Chapter 2: COPAR

• Community Organization

  • is a process by which the community is able to identify its needs and take actions to fulfill the needs or solve the problem
  • implementing and evaluating their own programs with the overall guidance from the community-wide organization.
• Strategies used may include: 

  •  Education and training 
  •  Networking and linkaging 
  • Conduct of mobilization on health and development concerns 
  • Implementing of livelihood projects 
  •  Developing secondary leaders 
• COPAR

  A social development approach that aims to transform the apathetic, individualistic and voiceless poor into dynamic, participatory and politically responsive community
• COPAR

  • Collective
  • Participatory
  • Transformative
  • Liberative
  • Sustained
  • Systematic process of building people's organizations by mobilizing and enhancing the capabilities and resources of the people for the resolution of their issues and concerns towards effecting change in their existing oppressive and exploitative conditions
• COPAR (1994 National Rural Conference)

  A process by which a community identifies its needs and objectives, develops confidence to take action in respect to them and in doing so, extends and develops cooperative and collaborative attitudes and practices in the community
• Steps in Community Organization 

  • Collection of facts 
  • Analysis of data 
  • Study the resources
  •  Evolving strategies or various courses of action 
  • Selecting suitable energy 
  • Implementation 
  • Monitoring and evaluation 
  • Feedback
• Importance of COPAR 

  1. COPAR - is an important tool for community development and people empowerment as this helps the community workers to generate community participation in development activities
  2. COPAR - prepares people/clients to eventually take over the management of a development programs in the future.
  3. COPAR - maximizes community, participation and involvement, community resources are mobilized for community services
• Public health - focuses on preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health through organized efforts at the community level
• Public health - is vital for promoting and protecting the health of populations, preventing disease, prolonging life, and improving quality of life through organized efforts and intervention
• community - is a group of people who share common characteristics, interests, or experiences and are connected by social, cultural, geographical, or other b
• Key Influencers of Health

  • social
  • economic,
  • and environmental determinants
• medical technologist in community and public health - involves performing laboratory tests, analyzing data, and providing accurate results to support disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance efforts, contributing to the overall health and well-being of the community
• Community Organizing Participatory Action Research (COPAR) - is an approach that integrates community participation and action research to address health issues. It emphasizes community empowerment and engagement in identifying and solving health problem
• COPAR aligns closely with the principles of CPH by prioritizing community involvement and ownership in public health initiatives. It recognizes the importance of community-driven solutions for sustainable health outcomes
• Community Organizing: This means getting community members together, helping them feel strong and able to make changes
• Participatory Action Research: community members are not just told what to do; they are part of the research process. They help figure out what problems exist, look for ways to fix them, and then work together to make those fixes h