MODULE 2
THE PROCESS OF COMMUNITY
IMMERSION
MODULE 2
The Process of Community Immersion
Module Description:
This module illustrates the process of immersion as a guide for rendering service to the
communities that will help students design a community immersion plan of implementation.
Intended Learning Outcomes:
At the end of the lesson, the learners should be able to:
Verbalize the process of immersion as a guide for rendering service to the communities:
Design a community immersion plan of implementation following the process; and
Internalize the importance of carrying out the steps of community immersion in series.
Key Terms
Social Analysis Community Needs Assessment
Community Diagnosis Project Development
Community Survey and
Profiling
The Process of Community Immersion
It is a series of interrelated and intertwined phases which commences with the Pre-
immersion followed by entering the community, Community integration, Community Needs
Assessment, Program or Project implementation, and Termination of the Project.
Phase I: Pre-Immersion
This phase regards the identification of the community where the students will be immersed
at. Trainees, school, and community should be prepared and informed. With this, trainees must
set-up criteria in selection of are for immersion.
Area Selection
Factors to be considered in area selection
1. Select our areas. The marginalized sectors are your target clients because they are the
ones needing your assistance more than any other groups in the society.
2. Local partners must be willing to work and support community project. This goes to say
that we should start with the people and work with the people.
3. Consider needs and resources within the capability of the students and community
partners. You cannot extend what you do not have in the first place.
4. Places that is not saturated by other agencies. Supporting agencies are probable
resources waiting to be tapped that can provide additional financial assistance when it
comes to projects that are also within their type of service.
5. Stable peace and order situation. You have to put into consideration your own safety
when you conduct your immersion.
6. Accessibility. Successful community immersion also relies on how quickly and how
often you can visit the community.
Phase II: Entering the Community
To ensure success in entering the community, it is necessary to have community mapping
of the target area. This will help you identify the geographic coverage of the project. It will also
help point out the resources that maybe used by the trainees in the community and relationship of
people with these resources.
Figure 2. Sample of Community Map.
Angelito G. Manalili in his book Community Organizing People’s Empowerment (1990),
remarked that there are different ways of entering the community. Similarly, immersion begins
with initial steps in community organizing. Anchored on Manalili’s concepts, those planning to
conduct community immersion can enter thru:
- Ostentatious Entry. Complete with banner and general assembly of the people. People
naturally expect more from the outsiders because the latter’s identity is boosted.
- Banking on the People’s Weakness. Outsiders sometimes enter the community through
catching people’s attention. At times when community people are in distress, they usually
adhere to outsiders, like during economic crisis, emergency and disaster situations.
- Academic Style of Entry. Communities are often called social laboratories because they
are a place to test theories learned in classrooms. A trialogue among school, the students
and the community is done to identify the terms in which the community service will be
fulfilled.
- People-Centered Approach. This approach ultimately believes on the capacity of the
community people to participate and acknowledge whether outsider assistance is really
needed. Users of this type of entering the community invest on community relations,
believing both parties are partners to community development.
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Phase III: Community Integration
Integration is a continuous process wherein the trainees come into direct contact
and become involved with the community people. This phase is where the immersion phase
gets more personal. The trainees should realize that there is an existing concern within the
community. As the problems of the community become more apparent, you become aware
and validate that you are part of the circle.
Integration may be done through,
a. Border Style. If provisions allow, the trainees may choose to stay and live-in the
immersion area for a certain period of time.
b. Elitist Style. Some trainees tend to stay close to key informants and political players
during their stay in the community. Due to this, their social circle becomes limited and
their interaction is confined to few people. Immersion activities must always take into
account the involvement of the majority.
c. But the best way is the People-Centered Method of living with the People.
Phase IV: Community Needs Assessment
Community Needs Assessment is the process wherein problems, issues and
concerns of the community are identified through the use of several tools for assessment. It
encourages the participation of the community, as they are the stakeholders, to the findings in the
assessment.
Importance of Needs Assessment
1. Gather information about citizens’ attitudes and options in order of importance.
2. Determine how citizens rank issues, problems and opportunities in order of importance
or urgency.
