4th Quarter Lesson 1
The Philippine Constitution mandates in its preamble the building “of a just
and humane society and establishing a government that shall embody our
ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our
patrimony and secure to ourselves and our country the blessings of
independence and democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth,
justice, freedom, love, equality, and peace.
Human Rights
What are Human Rights?
● Human rights are legal rights, safely enshrined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, various human rights covenants,
conventions, treaties, and declarations, regional charters, national
constitutions, and laws.
● Human Rights are rights which are inherent to protect the dignity of a
human being. They provide the values, principles, and standards that
are essential to safeguard our dignity and natures as human beings-
hence, the right to be human.
What are the fundamental Principles of Human Rights?
• Universal. Everyone should enjoy human rights without discrimination.
• Inalienable. Human rights are inalienable. They should not be taken
away, except in specific situations according to due process. For example the
right to liberty may be restricted if a person is found guilty of a crime by a
court of law.
• Interdependent and indivisible. All human rights are indivisible,
whether they are civil and political rights. Such as the right to life, quality
before the law and freedom of expression; economic, social, and cultural
rights, such as the rights to work, social security and education, or collective
rights, such as the rights to development and self-determination, are
indivisible, interrelated and interdependent. The improvement of one right
facilitates advancement of the others. Likewise, the deprivation of one right
adversely affects the others. Certain rights cannot be sacrificed in favor of
other rights because taken together, these rights make human beings whole.
• Inviolable. Human rights are irreducible elements of one’s humanity
cannot be abrogated or violated. Unless determined by law and solely for the
purpose of securing the recognition and respect for the rights of others and
of meeting the just requirements of the general welfare, morality, and public
order in a democratic society.
• Human rights entail both rights and obligations. States assume
obligations and duties under international law to respect, to protect, and to
fulfill human rights. The obligation to respect means that States must refrain
from interfering with or curtailing the enjoyment of human rights. The
obligation to protect requires States to protect individuals and groups
against human rights abuses. The obligation to fulfill means that the State
must take positive action to facilitate the enjoyment of basic human rights.
At the individual level, while we are entitled to our human rights, we should
also respect the human rights of others.
Human Rights according to UDHR
Article 1: Right to Equality
Article 2: Freedom from Discrimination
Article 3: Right to Life, Liberty, and Personal Security
Article 4: Freedom from Slavery
Article 5: Freedom from Torture and Degrading Treatment
Article 6: Right to Recognition as a Person Before the Law
Article 7: Right to Equality Before the Law
Article 8: Right to Remedy Competent Tribunal
Article 9: Freedom from Arbitrary Arrest and Exile
Article 10: Right to Fair Public Hearing
Article 11: Right to be Considered Innocent Until Proven Guilty
Article 12: Freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, and
Correspondence
Article 13: Right to Free Movement in and out of the Country
Article 14: Right to Asylum in other Countries from Persecution
Article 15: Right to a Nationality and the Freedom to Change it
Article 16: Right to Marriage and Family
Article 17: Right to Own Property
Article 18: Freedom of Belief and Religion
Article 19: Freedom of Opinion and Information
Article 20: Right to Peaceful Assembly and Association
Article 21: Right to Participate in Government and in Free Elections
Article 22: Right to Social Security
Article 23: Right to Desirable Work and to Join Trade Unions
Article 24: Right to Rest and Leisure
Article 25: Right to Adequate Living Standard
Article 26: Right to Education
Article 27: Right to Participate in the Cultural Life of Community
Article 28: Right to a Social Order that Articulates this Document
Article 29: Right to Community Duties Essential to Free and Full
Development
Article 30: Freedom from State or Personal Interference in the above Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a milestone document in
the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal
and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the declaration was
proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on December
10, 1948 as a common standard of achievements for all people and all
nations.
Classification of Human Rights
1. Natural Rights
Natural rights are fundamental rights believed to be inherent to all
individuals, often associated with the idea of human dignity and moral
principles.
Example Situation:
- Freedom of Speech: Individuals expressing their opinions in public forums
or protests, asserting that they have a right to voice their thoughts and
beliefs simply by virtue of being human. This right is often cited in
discussions about social justice movements.
2. Civil Rights
refer to the fundamental rights and freedoms granted to individuals by a
government and are protected by law.
-privacy, religion, property, expression, contract, and movement
3. Political Rights
Political rights refer to an individual's ability to participate in the civil and political life of
the society and state without fear of discrimination or repression, and is tied closely to
citizenship status. Such rights include not only the right to vote in an election, but also
the rights to join a political party; run for office; and participate freely in political rallies,
events, or protests.
