THE HEALTH RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM III COMMUNITY ORGANIZING AND

PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH (CO-PAR)

The Health Resource Development Program (HRDP) was developed and
Community Organizing-Participatory Action Research has been the strategy
sponsored by the Philippine Center for Population and Development (PCPD)
used by the HRDP III in implementing the Primary Health Care delivery in
to make health services available and accessible to depressed and underserved
depressed and underserved communities to become self-reliant.
communities in the Philippines. The PCPD is a non-stock, non-profit private
institution which serves as a resource center assisting institutions and The HRDP III describes Community Organizing as a continuous and sustained
agencies through programs and projects geared toward the social human process of educating the people to let the m understand and develop their critical
development of rural and urban communities. PCPD was formerly the awareness of the existing conditions; it is working with the people collectively
Population Center Foundation. and efficiently discover their immediate and long-term problems and mobilizing
the people to develop their immediate needs toward the solution of their long-
The PCPD sponsored health training institutions or hospitals to carry out term projects.
the program as part of the outreach activities of these schools or hospitals.
The training institutions developed an effective system of delivery of the Objectives of Community Organizing:
primary health care in depressed communities and trained the community
residents in the management of their own health concerns. The PCPD 1. To make people aware of social realities toward the development of local
provides funds for health programs while the schools or hospitals have a initiative, optimal use of human, technical, and material resources, and
counterpart to contribute in the form of service or in kind. strengthening of people’s capacities.
2. To form structures that hold the people’s basic interests as oppressed and
The HRDP has three cycles. The first cycle (HRDP I) trained the faculty, deprived sectors of the community and as people bound by the interest to
medical/nursing students to provide health care services to the far-flung serve the people.
barrios because of lack of manpower for health services at the same time that 3. To initiate the responsible actions intended to address holistically the
similar activities fulfilled the curricular requirements of students for public various community health and social problems.
health. The PCPD provides seed money for the income-generating projects.
On the other hand, the community organizer uses his/her own strategy or As applied to Primary Health Care, Community Organizing is defined as the
process and structures through which members of the community are tapped to
method in developing the community. His is considered to be a short-term
become organized for participation in health care and community development
service.
activities. They organized themselves to get better health care and improve their
health as a part of a larger effort, to increase their power and achieve greater
The second cycle (HRDP II) uses the same strategy but the program could social and economic equality within a larger social system.
not be sustained by the schools or hospitals and the income generating
projects eventually became a hindrance to the goal of achieving the health As a process, Community Organizing is the sequence of steps whereby the
program because the people tended to be more interested in the income members of the community work together to critically assess and evaluate
generated by the projects. community conditions to improve thee conditions.

