NATIONAL SERVICE TRAINING PROGRAM II

MODULE LECTURE

MIDTERM PERIOD

MODULE 3: COMMUNITY IMMERSION

TO THE NSTP STUDENTS

In this module, you will deal with the importance of community immersion in the holistic development
of students. It also presents the aspects of community development that are integrated in students'
immersion in communities.

Let’s read this

I. COMMUNITY IMMERSION

One of the strategies of community organizing is community immersion. It

involves extensive exposure of the students to various community activities so that they may
become responsible members of the society where they belong. Students are also trained to
become socially, morally, and civic conscious individuals in the areas of sports, literacy,
health, livelihood, environmental services, values, and other social welfare services.

Community immersion, as a voluntary and participatory approach to developing a

wholesome and ideal society, is reflected in the following student learning activities:

1. Determining the economic, psychosocial, and political status of the people as

students immerse in actual community life.
2. Identifying the community needs, interests, and other concerns.
3. Gaining personal development through acquiring additional knowledge on a real-life
situation and giving importance to good values and life skills
4. Recognizing people's dignity by letting students participate in community programs
and help in determining appropriate course action for community problems.
5. Realizing that student participation yields contribution to the welfare of the
community, and that community participation, in tum gives meaning to the holistic
development of students

What are the elements of Community Immersion?

The important element of Community is:

1. Demographics
- Characteristics of population
- Tells about the movement of population in the community that you will serve
2. History
- Allows you to identify certain patterns of change and people’s way of adopting
these changes that can be useful in plotting your activities
- Events of the party that contributed to the development of the community.
3. Understanding the economy, culture, and community structures
- An economy consists of the economic systems of a country or other area; the
labor, capital, and land resources; and the manufacturing production, trade, distribution and
consumption of goods and services in that area;
- Income level of the people.
- Culture (Latin: cultura, lit. "cultivation") ways of living of the people.
- Structures physical, political and social structures

II. SERVICE-LEARNING FROM COMMUNITY IMMERSION

Labuguen et al. (2009) describe how the community immersion aspect of

NSTP2 benefits not only the communities served but also the students who are accorded the
following advantages:

1. Have the opportunity for the students to appreciate other people's lives through
living, identifying, and associating with the people.
2. Gain social acceptance derived from community relations coupled with the
appropriate community services and activities
3. Enhance experiences in conducting resource and community inventory mapping
such as identifying geographic coverage pointing out resources and their uses, and
determining relationships of people with the existing resources.
4. Establish rapport and relationships with different people who may be of help to them
at some future time.
5. Develop a conscience that makes them realize their ability to help solve problems in
the community and how indifference of people affects communities.
6. Acquire first-hand experiences in dealing with community intervention and services.
7. Have the chance to learn life skills that will enrich and better them as persons.

III. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT WORK

One might think that the community is something external to life, something
extra like that of having a car, owning a home, having a stable job, working with supportive
coworkers, or having thoughtful neighbors. Community in every connection one has with
the world around that sustains the way of life. A community does not include only those
people who live next door or who work in the name office, but also those people who
constructed the roads, who work at markets, factories, and malls, and even those who plant
wheat, grow crops and raise livestock. The people upon whom we rely on for our living are
often invisible or sometimes living thousands of miles away. These people constitute the
work of the community.

Community development work is the process by which efforts of the people at

the grassroots level are united with those of the government to improve the socioeconomic
and cultural conditions of the community. Community development works can be referred to
as efforts to improve the economic or structural conditions of a community. Such efforts may
focus on business or job creation and physical or infrastructure development. It must be
emphasized that community development work in general is a social learning process that
curves to empower individuals and involve them in collective activities aimed at socio-
economic development.
 Moreover, community development works are actions that seek to build social
capital, promote interaction, and empower community residents to alleviate their living
conditions. The building of social capital is important in solving community problems, as the
people who live, work, and interact in a particular community enable their own community
to function effectively.

Community development works operate on two models. The first model

refers to efforts that develop from within the community and are led by community
members. The second model refers to efforts that are instigated and run by professionals
from outside the community.

IV. APPROACHES IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT WORK

Community works are often confused with community-based work. The

similarity is that they fall under the discipline of community development approaches. To
differentiate, community work requires the efforts of the people to a greater or larger degree
whereas community-based work involves the community but on a smaller scale from what is
essential in community work.
For instance, a group of young students selling homemade cookies to
families in the neighborhood and using the profit to fund extra books to donate to the school
library is likely to be typed as community-based work. A whole community of parents aimed
to provide donations to local orphanages and thus held a local garage sale to earn extra funds
is considered community work. Community development approaches are defined by the
following:

1. Sustainability (long or short-term)

2. Area of concentration (local, national, global, and overseas)
3. Field or specialization (eg, education advancement or religion affairs)
4. Objectives, vision, and mission (eg. social security or rural domination with the use
of kindness).

