Community engagement idea presentation

1. Community
Engagement
Solidarity and
Citizenship

2. At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
1. understand how empowerment and advocacy can be critical in community
development;
2. develop commitment and conviction to participatory development for
community well-being.
EMPOWERMENT AND ADVOCACY OF COMMUNITY
ACTION INITIATIVES

3. WHAT IS IT
What do we mean by Empowerment and Advocacy?
Empowerment
Empowerment has been defined as an intentional ongoing process centered
in the local community, involving mutual respect, critical reflection, caring,
and group participation, through which people lacking an equal share of
valued resources gain greater access to and control over those resources;
or a process by which people gain control over their lives, democratic
participation in the life of their community, and a critical understanding of
their environment (Perkins, D.D. 2010).
Empowerment aims to use specific strategies to reduce, eliminate, combat
and reverse negative valuations by powerful groups in society affecting
certain individuals and social groups.
Empowerment and advocacy are both concerned with a shift of power or
emphasis towards meeting the needs and rights of people who otherwise
would be marginalized or oppressed.

4. Elements of Empowerment
Community empowerment as a five-point continuum is comprised of the
following elements: 1. Personal action; 2. The development of small
interest groups; 3. Community organizations; 4. Partnerships; and 5.
Social and political action
Empowering Individuals for Personal Action.
The process of community empowerment can begin when persons
experience a high degree of ‘relative powerlessness’ that triggers an
emotional response and a personal action. By participating in small interest
groups individual community members are better able to define, analyze and
act on issues of concern.
The Development of Small Interest Groups. The development of small
groups by concerned individuals is the start of collective action. This
provides an opportunity for the health promoter to assist individuals to gain
skills and is a means of developing stronger social support systems and
opportunity networks, interpersonal connectedness and social cohesion.

5. The Development of Community Organizations it focus outwards to the
broader environment that creates those needs in the first place, or offers
the means (resources, opportunities) to resolving them. Community
organization structures include faith and youth groups, community
councils, cooperatives and associations. These are the organizational
elements in which people come together in order to socialize and to also
address their concerns.
The Development of Partnerships can strengthen social networks, better
compete for limited resources and increase participation in the concerns of
other member organizations. The purpose of partnerships is to allow
community organizations to grow beyond their own local concerns and to
take a stronger position on broader issues through networking and
advocacy.

6. The Development of Social and Political Action Individuals are able to
influence the direction and implementation of a programme through their
inputs and active participation, this continuum help build capacity, provide
resources and help others to empower themselves.
Advocacy
Breitrose, P. (n.d.) defines advocacy in this manner: Advocacy is active
promotion of a cause or principle; involves actions that lead to a selected goal;
one of many possible strategies, or ways to approach a problem; can be used
as part of a community initiative, nested in with other components; is not a
direct service and does not necessarily involve confrontation or conflict.
Advocacy in all its forms seek to ensure that people, particularly those who are
most vulnerable in society, are able to: Have their voice heard on issues
that are important to them. Defend and safeguard their rights. Have their
views and wishes genuinely considered when decisions are being made
about their lives. In the study of Rai-Atkins et al. (2002), the different forms
of advocacy are presented and specified below:

7. Self-advocacy seeks to empower service users to speak up for themselves
by expressing their own needs and representing their own interests. This
process can enable the service users to regain some control and power over
their experience.
Peer advocacy is a process whereby one person advocates for another who
has experienced, or is experiencing, similar difficulties or discrimination.
Survivors of the mental health system may be more acceptable advocates for
mental health users by being able to show empathy and understanding.
Citizen advocacy is usually a one-to-one and long-term partnership between
a trained unpaid ‘citizen advocate’ and a service user.
Professional or paid advocacy involves a trained paid worker responding to
an identified problem, event or change in someone's life. The advocate's
support is time-limited.

8. WHAT’S MORE
ACTIVITY 1 – Organizing Empowerment and Advocacy Program
Directions: Think of possible programs and activities best suited in your
community either for youth, women or general public. Affix the desired
activities base on the format and present it next meeting.
Format:
Objective Activities Time Frame Human
Resources
Financial
Resources
Expected
Outcome

9. Assessment:
Instructions: Read the specified word or statement below and identify
whether it is a form of advocacy or empowerment. Base your answer on the
choices provided. Write the letter of the answer in your notebook.
A. Form of Advocacy
B. Ingredients of effective advocacy
C. Elements of Empowerment
D. Purpose of Empowerment
1. The rightness of the cause.
2. Empowering of individual of Personal action
3. The power of the advocates.
4. The development of small interest groups
5. The thoroughness with which the advocates researched the issues, the
opposition, and the climate of opinion about the issue in the community.

10. 6. The skill in using the advocacy tools available
7. He development of Community organizations
8. The selection of effective strategies and tactics
9. The development of Partnerships
10. Engaging of Social and political action