Foreword

Leocito S. Gabo, PhD, DD

Risk Taking and Risk Reduction by the Academe: An Experience in Integrating Teaching, Research and Extension Service in CBDRRM Program

Emmanuel M. Luna, PhD

The Transformative Value of Research in CD Practice: The Stories of Women Coco Coir Twiners and Weavers in Brgy. Monbon, Iroson, Sorsogon

Teresa Villamor-Barrameda, DSD

Abstract    This article demonstrates the transformative value of research in community development (CD) practice – research grounded in CD values and principles as participatory, action-oriented, empowering and transformative. It shows how research could bridge the gap between marginalized women and the CD practitioner in enacting change and serving as evidentiary basis for policy advocacy to improve the lives of women coco coir twiners and weavers in a community frequently ravaged by recurrent typhoons and disasters. Ethical concerns in conducting research are also raised by the article in terms of being non-extractive and giving back to the women whatever benefits could be generated as outcomes of the research.

The study used the life story method. As a research method, it does not only serve as a venue for marginalized women’s voices to be heard but also as a means to raise their awareness about their common condition, eventually propelling them to change their condition. Their ability to tell their life stories is an exercise of power. As storytellers of their lives, they have the power to direct the course of their stories for the listener, the researcher. Through the life story method, the relation between participants also shifts from a researcher-respondent to a listener-storyteller relation. Seeing the women as storytellers rather than research respondents provides an egalitarian way of treating them. The method also allows the researcher to see the context of a phenomenon through the lenses of the marginalized women, thus a more empowering process.

Community Development for Transformation: The Role of Community Organizations as Negotiating Leverage in Conflict-Affected Communities

Caroliza Tulod-Peteros

Abstract    In different parts of the country, various communities of marginalized sectors have been faced with a lot of conflicts, rooted in their assertion of their claims over rights to land, housing, just wages, and decent working conditions, among others. Government policies aligned with its adherence to liberalization policies aggravated this situation. More projects that will result to displacement of already marginalized communities in urban and rural areas are allowed, even if these encroach on productive farmlands or threaten the remaining ancestral lands of indigenous peoples. These projects have been met with opposition by the affected communities.

Affected sectors are in a better position to negotiate their collective interests if they are organized. As articulated in this paper, an organized community especially in a conflict situation is in an advantageous position to press for its demands and negotiate for better terms in an interactive manner. This means engaging with proponents and government through a combination of negotiations, legal and meta-legal actions. Organizations are channels to express the collective strength of the people – especially those who have less in power, so they will have better chances of being heard. Community participation in governance is now institutionalized. There are many mechanisms whereby marginalized sectors can engage with government and proponents to better argue their positions on certain policies, programs and projects that have negative impacts on them. There is need therefore to strengthen and enhance community organizing work to include a conflict-sensitive approach so that leaders are better trained to engage and be able to negotiate their interests.    

Community Development Research: Emerging Concepts, Methods and Practices

Ma. Theresa V. Tungpalan, PhD, and Aleli B. Bawagan, PhD 

Abstract     The application of social research in Community Development (CD) provides deeper meanings to action research, participatory research, and development research. Although these constructs emerged at different historical periods, their common thread weaves through three major themes – participatory methods, people’s action, and social transformation.

This paper aims to define development research in general and CD research in particular, as it has evolved over the years, using the theses and faculty researches as primary sources of data. The paper has the following sections: first is a summary of CD research done by the faculty and students at UP-CSWCD; second is a reflection on these researches identifying the nature of CD research; and the last section contains the good practices as well as the challenges faced by CD researchers.

These researches form part of CSWCD’s community-engaged scholarship, also called transformative scholarship, where the long-term perspective of academic pursuit is societal change and people’s empowerment. Moreover, the following characteristics are evident in these researches: the standpoint for the poor, marginalized, and disempowered communities; interdisciplinary and integrative approaches grounded on theorizing; and production of knowledge products that contribute to both individual and collective scholarship of CSWCD and the University to serve the people.

Lakbay Aral: Sama-samang Aralan at Paglilinang tungo sa Mapag-unlad na Pangangasiwa ng Komunidad (Ang Karanasan sa Bulacan Heights)

Gretchel N. Pelaez, Norby R. Salonga, and Leocito S. Gabo, PhD, DD

Talakayan, Tunggalian at Diskurso: Isang Pag-uusap tungkol sa Community Organizing at Community Development

Maureen C. Pagaduan, Jeremi Panganiban, at Karl Arvin F. Hapal

Disclaimer The views and opinions expressed in this journal are solely the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of the College of Social Work and Community Development.