The categories listed are not guaranteed absolute, for community development
works itself are still broad. So are the lists that will be specified below as the different
approaches to community development work, nonetheless, these are the random, more
specific lists of approaches:

1. The technical assistance approach is involved in the efficient delivery of

improving programs or services that allow communities to access outside experts in
areas that may be highly technical or that may demand credentials for further
funding or implementation.
2. Self-help approach encourages people within the community to work together,
empowering communal independence. Individuals who are vulnerable, voiceless,
and powerless can develop enormous strength in self-help groups. This approach
may be demonstrated through activities that involve a visioning and goal-setting
process
3. Con approach deals with confronting the forces that are blocking efforts to solve
problems by building human capacity to address local issues and concerns and
altering the structure of the community in terms of engagement. The practices under
this approach value confrontation sense that conflicts provide an impetus for
improvement and encourage critical thinking and individual thought
4. The structural or brick-and-mortar approach is more concerned with the
foundation of the community members in terms of the constitution. It involves the
process of constructing infrastructures that meet human needs or expectations. It can
also be an understanding of the multiple and intersecting forms of oppression that
 occur at personal, cultural structural levels, with each level influencing oppression
on the others
5. The social justice and human rights approach focuses on the behavioral, cultural,
ethical and social affairs as a leading target for common development in or outside
the community. The concept of social justice involves finding the optimum balance
between people's responsibilities as a society and people's responsibilities as an
individual to contribute to a just society. Human rights provide an internationally
agreed set of principles and standards by which to assess inequality. The two
concepts are correlated in the sense that human rights clearly define and authorize
what is globally and legally accepted from the various contexts on social justice.
6. Ecological or environmental approach targets crises as a major focal point for
developmental, radical alternatives to address the natural makeup of the earth. The
approach focuses on ecological or environmental protection and advancement.
7. Multi-method approach combines methods that will most likely ensure the
progress and success of communal work goals that are inherently unheard of. A
multi-method approach crams more than one kind of approach into a one-of-a-kind,
hybrid-like approach, which has been unconsciously practiced today by many
organizations.

Approaches in community work are vast and still growing. How the
communities interpret the meaning of these approaches is up to them. What is more
important is how they express those interpretations into values that will lead no outcomes to
better the community and society.

V. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

Community development project is the term applied to any community-

based project that covers a wide variety of different areas within a community. A group of
networking entities. Projects can cover almost anything, including The most obvious section
of concern to any community, the welfare element Welfare community projects cover locally
run and locally funded orphanages or even a Christmas dinner kitchen for the homeless
Charitable projects in the community may include but are not limited to, ecological charities
concerned with either the maintenance of green spaces, for example, or in some cases, the
prevention of the reduction or removal of green spaces. Old clothes collection service can
also be a community-based charity project. One important subdivision of community
projects, which at times overlooked, is that of an economic nature. Economic community
projects are designed to create some sort of economic autonomy.
All community projects are different in some way, the size and scope of
these projects are determined firstly by the community they cater to the historic
documentation of community problems and the project designed to address the problems
should be supplemented by community assessment that determines current conditions and
concerns. The assessments of current conditions may include focus groups, nominal group
processes, and survey research.

VI. COMMUNITY BUILDING

Community building is directed towards the creation of a community

composed of individuals within an area or with a common interest. The building of social
networks within a community fosters collaborative work and hone problem-solving skills. A
wide variety of practices can be utilized for community building, ranging from simple events
like potlucks and food bazaar to larger-scale efforts such as barangay or city festivals and
construction projects that involve local participants rather than outside contractors.

VII. COMMUNITY BUILDING PRACTICES

 1. Community gardening helps improve the neighborhood, build a sense of community,
and connect to the environment by planting and harvesting fresh produce and plants.
2. Community technology centers may help bridge the digital divide among generations.
They may also help foster connections to the environment through the re-use of
technology and proper electronic waste stewardship
3. Sharing of skills or knowledge in music, dance, craftsmanship, mechanics, and the
likes provides excellent opportunities for community building. Service-oriented
activities invite people to strengthen relationships and build camaraderie as they help
one another. This lays a foundation for future successes in the community's endeavors
due to the overall well-being and unity produced
4. Social activism involves the banding of communities taking action to produce social
change
5. Community organizing refers to the gathering of people to solve a problem. Unlike
activism, it does not involve a strategy for building power for making specific social
changes. Community immersion is one of the strategies under community organizing.

CONCLUSION

Students are advised to inform the faculty in-charge of the status of the
community project, as well as of other pertinent details when necessary proponents and
implementers have decided to continue the activity even when the semester has ended,
they can see the assistance and support of the school extension services unit to sustain
the project. Nonetheless, students must know how to work within the given time frame
for their convenience and the community.

References

City College of Angeles Students Handbook

Holy Angel University NSTP Program Manual
Lee, Sergio J. National Service Training Program (CWTS 1) (LTS 1). Adamson University. C&E
Publishing 2007
Villasoto, Erminigo et.al. 2019. NSTP-CWTS 2 Service Learning and Immersion Towards Community
Building. C&E Publishing Inc. Quezon City
http://www.gov.ph/1998/02/12/republic-act-no-8491/
https://youtu.be/SvnH3AC5308
https://youtu.be/6ACJX5g1ZbY