COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

TYPOLOGIES & APPROACHES

APPROACHES ON COMMUNITY
ORGANIZING
1. BARANGANIC APPROACH
- An enabling method wherein the existing barangay structure as a
facility is developed to identify its community needs, problems and
aspiration
- To formulate their own plans based on the people’s expressed
needs, problems and aspirations as analyzed and prioritized by them
and designed to be comprehensive and integrative of all efforts in
the community making maximum use of internal resources
- To implement, monitor an evaluate these plans within a given time
frame
BARANGAY DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
 The local barangay councils were convinced to involve
representatives from the private sector, NGOs, and other
government agencies operating in the barangay as member
of a Barangay Development Council
 To assist them into the formulation of a Barangay
Comprehensive and Integrated Development Plan
and in its implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
Baranganic Approach
 Another hallmark of this approach is the training of
the members of the Barangay Development Council
in the barangay development planning which uses
the experiential learning approach rather than the
lecture-type seminars.
 Through group dynamics, game exercises and
workshop.
Goal of the Baranganic Approach
 to develop the people’s capacity in the barangays for
planning, problem solving and decision-making by
assisting the Barangay Development Councils in
identifying their own problems, needs and aspirations.
 to formulate plan to solve these problems and to meet
their needs and aspirations and to implement and
evaluate their plans designed for their common benefit
and welfare.
Objective of the Baranganic Approach
1. Assist the barangay in data-gathering which would serve as
baseline data in formulating a comprehensive and integrated
barangay development plan design to seek the solutions to
the people’s expressed problems/needs and aspirations.
2. Assist the Barangay Development Council analyze their
gathered data and develop their capacity to use data in
formulating a realistic, comprehensive and integrated
barangay development plan.
3. Encourage the Barangay Development Council
implement its plan for barangay development so that it will
become a viable structure in bringing about desirable
change in the community.