Social Equity/ Social Justice
Equity is fairness vis-à-vis equality. Social equity is concerned with justice
and fairness of social policy. Since the 1960s, the concept of social equity
has been used in a variety of institutional contexts, including education and
public administration. The concept of social equity can be traced back to the
works of Aristotle and Plato. Equity in old societies involves the role of public
administrators, who are responsible for ensuring that social services are
delivered equitably. This implies taking into account historical and current
inequalities among groups. Fairness is dependent on this social and historical
context.
Article XIII Social Justice and Human Rights
Section 1. The Congress shall give highest priority to the enactment of measures that
protect and enhance the right of all the people to human dignity, reduce social,
economic, and political inequalities, and remove cultural inequities by equitably
diffusing wealth and political power for the common good.
To this end, the State shall regulate the acquisition, ownership, use, and disposition of
property and its increments.
Section 2. The promotion of social justice shall include the commitment to create
economic opportunities based on freedom of initiative and self-reliance.
Social justice is "neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism, nor
anarchy," but the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and
economic forces by the State so that justice in its rational and objectively
secular conception may at least be approximated. Social justice means the
promotion of the welfare of all the people, the adoption by the
Government of measures calculated to insure economic stability of all the
competent elements of society, through the maintenance of a proper
economic and social equilibrium in the interrelations of the members of the
community, constitutionally, through the adoption of measures legally
justifiable, or extra-constitutionally, through the exercise of powers
underlying the existence of all governments on the time-honored principle of
salus populi est suprema lex. Social justice, therefore, must be founded on
the recognition of the necessity of interdependence among divers and
diverse units of a society and of the protection that should be equally and
evenly extended to all groups as a combined force in our social and
economic life, consistent with the fundamental and paramount objective of
the state of promoting the health, comfort, and quiet of all persons, and of
bringing about "the greatest good to the greatest number."
Empowerment and Advocacy
According to the Oxford Dictionary, Empowerment is the act of giving
somebody more control over their own life or the situation they are in or
giving somebody the power or authority to do something. On the other hand
Advocacy is the support, advice and help given to people, often with special
needs or aims, who are unable to speak for themselves. Thus, if it will be
applied to community engagement, solidarity and citizenship, these two
are both modes of community engagement. It highlights the
collaborative nature of various groups and people working together to attain
a specific goal that may promote betterment of the quality of life and social
change.
To elaborate, according to Taguibao (2016), in connection with community
action, people empowerment is the process that increases community
autonomy and individual self-determination. These processes are designed
to help gain control of their own lives.
As stated by Ban Ki Moon, Former Secretary General of the United Nations,
this aims to ensure that people have the right set of skills and opportunities
they need to live better and dignified lives.
Now, let us move to Advocacy. It refers to enabling marginalized groups and
promoting their individual rights. It is a process of supporting people and
advancing or promoting the rights these individuals have. Advocacy, in
connection with community engagement, also means attaining people
empowerment. It can be led by people who are not part of the community
or by leaders within the community. The most effective advocacy and people
empowerment is the combination of both.
Strategies of Empowerment and Advocacy of a Community Action
Initiative
Empowering sectors like the poor, indigenous people and the likes need
strong and effective advocacies for protection and promotion of their
interests. In this sense, according to Huberman (2014), these are the
strategies is community mobilization resulting to people empowerment and
advocacy:
1. Secure Strong Leadership - Engage strong leaders within the
community members. The leader should possess these characteristics: the
will to serve as the leader of the community over a significant period of time;
the capacity to provide both infrastructure and human resources; financial
stability; the ability to gather and manage financial resources, and the
respect and support of the community.
2. Establish Formal Structure - a formal structure must be created for it
can effectively lead community change efforts. These may include specific
committees, organizational charts, rules like by laws, policy statements and
formal letters of agreement for those who lead, organize, and participate in
the community effort.
3. Engage the stakeholders - engage people, groups or institutions that
may be affected by or are important to the achievement of the stated
purpose of a project. They include government, civil society, and the private
sector at national, intermediate and local levels.
4. Conduct a Needs assessment - it's a way of asking group or community
members what they see as the most important needs of that group or
community. The results of the survey then guide future action.
5. Create a Strategic Plan - develop a strategic plan that lays out the
goals and objectives. The strategic plan should identify the social, structural,
and individual changes that will lead to people empowerment. These are
some of the many strategies of empowerment and advocacy of a community
action initiative.
Gender Equality
Each society establishes a structure that, based on sex and gender, permits
or limits access to power, property, and prestige; this structure is referred to
as gender stratification. Sex and gender are different concepts.
