PATRONAGE OF MARY

DEVELOPMENT SCHOOL
School Year 2021 - 2022 | First Semester | Istructional Packet

Community Engagement, Solidarity, and Citizenship | HUMSS - 12

Community Engagement | Lesson – 7
I. Objectives
At the end of this chapter, the students should be able to:
a. recognize the value of undertaking community action modalities;
b. acknowledge interrelationship of self and community in undertaking
community action;
c. identify opportunities that contribute to community development through
solidarity;
d. recognize the importance of solidarity in sociopolitical processes in
promoting national and global community development; and
e. assess selected community action initiatives.
II. Lesson Preview
Community engagement seeks to engage community to achieve sustainable outcomes, equitable
decision-making processes, and deepen relationships and trust between government organizations and
communities.
Barangay Banaba is a flood – prone area in San Mateo, Rizal. Adjacent to the
Marikina River and susceptible to other natural water passages, its resident has
been adversely affected by flooding especially during the rainy and typhoon
seasons. Their circumstances become even more hazardous due to the
barangay’s high population density, with about 16 000 individuals residing in a
cramped area of merely 1.4 square kilometers.
To solve the problem of flooding, individuals from a faith – based organization in
the barangay initiated a community action plan in 1995. They established an
early warning system as well as search and rescue teams to ensure that
members of the community were safe from perilous flooding. Since then, the
number of flood – affected households in the community was minimized and,
more importantly, the number of casualties dropped to zero.
The case mentioned above shows the ability of a community to address an
issue, solve a problem, and improve community life. Compared to individual
action, collective action in communities illustrates the effectiveness of group
effort. As such, it is essential to acknowledge that individuals are constrained by
their inadequacies and meager capacities. In case like this, the collective efforts
of a group certainly outweigh those of an individual. When individual cooperate,
collaborate, and engage with each other, they create better prospects when
pursuing collective interests and common goals.
In this lesson, community engagement is discussed as an essential feature of
collective action. Community engagement, expressed through community
action and bonded by solidarity, enhances the capacity of communities to
address collective challenges and solve problems.
III. Content
Community engagement refers to the “the process of working collaboratively
with and through groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, special
interest, or similar situations to address issues affecting the well – being of
those people.
Community engagement becomes possible through social trust, cooperation,
functional coalitions, and effective partnerships. Community engagement is a
vehicle to affect societal changes because it mobilizes resources, influences
systems, and strengthens social relationships.

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 A core component of community engagement is solidarity. Solidarity refers to
the “idea of unity or feeling of agreement among individuals with a common
interest”. It is an overarching sentiment of mutual support, trust, and harmony
among individuals within group. Through solidarity, community members
deepen their responsibilities and roles, in light of their collective interests. In
effect, it stimulates a sense of obligation among individuals in a group to pursue
the objectives and goals of the community and to protect and promote the
interests of a community through some agreed social action. Therefore,
solidarity is the adhesive that strengthens the links among people in a
community. Without solidarity, members of a community tend to act
individually, disunited, and stop from collectively engaging each other.
When solidarity – that sense of togetherness, unity, or the agreement between
an individual and the group – materializes, the need for mechanism and
guidelines emerge in order to formally define the roles and responsibilities of
individuals in a community. Guidelines that establish the relationship between
an individual and the community, their duties and responsibilities, as well as the
behavior, attitudes and actions expected from an individual, constitute
citizenship. The quality of these “building blocks” lends insight to the concern
and participation extended by an individual to a community. Broadly,
citizenship characterizes the relationship between a citizen and a political
community. This is indicated by a citizen’s involvement in state affairs, with
respect to its economic and social processes, institutions, laws, rights, and
responsibilities. Institutionally, citizenship confers the rights and duties of an
individual as a member of a political community.
Based on these conceptualizations of citizenship, we can say that as citizens,
just as we have rights, we also have duties and responsibilities to the
community, whether it be a traditional state or a community with specific goals
and purpose. A good and responsible citizen, therefore, is one who contributes
to the community’s well – being through community engagement.

IV. Lesson Review

Community engagement is based on the democratic idea that everyone who is
affected by an issue that impacts their community should have a say in the
decision making around it. It, moreover, holds the promise that public
participation can influence decisions that affect the provision of services, future
visions and sustainability of our communities.
Although there is no commonly agreed to community engagement
definition and the use of the term varies widely (sharing in notions of
consultation, participation, collaboration and empowerment), community
engagement captures its meaning in mutual decision making. People,
governments and organizations work collaboratively to create – and realize –
sustainable visions for their community’s future. For governments and
organizations, it’s about working with, and listening to, communities to build
long term relationships and develop meaningful solutions to complex issues. By
deepening these relationships, ideally, the value of inclusivity is central, where
government entities create dialogue with the very diversity of their
communities.
In recognizing the needs and aspirations of all participants, community
engagement promotes the idea that, through intentional interactions between
government organizations and communities, community members can – and do
– influence policy making. That is, community engagement’s promise is to
better engage community to help make better public decisions.
It is, thereby, both an orientation toward the importance of community
members’ lived experience to influence interactions between government
organizations and communities, and an approach that guides the process of
those interactions.

Is community engagement the same as citizen participation and public

participation?

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 At times interchangeable with citizen participation, community engagement
differs primarily in the divergent roles that community members and public
decision makers play. Community engagement requires intentional interactions
between communities and public decision makers, whereas citizen participation
is mobilized by – and for – citizens and community groups.
Public participation, on the other hand, takes into account the full range of
activities that people undertake to shape policy outcomes – from citizen-led to
state-sanctioned. Engaging with structures and organizational bodies of
democracy, this includes everything from voting and lobbying to participating in
demonstrations.
But although a political practice, public participation is a path to citizen
empowerment critical to well-functioning democracies – particularly relevant in
the twenty-first century’s declining democracy globally.
Increasingly, public participation has become vitally important with
commitments to improve its role in policy decision making globally. Indeed,
the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – created using unprecedented
participation involving more than 7.5 million people from over 190 countries –
embeds inclusive democratic participation in the Sustainable Development
Goals.

V. Performace Activity. Please see attached documents (attachments)

VI. Reference
Taguibao, J. G. & De Guzman, F. R. C. (2016). Community Engagement,
Solidarity, and Citezenship. Vibal Group Inc.
Peterson, J. A. (2015), Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society. University of
San Carlos Press.
Vivar, T., Viloria, E., Suiray, R., & Dela Cruz, N. (1999). (Philippines: History and
Government. Vibal Publishinh House, Inc.
Leuterio, F. C. (1998). Philippine Hostory and Government. St. Augustine
Publication, Inc.

Prepared by: Approved:

JAYZA MAY M. ENCIO ROUEL A. LONGINOS, Ed.D., Ph.D.

Subject Teacher School Pricipal

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