Both HRDP I and II have brought about some changes in the community As a structure, it refers to the particular group of community members that
life of the people. There was an established basic health infrastructures; basic work together for common health and health-related problems.
health services were increased, there were trained health workers and
organized health groups to take care of the healthy needs of the community. It can be culled from this definition that it is the people who organized
themselves into a working team who can effectively solve their own health
The PCPD refined the program and resulted to what is now called HRDP problems.
III.
EMPHASES OF COMMUNITY ORGANIZING IN PRIMARY HEALTH PARTICIPANTS IN PAR
CARE
a. Outside Researcher. The outside researcher is a professional
1. The community works to solve their own problems. researcher, who is committed and a learner; active learner rather
2. The direction is internal rather than external. than detached. He goes into an immersion and integration in the
3. The development of the capacity to establish a project is more
community. He shares his research knowledge to encourage
important than the project.
4. There is consciousness-raising to perceive health and medical care genuine participation but would never assume a paternalistic
within the total structure of society. authoritarian attitude but leaves the application of that
knowledge to the people of the community.
PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH
b. Local Researcher. The local researchers are trained in the process
As a process, Participatory Action Research (PAR) is an investigation on of research and are made aware of the needs of their people and
problems and issues concerning life and environment of the underprivileged by committed to do something about them. The local researchers
way of research collaboration with the underprivileged whose representatives elicit active participation from community members for
participate in the actual research as researchers themselves, doing research of collective data gathering, data analysis and action. They are the
their own problem. link between the community and the outside resources.
As a structure, the beneficiaries of the research are the main actors in the
research process. It enables the community to experience a collaborative HRDP CO-PAR PROCESS
consciousness of their own situations. PAR involves research, education and
actions to empower people determine the cause of their problems, analyzed 1. Pre-entry Phase.
these problems and act by themselves in responding to their own problems. - initial phase of the organizing process where the community
The essential element of PAR is participation. or organizer looks for community to serve. It is the simplest
phase in the community organizing process in terms of
PAR is a community-directed process of gathering and analyzing expected outputs, activities and strategies. The activities done
information for the process of taking actions and making changes. in this phase are:
In PAR, there is an outside researcher, a professional one who through o Community consultations/dialogues
immersion and integration on the community becomes a committed participant
and learner in the community. o Setting of issues/considerations related to site
selection
The Objectives of PAR: o Development of criteria for site selection
o Site selection
1. To encourage consciousness of the suffering and develop competence o Preliminary social investigation (PSI)
for changing their own situation o Networking with local government units (LGUs),
2. To help in the organization building by harnessing both human and
natural resources in responding to community needs.
NGOs and other departments within the HRDP-NGO
3. To enhance the knowledge of the researcher in the community on the
social reality before them.
2. Entry Phase / Social Preparation Phase o Intervention scheme and community development
- most crucial phase of the COPAR. It allows the community projects
tube on active participant of the success of the phase depends o Setting up linkages/network/referral system
on how the project implementers have integrated with the
community people. This phase includes activities such as: 5. Sustenance and Strengthening Phase
- when the community can already stand on their own thus the
o Integration with the community people can sustain the program even without the help from
o Identification of leaders project implementers. Activities included are:
o Continuing Social Investigation
o Provision of health services o Formulation and ratification of constitutions and by-
laws
3. Community Study / Diagnosis Phase (Research Phase) o Continuing education and upgrading of community
- comprehensive documentation of data gathere which focus on leaders, CHWs and CHO members
systematically looking for issues around to organize the o Formalizing and institutionalization of linkages,
people. Activities done in this phase includes: networks and referral systems
o Identification and development of secondary leaders
o Selection of the research team
o Planning for the actual data gathering
o Data gathering
o Training of data validation
o Presentation of the community study/diagnosis and
recommendations
o Prioritization of community needs/problems for
action

4. Community Organization and Capability-Building Phase

- signals the start of the community self-management because
it entails the formation of the formal structure and the
inclusion of the formal procedure of planning,
implementing, promoting and evaluating of community-
wide activities. Activities are:

o Election of officers
o Delineation of the roles, functions and tasks of
officers and members of the CHO
o Working out legal documents
o Training of CHO officers
Different Approaches: Steps of Community Organizing

1. Integration
Welfare Approach
– being or becoming with the people
– spontaneous response to ameliorate the manifestation of 2. Social Investigation
poverty – systematic process of collecting and collating data to
– poverty is caused by bad luck, natural disaster, etc., draw a clear picture of the community
3. Tentative Program Planning
– poverty is God-given
– choosing one issue to work on in order to begin
organizing the people
Modernization Approach / Project Development Approach 4. Groundwork
– introduces whatever is lacking in a given society – going around and motivating the people on one-on-one
basis to do something on the issue that has been chosen
– poverty is caused by lack of education and resources
5. The Meeting
– people collectively ratifying what they have already
Transformatory Approach / Participatory Approach decided individually
– poverty is not God-given – gives the people the collective power and confidence
6. Role Play
– process of empowering and transferring the poor and the
– act out the meeting that takes plce between the leader of
oppressed sectors of the society so they can pursue a the people and the government representatives
more just, humane society 7. Mobilization
– actual experience of the people in confronting the
powerful and the actual exercise of people power
8. Evaluation
Records – client’s information and data – the people review their steps or activities so as to
Report – periodic summary of services determine whether they were successful or not in their objectives
9. Reflection
– dealing with deeper on-going concerns to look at
Purposes of Records and Reports
positive values
– gives the people time to reflect on the stark reality of
• measure the service / program directed to the client life compared to the ideal
10. Organization
• provide basis for future planning
– result of many successive and similar action of the
• interpret the work to the public and other agencies and the people
community itself – final organizational structure is set up with newly
elected officers and supporting members
• aid in studying the conditions of the community