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COPAR defined
Community Organizing Participatory Action Research is a social developmental approach that aims to transform the apathetic, the individualistic and voiceless poor into dynamic, participatory and politically responsive community It is developed to make health services accessible and available for depressed and underserved communities in the Philippines.
Welfare Approach
The immediate and/or spontaneous response to ameliorate the manifestation of poverty, especially on the personal level. Assumes that poverty is God-given, hence the poor should accept their condition since they will receive their just reward in heaven.
Modernization Approach
Project development approach introduces whatever resources that are lacking in a given community Assumes that development consists of abandoning the traditional methods of doing things and must adopt the technology of industrial countries.
Transformatory Approach
The process of empowering/ transforming the poor and the oppressed sectors of society so that they can pursue a more just and humane society. Assumes that poverty is not God-given rather it is rooted in the historical past and is maintained by the oppressive structure in society
COPAR Importance
COPAR is an important tool for community development and people empowerment as this helps the community workers to generate community participation in developmental activities. COPAR prepares people to eventually take over the management of a development program in the future. COPAR maximizes community participation and involvement
COPAR principles
People especially the most oppressed , exploited and deprived sectors are open to change, have the capacity to change and are able to bring about change. COPAR should be bases upon the interests of the poorest sectors of society. COPAR should lead to a self reliant community and society.
COPAR Process
A progressive cycle of action-reflectionaction which begins with small, local and concrete issues identified by the people and the evaluation and the reflection of and on the action taken by them. Consciousness through experimental learning central to the COPAR process because it places emphasis on learning that emerges from concrete action and which enriches succeeding action
COPAR Process
COPAR is participatory and mass-based because it is primarily directed towards and biased in favor of the poor, the powerless and the oppressed. COPAR is group centered and not leader oriented . Leaders are identified, emerged and are tested through action rather than appointed or selected by some external force or entity.
Integration Social Investigation Tentative Program Planning Ground working The Meeting
INTEGRATION
Living with the people to experience and understand their culture economy, leaders , history and lifestyle.
SOCIAL INVESTIGATION
Collecting, collating and analyzing data in a systematic process in order to draw a clear picture of the community.
GROUNDWORKING
Continuously going around and motivating the people on a one-on-one basis to do something on the issues that has been chosen.
MEETING
An opportunity for the people to collectively gain the power of confidence by discussing their problems and issues.
ROLE PLAY
Training the people through simulated activities to anticipate what will happen and prepare themselves for such eventuality.
MOBILIZATION or ACTION
Actual experiences of people in confronting the powerful and the actual exercise of people power.
EVALUATION
The people reviewing the previous steps to determine whether they were successful or not in their objectives.
REFLECTION
Discussion of the factors that facilitated or hindered the activity, done at the end of every activity.
ORGANIZATION
PRE-ENTRY PHASE
The initial phase of the organizing process where the community/organizer looks for communities to serve/help.
Activities:
Designing a plan for community development including all activities and strategies for care development Designing criteria for selection of site Actually selecting the site for community care
PLANNING
Planning is futuristic Planning is change oriented Planning is a continuous and dynamic process Planning is flexible Planning is a systematic process
Evaluation
Gather health data Tabulate, analyze and interpret data Identify health problems Set priority
Evaluation
How do we know we are there?
Program Evaluation
Deciding what to evaluate in terms of relevance, progress, effectivity, impact and efficiency. Designing the evaluation plan specifying the evaluation indicators, data needed, methods and tools for data collection and data sources Collection of relevant data Analyzing data Making decisions Preparing report and providing decisionmakers feedback
CRITERIA continued
Peace and order problems must be seriously considered Local leaders and community are receptive and supportive. COPAR is feasible for the elimination or reduction of diseases. Area must have relatively high prevalence of diseases.
The decision to enter a community and establish a helping/working relationship with the people should be based on the following:
Clarity and purpose of the relationship between the community organized and the people in the community through initial dialogues with formal and informal leaders. The identification of social/health problems and needs around which the organizing process can start. Communitys desire for the need to change and its willingness to work with the community health nurse to bring about desired changes
ENTRY PHASE
This phase signals the actual entry of the community health nurse into the community
Guidelines:
The CHN recognizes the role of local authorities by paying them visits to inform them of their presence and activities. The appearance, speech, behavior and lifestyle should be in keeping with those of the community residents without disregard of being role models. Avoids raising the consciousness of the community residents by adopting a lowkey profile
Objectives:
To gather geographic, economic, sociocultural situation of the community in order to identify and understand the problems and issues that need immediate and long term solutions. To identify the class sectors present in the community in order to determine their interest and attitudes towards the problems and issues in the community
Objectives continued
To determine the correct approach and method of organizing. To provide a basis for programming and planning or organizing activities.
Serve as a training ground for democratic and collective leadership Builds peoples potentials and self-confidence Helps the CHN gather data for genuine community studies, spotting other potential leaders and prospective members for a community-wide organization. Helps laying out plans and task for the formation and maintenance of a community-wide organization with working committees, and offers to ensure democratic collective leadership
Organizational Structures
Leadership board or council Coalition Lead or official agency Grass-roots Citizen Panels Networks and Consortia
Guidelines in Strategizing
Principal issue or problem Solution of problem Strengths and weaknesses Other secondary issues Larger outside issues
Conflict Situations
Issue Spotting and Analysis Target Analysis Planning Role Playing
General description
y y y y
Total number of families Number of families being serviced Number of organizations/groups being serviced Membership/Organization
Listing of activities
y Peoples issues being handles, collected, on-
Area description
y y y y
General information (population, sectors etc) Economic conditions Political situation Cultural milieu, educational level, values and attitudes Origin of issues Reason/s for the choice of the issue Gains achieved in realizing the issue Perspective of the issues if it is still unresolved
Issues
y y y y
Organizations/groups
y Knowledge gained y Involvement/Outlook of the people
democratic leadership
The community organization has been established and community members are actively participating in communitywide undertakings.
Strategies:
Education and training Networking and Linkaging Conduct of Mobilization on health and development concerns Implementation of livelihood projects Developing secondary leaders
Organizations should agree on the kind or level or relationship that will help best accomplish the group goals considering needs and available resources. Formulate ground rules that will become the basis for decision making.
y Listen to what each has to say y Take time to listen to people who voice different