4. Strengthen indigenous leadership through training and

prepare them for the crucial role in leading their people
transform their barangay into a self-propelling and self-
reliant community characterized by the people participating
actively in the whole process of barangay development.
The Baranganic Approach Process
1. Getting baseline data and preparing a community profile
through survey and research work.
2. Compilation of these data and classification in table form for
easy comprehension.
3. Presentation of the data to the Barangay Development Council
for analysis.
4. Use of analyzed data in prioritizing problems and need and in
formulating a comprehensive and integrated development plan
for the barangay.
5. Presentation of the barangay plan to the Barangay
Assembly for adoption, approval and amendments.
6. Implementation of the final approval by the different
committees through people’s participation.
7. Evaluation of the plan through regular council meetings
and spot site visitation of projects and services.
8. Re-plan every six months or once a year to include
unaccomplished plans.
2. The Basic Christian Community
Approach
 Historical Background
-The Second Vatican Council’s particular emphasis on participation an
co-responsibility triggered the evolution of BCCs.
-It was the positive experience of Latin American churches and the
Conference of the Latin American Bishops in Medellin, Columbia in
1968 which inspired the development of BCCs in the Third World.
-The BCC was spearheaded for application in the Philippines by the
Maryknoll missionaries who first initiated in the Prelature of Tagum
covering the Province of Davao del Norte and Davao Oriental in the
late 60’s.
 Local Catholic Churches in Mindanao-Sulu who
endorsed the adoption of the BCC.\
In 1971, First Pastoral Conference in Mindanao-Sulu
had for its theme, “Building Basic Christian
Communities. “
Soon after, the different Prelatures in Mindanao-
Sulu, the Visayas and Luzon adopted the BCC
concept.
The Puebla Document gives a
descriptive definition of BCC as
follows:
As a community: The BCC brings together
families, adult and young people in an intimate,
interpersonal relationship grounded on the faith.
As a ecclesial reality: It is the community of faith,
hope and charity. It celebrates the world of GOD
and take its nourishments from the Eucharist, the
culmination of the sacraments.
Bishop Federico describes BCC in his
manner:
“BCC is a complete reorganization of the
traditional concept of the parish… It is a whole
radical upheaval of the traditional method of the
organization of the parish in order to give particular
attention to the needs of people in their small
communities.”
Theologian Alberto Cayanan defined
BCC in his and Agnes Nelmida
“… As a fresh manner of living together as a
community of faith where people experience dignity,
respect, equality, participation, communion,
fellowship, mutual understanding and caring. It is the
locus where the Christians evangelize and nourish
one another.
Saul Alinsky’s Conflict-Confrontation
Model
 Saul Alinsky – was the one who systematized and popularized
the conflict-confrontation model. It was based on his
experiences in organizing black ghettos in Chicago.
 He wrote his experience in several booklets such as “Roles for
Radicals”, “Revenille for Radicals” and Get ‘Em Moving”.
 His approaches were popularized in the Philippines via the
training conducted within the church based NGO’s by one of
his collegues, Rev. Herbert Whitel. The training took place in
the mid 70’s.
His ideas quickly took root and flourished in those
social action agencies, the foremost of which was the
Philippine Ecumenical Council for Community
Organizing (PECCO), which organized the Zone One
Tondo Organization.
This approach became a leading and effective strategy
during that period of severe political repression
because it allowed the tackling of issues at the
grassroots level while avoiding much of the
“ideological branding” that often led to detention by
the military.
Nature of Conflict
 Conflict occurs when there is a situation in which two or
more persons desire goals that they perceive as being
attainable by one of the other, but not by both.
 That is, when one person’s self- interest is different, in
contact with and in opposition to another’s. Unless the
actions of one party will have an effect on the other, conflict
will not occur.
 Recognition of this interdependence is pre-requisite to
managing or resolving conflict .
Some Assumptions About Conflict
1. We face conflict all the time.
2. Conflict implies contact. If there is relationship, there will
be conflict.
3. Conflict exists: it is neither good or bad. How we deal
with it determines end results.
4. Where groups suppress conflict, there will be an
accumulation of feeling, leading toward the possibility of
an eruption in a disastrously polarizing row.
5. Conflict faced and managed creates real potential for
growth and change.
Some Positive Functions of Conflict
1. Empowerment
2. Establishing Identity
3. Unifying the in-group
4. Helps persons to bear the Intolerable
5. Facing and resolving conflict between two people
or among a group strengthens and deepens the
relationship.
6. Can lead to real transformation: of situation, values
of relationship.
Basic Features of Saul Alinsky’s Conflict-
Confrontation Model
 The use of conflict or controversy to agitate action for change.
 The recognition and use of self-interest to fan discontentment toward
involving people in personal and community issues.
 Mass mobilization involving the most number of people possible.
 Negotiation with conflict-confrontation.
 Issue to issue approach, relating the macro issue.
 Developing organizational structures for people’s power.
 Pressure tactics and pressure packed training
Paolo Freire’s Conscientization Model
 Conscientization comes from the Portuguese word
“Conscietizacao” which means the process of developing the
people’s critical awareness of their situation in relation to bigger
social realities and their own capacity to transform realities.
Principles of Paolo Freire’s Model
1. The education is neutral or un-political.
2. Issues must have importance to the people.
3. Problem posing approach.
4. Dialogue
5. Reflection and action
6. Radical transformation of life in the local communities and the
whole society.
 Eclectic Approach
(The Alinsky-Freire Fusion)
 Comparisons, evaluation and criticisms of both Alinsky and Freire’s
approaches led to an eclectic practice of these approaches in the
Philippines. Their ideas were expressed in this country not as separate
organizing experiences but rather as a fusion of two into an internally
coherent approach to social change.
 After experimentation, many organizers began recognizing some of
the inherent limitation of Alinsky’s approach, particularly that it did
not offer a long term program for training the people and because it
was grounded politically on the class struggle unfolding around them.
 In the light of these limitations, Freire’s theory of conscientization
was grafted into the Alinsky strategy serving as the educational
component which gave a sharper ideological focus/dimensions to
their work with the oppressed.
A third dimension of the eclectic community
organizing approach especially with those who were
working with basic Christian communities was the
Theology of Liberation mainly through the writings
of Gustavo Gutierrez.

Other influences on community organizing practice

in the Philippines would be strains of Marxist –
Maoist thoughts and tools of analysis and such
emphasis on class-based organizing.
 Those model and influences have gone through the process
of adaptation and indigenization especially in terms of tactics
and strategies, thus making community organizing more
eclectic. Today, different groups and agencies – development
NGO’s, church the academe of schools, business and
government agencies have their own versions of community
organizing practice. Whichever type or combination of
community organizing ,models is preferred and practiced
would depend on the agency/s and or the community
organizer’s orientation.
Their analysis of societal problems, their vision
of an alternative society and the corresponding
methods and strategies to achieve the latter.

Meanwhile, the debate continues as to the

most relevant and effective model and
strategies to achieve genuine national
transformation.
The four basic types of community
organizing are:

i. Grassroots or “door knocking” organizing

ii. Faith based community organizing
iii. Broad based organizing
iv. Power versus protest