∙Sex is the biological characteristics that distinguish males and females—
primary sex organs (organs related to reproduction) and secondary sex
organs (physical distinctions not related to reproduction).
∙Gender is a social characteristic that varies from one society to another
and refers to what the group considers proper for its males and females.
∙The sociological significance of gender is that it serves as a primary
sorting device by which society controls its members and thus is a structural
feature of society.
Refers to the equal valuing of the roles of women and men. It works to
overcome the barriers of stereotypes and prejudices because of equal
conditions for realizing their full human rights and potential to contribute to
national, political, economic, social and cultural development. It is also
known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, equal ease of access to
resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic
participation and decision-making; state of valuing different behaviors,
aspirations and needs equally, regardless of gender. Empowerment of
women equitable access to resources, power
Gender Equality requires equal enjoyment by women and men of socially
valued goods, opportunities, resources, and rewards. Where gender
inequality exists, it is generally women who are excluded or disadvantaged
in relation to decision-making and access to economic and social resources.
But we should not ignore the negative impact that gender inequality can
have on men as well.
According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency
Fund, on a global scale, gender equality means that women and men, and
girls and boys must be treated equally alike and requires eliminating harmful
practices. A critical aspect of promoting gender equality is the empowerment
of women with a focus of identifying and addressing power imbalances and
giving women more autonomy to manage their own lives.
Sociological Theories of Gender Inequality
A. Structural-Functionalist Perspective
o Argue that “pre-industrial society” required a division of labor based on
gender
o Home performing functions (Women): bearing, nursing, and caring for
children
o Male: responsible for providing food, clothing, and shelter for the families
o Industrialization: rendered the traditional division of labor less functional,
although remnants of the supporting belief system still exist.
B. Conflict Perspective
o Male Dominance and Female Subordination: Shaped by relationships
men and women have to the production process
o Evolution to Agricultural and Industrial modes of production:
private property developed where men gained control on the modes of
production
o Marxist tradition: gender inequality based on ownership of the means of
production, patriarchy, gendered division of labor in the workplace
C. Symbolic Interactionist Perspective
o Gender Assignments begin at birth (labeling): It has shaped our
thoughts about how we see ourselves and our relationship with the world.
International and Local Statutes related to Gender Equality
INTERNATIONAL
- Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW) – ADOPTED BY UN(1979), women’s bill of rights
- Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action at the Fourth World Conference
on Women(sponsored by UN); equality, development, and peace for women
- Millennium Development Goals, 2015 - 2000
LOCAL
Republic Act 9262 :Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of
2004(permanent protection orders)
Republic Act 10354: The Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health
Act of
Republic Act 9710: Magna Carta of Women 2012(rights of Filipino Women
especially in the marginalized sector)
Republic Act 8505: Rape Victim Assistance and Protection Act of 1998
(provide counseling, free legal assistance, ensure the privacy and safety of
rape survivors)
Republic Act 7877: Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995: upholds the State
policy to value the dignity of every human individual, to guarantee full
respect for human rights.
Methodologies and approaches of community actions and
involvements across disciplines
Partnership Building with Local Groups
Partnerships are intended for joint solving of problems, resource
exchange, cooperation, coordination and coalition building. The relationship
among partners can be temporary (local bodies, including government,
grassroots NGO’s) or permanent.
A partnership brings together institutional capabilities and human
resources in the form of skills, experiences and ideas to tackle common
problems that are often beyond the capacity of a single organization or
group.
Examples:
(i) government agency like the Ministry of Education accepting the ‘help’ of a
local NGO and local elected body to enhance literacy in a village;
(ii) a local community-based organization (CBO) jointly with local industry
associations and elected members of local council, discuss the problem of
land degradation caused by industrial activities and agree on the
implementation of a joint activity to address the problem.
Partnerships can be formed to help organizations accomplish a variety of
shared goals related to:
1. Advocacy, which focuses on changing public policy or passing specific
legislation;
2. Promotion, which raises public awareness about an issue and often
includes public education initiatives;
3. Program development, which leverages the expertise of each
organization to create a new program to advance a specific community
issue.
Types of partnership
1. Networks - The relationships among partners within networks are
often less formal or informal. The main purpose of most networks is to
exchange information among members
2. Coordination - Relations among members are more closely linked.
3. Collaboration - Relations among members are strong with functional
more broad ranging areas defined for joint activities.