3. Give citizens a voice in determining policies, goals and priorities.
4. Evaluate current programs and policies.
5. Provide speculations about what people are thinking.
6. Provide speculations about what people really want.
Information to be included in Assessing Community Needs
1. Historical Development- refers to data on how the community became what it is today
and provides insights into the kind of resources to collect.
2. Geographical and Transformation Information- includes information on the
community’s patterns and population contributions.
3. Political and Legal Functions- includes strategies for community-based selection (or
this may include strategies that community uses for selecting players in the political
sphere.)
4. Demographic Data- includes data on characteristic, size, race, and transience of
population.
5. Economic Data- refers to the economic base, social, cultural, educational, recreational
organizations. This includes the values and social pattern.
Methods in Collecting Data for Community Needs Assessment
1. Focused Group Discussion (FGD) with Key informants. The key informants of the
community are people who hold socially responsible positions such as educators, public
officials, clergy and business representatives or those who are active in community events.
2. Community Forum/Assembly. This involves holding of group events that may include the
entire community. This meeting can be a venue where people can express their needs and
ne immediately validated by the rest of attendees.
3. Public Records. Public records like national census will provide data for social and
demographic indicators of the community.
4. Survey. It involves asking individuals in the community about their everyday needs. This
can be implemented through the following:
a. Mailing questionnaires to randomly selected members of the community;
b. Performing telephone survey;
c. Handing out surveys while people are in an assemble; and
d. Posting questionnaires on your public access computer catalog.
Steps in Conducting Needs Assessment
1. Establish a working committee to solicit citizen and community involvement and develop a
plan of action.
2. List important aspects that are needed to be looked upon. This may also mean identifying
the surveyors’ own capability and strength.
3. Identify the population to be surveyed. This also includes making communications with
community leaders and authorities of the identified population to facilitate other
procedures.
4. Determine the information that is needed. It may be existing information which must be
collected or it may be information gathered using a survey.
5. Select a random sample of person to survey.
6. Develop and pretest a questionnaire.
7. Collect and collate the information.
8. Analyze data. Community participation in analyzing gathered data is also important so that
they can feel the ownership of the issues and concerns in their community.
9. Go back to the community for validation of information.
10. Finalize the document. Make sure that there are corresponding recommendations for the
issues and concerns found.
Phase V: Program/Project Implementation
Project Implementation deals with the actual execution plans. This phase of
project development includes, making the final arrangement with the target clients/community
partners, officials involved in the activities, right schedule of each event, day to day activities, and
needs of the clients, man power each day of the program, monitoring and evaluation plan, and other
requirements like social and recreational activities, and the culminating activities of the project.
To ensure the success of the NSTP community service projects performed by
the trainees during their immersion time, the following must be considered:
program must be responsive to the needs of the clients;
contribute to the upliftment of the living conditions of the clients;
maximize the resource available in the community;
tap the potentials of the clients and give due recognition;
objectives must be SMART with tangible results that touch the lives of the clients;
project must be done systematically to ensure significant contributions from pre-planning,
planning stage, implementation, and evaluation;
complete documentation must be observed as basis for reporting and for future studies;
projects must be within the capacity and concern of the trainees that will allow them to gain
the knowledge, skills and encourage reflective action; and
develop shared commitment among trainees.
Phase VI: Termination of Projects
NSTP trainees are expected to complete their projects in the community in the
span of 50-90 hours as prescribed to the CHED-endorsed Program of the Instruction for it to be
credited in the training course, however, if trainees are short of hours in community immersion or
did not perform well, they are bound to receive an unsatisfactory rating; more so, failure of
compliance must be noted.
As trainees, one must learn how to work within allotted time frame given but if
one stays beyond the agreed time, the action can be construed by the community for something else
like, extending more help (intensified volunteerism). This might also encourage their dependency
on their implementers. However, it is not really a problem if trainees want to extend their
community services in the community. In fact, NSTP encourages trainees to continue their
community work. This time, their services will already be regarded as their personal commitment
to doing voluntary work, separate and distinct from NSTP-initiated activities.
