partners
• Decentralization and Devolution of Authority gives LGUs a bigger role in national progress
• Cooperation with CSO/NGOs strengthens poverty reduction by using NGO experience, knowledge, and expertise
• Networks or consortia of regional and/or national CSO/NGOs provide platforms for operations and advocacy
• Global efforts works towards harmonization among Governments and Development Partners

Perspectives Defining Participatory Development

• Social Movement Perspective:
• Participation eliminates unjust hierarchies of knowledge, power, and economic distribution
• Empowerment Participation:
• Primary stakeholders are capable and willing to initiate the process and take part in the analysis

Stages of a Participatory Development Project

• Institutional Perspective: Participation's effectiveness is measured through input inclusion by relevant groups in the project's design and implementation
• Research Stage: Development problem is accurately defined
• Design Stage: Actual initiatives are defined
• Implementation Stage: Planned intervention is implemented
• Evaluation Stage: Ensures significant changes are voiced, addressed, and assessed through participation

Incorporating Participatory Approaches and Methods

• Information Sharing (or Gathering) lies at the passive end of public engagement
• Consultation occurs when opinions are gathered from the public, and development professionals listen
• Collaboration/joint decision making, and empowerment/shared control defines genuine participation, and represents empowerment
• Shared Control occurs when citizens are empowered to accept increased responsibility and accountability for group members and for either creating or strengthening local institutions

ADB-Philippines Development Partnership Example

• The 1991 Local Government Code provided local autonomy strengthening provincial, city, and municipal governments
• The government granted LGUs more powers, authority, responsibilities, and resources
• Provision of basic services and facilities is now a key responsibility
• The services include agriculture, community-based forestry, health, infrastructure, schools, welfare, tourism, telecommunications, and housing projects

Local Development Planning Steps

• Major Development Concerns and Priorities of the Locality
• Development of Visions and Goals
• Development Strategy
• Sectoral/Spatial Priorities
• Medium-Term Fiscal Plan
• Public Investment Requirements

Philippines: Development of Poor Urban Communities

• Development of Poor Urban Communities enhances participatory activities
• Empowerment and ownership from participants
• This achieves a radical objective which is providing land titles to urban squatter communities and improving the communities
• Housing, infrastructure, and social services are all improved to rehabilitate and strengthen both local government and community organizations

Empowering Poor Urban Communities and Strengthening Local Institutions (Philippines)

• The Development of Poor Urban Communities projects build social capital through institutionalizing community organizations with four stages
• Stage 1: Communities engage in action planning and form teams to address livelihood, land security, infrastructure, and social services
• The board formed includes the chairs of each team
• Stage 2: Community organizations (for each group of households) become more structured and legitimized
• A general assembly, including either a husband or wife in each household, is also formed
• The community organization is then equipped to transact business with external parties
• Stage 3: Community organizations in a area are organized into clusters, forming a coalition or federation led by a council
• The cluster council advocates, and represents members to the village development council based on their community's development plans
• Stage 4: Cluster councils further coalesce into a municipal or citywide organization which then represents community organizations before local government decision-making bodies
• Citywide organization development is assessed along with housing and land use to ensure that cluster needs are incorporated, and budgets reflect urban-poor needs
• Community residents became active participant in project design
• The likelihood of being affected, either positively or negatively, was the criterion to select stakeholders

Planning Method Used

• Communities in the Cordillera Highlands Agricultural Resources Management Project (Philippines) had a strong point in the use of a multilevel participatory planning approach
• Stakeholder participation was maximized in project decision-making

Village Level

• Dialogue with elected village officials and leaders of people's organizations helped to provide orientation for community members with a participatory planning process
• A core group was established and ensured inclusion of existing groups and traditional institutions
• Community workshops helped to organize participatory planning by the core group and the NGO facilitator
• The first step was a comprehensive village profile
• Methods used were: secondary data collection, household surveys, and participatory rural appraisal (PRA) exercises including community maps, seasonal calendars, land transects, and socioeconomic and livelihood analysis

Municipal and Provincial Levels

• Project BNRMPs were forwarded to the municipal level where a municipal management group assessed the technical merits of projects and prioritized them across the area
• The list was forwarded to the provincial management group for final review and ranking at a provincial level
• The municipal and provincial project management groups were coordinated by various agencies, community groups, and NGO staff in screening and prioritizing projects plus providing technical support
• Consensus among project stakeholders obtained that the final priority lists in their areas