Principles of partnership
TRUST: the most important if the partnership crosses many boundaries -
interpersonal, interinstitutional, cross cultural - at the same time. In such
conditions, relationships are open to risk of misunderstanding and there is
need for a clear expression of interest and aspiration on both sides.
MUTUALITY: In this case, the partnership relations are open to dialogue and
exchange of views. Respect is of utmost importance
SOLIDARITY: It means sensitivity and commitment to the problems, efforts
and constraints of other partners particularly of those living in conditions of
poverty and oppression. It implies a readiness to respond appropriately and
in a timely manner to varied needs.
ACCOUNTABILITY: Any partnership involves rights and obligations. It is a
major challenge when one partner has the resources and the other has to
ask for it, or one has the power to decide who gets funds and how much, and
the other is accountable for their use.
Requirements of effective partnership
1. Government must be open, receptive, sensitive, responsive and must
internalize, accept and institutionalize partnership at appropriate levels;
2. Local people, particularly the rural poor must develop skills in negotiation
and claim-making to effectively engage the government in participatory local
development planning and partnership- building; and
3. NGOs must be open to collaboration with the government, share risks and
be creative.
Sources Of Conflicts In A Partnership
1. Value disagreements.
2. Personality conflicts.
3. Communication misunderstandings.
4. Doubts about priority need for partnership.
5. Confusion over differing degrees of members’ autonomy.
6. Different power interests.
Conflict management in partnerships should focus on encouraging open
communication and ways of negotiating expressed differences to meet at
least some of the needs of all partners.
1. Choose a person who is seen as being neutral to serve as a process
observer. The role of this observer can vary from keeping time, offering
clarification or remarks, to suggesting possible ways of managing or
resolving the conflict. It is important, however, that all partners agree upon
the process observer’s role.
2. Select a specific conflict that is important to the partnership and the
partners concerned.
3. Have the conflicting partners state their positions without interruption.
4. Have each opposing partner paraphrase the other side’s explanations or
point of view. This effort to understand more clearly and fully each other’s
position often results in useful conflict management. However, more work
may be needed.
5. Start an open dialogue for questioning, obtaining more information and
further explanation. This helps ensure that each side understands the other.
As the dialogue continues, it is necessary to move beyond explanations. This
would require two interacting skills - both parties should behave assertively
and cooperatively.
6. Summarize the position of each party, emphasizing their major points of
view. Provide an opportunity to each party to correct misinformation or
clarify points.
Community Profiling and Needs Assessment
Community profiling involves building up a picture of the nature, needs
and resources of a community with the active participation of that
community. It is a useful first stage in any community planning process to
establish a context which is widely agreed (Bellers & Hall)
Community (or stakeholder) profiles are a useful way of developing an
understanding of the people in a geographical area or a specific
community of interest. This understanding can assist in the development of a
community engagement plan and influence who the key stakeholder groups
are and how a project develops. Profiles can illustrate the makeup of a
community and could include information about the diversity within the
community, their history, social and economic characteristics, how active
people are (i.e. the groups and networks used) and what social and
infrastructure services are provided. A community profile can also provide
information on the level of interest community members may have in being
actively involved in a project and their preferred method of engagement
Needs Assessment
A community needs assessment identifies the strengths and resources
available in the community to meet the needs of children, youth, and
families. The assessment focuses on the capabilities of the community,
including its citizens, agencies, and organizations. It provides a framework
for developing and identifying services and solutions and building
communities that support and nurture children and families (Child Welfare
Information Gateway)
Needs Assessment is an extension of the strategic planning process.
Strategic planning confirms, transforms or develops a new mission and
vision; characterizes the nature of the business; furnishes a sense of
direction for the organization; identifies the goals necessary to
achieve the mission; develops specific plans to carry out each goal;
and identifies essential resources such as people, property, time, money,
and technology to attain the goals.
Since 1986, the government of the Philippines through the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources has been preparing the ground by
adopting decentralized and devolved environmental governance policies.
These paved the way for the active participation of LGUs, communities, civil
society and socially-responsible private sector groups who have joined hands
to get the job done. Participatory approaches in decision-making opened
up opportunities to improve environmental management. This trend has
been gaining ground in the past years. This initial compendium of EcoGov
success stories gives recognition to LGUs who have proven themselves equal
to the tasks required of good environmental governance and are putting in
place sustainable programs in their localities. The common threads that run
through all the stories are a committed local government and an engaged
citizenry local —communities imbued with a deep sense of “ownership” as
they become active partners in managing their natural resources.
Purposes of Needs Assessment
1. To learn more about what your group or community needs are. A good
survey can supplement your own sharp-eyed observations and experiences.
It can give you detailed information from a larger and more representative
group of people than you could get from observation alone.
2. To get a more honest and objective description of needs than people
might tell you publicly.
3. To become aware of possible needs that you never saw as particularly
important or that you never even knew existed.
4. To document your needs, as is required in many applications for funding,
and as is almost always helpful in advocating or lobbying for your cause.
5. To make sure any actions you eventually take or join in are in line with
needs that are expressed by the community.
6. To get more group and community support for the actions you will soon
undertake. That's because if people have stated a need for a particular
course of action, they are more likely to support it. And, for the same
reason....
7. To get more people actually involved in the subsequent action itself.
Uses/Strengths of Community Profiling
1. A profile is an effective way of gathering information about the diversity of
a community and the potential stakeholders that may otherwise not be
recorded.
2. Profiles can highlight the gaps in our understanding of a community or
different stakeholders and therefore guide future research.
3. Profiles can encourage broader thinking about ‘who’ a community is and
‘who’ is involved in a project and ‘how’.
4. Profiles can help determine who is likely to be influenced by change or
affected by a project.
5. Developing a profile can be used as a means to develop relationships in a
community/stakeholder group as the understanding is researched and
developed together.
6. The process of profiling can in itself raise awareness, interest and build the
capacity of members in the community.
7. Profiles are a means to gather community intelligence over time as
projects develop and therefore this info can be easily passed on.
Special Considerations/Weaknesses
1. Community profiling is in itself an engagement activity. People involved in
profiling need to be clear about why it is occurring and what will happen with
the information that is collected (i.e. privacy laws).
2. Communities are often complex and over time a rich and diverse picture
may develop. It is important to think about how such information will be
collected, managed and presented in order to prevent ‘information overload’.
3. Some of the most interesting questions to ask about a community can be
the most expensive/time intensive to research.
Social Action and Social Action Evaluation
Social action is about people coming together to help improve their lives
and solve the problems that are important in their communities. It involves
people giving their time and other resources for the common good, in a
range of forms – from volunteering and community-owned services to
community organizing or simple neighborly acts (New Economics
Foundation, nd).
Types of Social Action (Max Weber):
Rational-purposeful Action
This action may be rationally expedient if it is based on logical or scientific
grounds. This action entails a complicated plurality of means and ends. The
ends of action (for example goals, values) are either taken as means to the
fulfilment of other ends, or are treated as if they are set in concrete. In this
way action becomes purely instrumental.
Value-rational Action
Action is rational in relation to a specific value. This action occurs when
individuals use rational – that is effective means to achieve goals or ends
that are defined in terms of subjective meaning. According to Weber, when
individuals are value rational, they make commitments to certain subjective
goals and adopt means that are effective in attaining these ends.
Affective Action
Affective action fuses means and ends together so that action becomes
emotional and impulsive. Such action is the antithesis of rationality because
the actor concerned cannot make a calm, dispassionate assessment of the
relationship between the ends of action and the means that supposedly exist
to serve these ends. Rather the means themselves are emotionally fulfilling
and become ends in themselves.
Traditional Action
Traditional action occurs when the ends and the means of action are fixed by
custom and tradition. For example, some so-called primitive societies have
very strict rites of succession for group leaders. What is important about
traditional action is that the ends of action are taken for granted and appear
to be natural to the actors concerned because they are unable to
comprehend the possibility of alternative ends.
What are the steps in social action evaluation?
Step One: Framing the evaluation
• All involved deciding exactly what the Aims of the project are. What is the
problem the project wants to solve?
• Once these are agreed, we you can decide what the objectives of the
evaluation are
• When you have reached agreement on the evaluation objectives, it is time
to elect a small group to plan carefully and organize all the details of the
evaluation
Step two: Designing the evaluation
• With the evaluation group consider the indicators with which you can
determine, show and measure the effectiveness of your intervention. These
have to be related to your objectives
• Find suitable participatory methods to explore the indicators (bearing in
mind skills and resources available)
• Creating a written evaluation plan showing why, how, when and where
evaluation will take place and who will be involved
Step three: Doing the evaluation
• Preparing and testing evaluation tools, training people in skills required,
producing appropriate information for people taking part
• Using the prepared and tested methods to collect the information required
• Project participants analyzing the information (evaluation steering group)
• Results of analysis (findings) are prepared in written, oral or visual form
• Project participants then need to decide exactly how the findings will be
used and how they can help improve the performance and effectiveness of
the project and have wider influence. (Source: Social Action Net (nd). Social
Action Evaluation. Retrieved from: socialactionnet.com on July 14, 2020.)
