MODULE9

SOCIAL AND
RESOURCES
MOBILIZATION
 CONCEPT OF SOCIAL
MOBILIZATION
The concept of social mobilization emerged from the
recognition that a genuine participatory to development
is essential for success and sustainability. Civil society
participation in development efforts is, therefore,
increasingly recognized by agencies and governments as
essential for promoting good governance- improving
responsiveness of national
policies and programs to
citizen’s needs and ensuring
transparency and accountability
in policy- making and implementation
processes of such programs like the
Civic Welfare Training Service.
Genuine participation of people involved and the
citizen’s, however, is very necessary and goes
beyond dialogue with or contracting a few non-
governmental organizations. It must engage all
citizens (men and women, in their
various capacities, socio- economic
status, affiliations and locations) beyond
elections to active participation in making
decisions that affect their
lives. Involving people requires
efforts and mechanisms that
can empower all but,
most especially, the disadvantaged
members of society to participate
effectively in developmental processes.
 The social mobilization concept requires
working hand- in- hand with individuals,
organizations, policy makers and communities
to forge a collective identity to achieve
common goals. It is through this process that
people at various levels of society engage in
dialogue and negotiation wherein collective
action emanates. It is also an approach that
involves planned actions and processes to
reach, influence and involve all relevant
segments of society across all sectors from
the national to community levels in order to
effect positive behavior and social change.
 Social mobilization is also an approach and
tool for the Civic Welfare Training Group to
adopt whichever can help people organize for
collective action by pooling resources and
building the solidarity required to resolve
common problems and work towards community
advancement. It is a process that empowers men
and women to organize their own democratically
self- governing groups or community
organizations which enable them to initiate and
control their own personal and communal
development. It is a process of taking action to
influence behavior to positively affect social
change at all levels of society.
 Effective social mobilization goes beyond
community organizations, harnessing the potential
and efforts of government, non- governmental
sectors and citizens to work towards sustainable
social, economic and political development. The
benefits of social mobilization to community
organizations and its impact locally and nationally
can be best sustained within an enabling political,
policy and regulatory environment where
mechanisms for linking
experiences and lessons at the
community level to policy
are developed.
 Social mobilization as a whole aims to
involve all the people in the communities
and empower them to act at the grassroots
level. The outcomes should be the people’s
active involvement ranging from identifying a
need to implementation in achieving the
development objective and evaluation effort.
Simply stated, social mobilization calls for a
journey among partners and results in the
successful transformation of development
goals into societal action.
 The societal mobilization strategy calls for
partnership with all stakeholders which are
the following:
1. Political-policy makers
Advocacy in this group helps foster the
commitment that will clear the way for action. The
goal here is to build consensus with sound data, to
create a knowledgeable and supportive environment
for decision- making, including the allocation of
adequate resources.

2. Bureaucratic/ Technocratic- government workers

and technical experts
Policy makers depend on the technocrats,
bureaucrats, and service professionals to provide the
rationale for decisions as well as to plan and
implement programs. This sector includes disparate
groups, each with its own agenda, conflicting interests
and concerns.
3. Non-governmental sector
This covers a multitude of interests. Non-
governmental organizations for special purposes, social
institutions and associations that represent organized
support, religious groups with their ideological bends,
commerce and industry that operate on for- profit basis
and professional groups that exist to advance their
interests are here.

4. Community groups
Community leaders, schools, churches, mosques,
and grassroots groups are critical to get communities
involved. They help transform development goals into
action. Popular participation takes place here.
5. Households and individuals
Individual actions are the ultimate pay- off of the
health program. In the household, where such
behavioral actions take place, key individuals in
traditional society often hold sway. There is a need
for a deliberate action to inform and educate
individuals in the household, so that they can make
informed choices.
 KEY ELEMENTS OF
SOCIAL MOBILIZATION
1. Organizational Development
It is a process in which community members,
especially the poor, form their own groups or
organizations based on common development
interests and needs that are best served in
organizing themselves as a group.
2. Capital formation for development
through Community Savings
This enhances a community organization’s power
to realize its full potential. “Savings generated by
individual members are the assets of the community
organization and are the first step towards their self-
reliance” (Pandey, 2002) Accumulated savings can be
used for internal credit with interest, to enable
individual members to engage in income generation
activities. They can also be used for enterprise
development at the community level.
3. Training for Human Resource Development
Community members can maximize their
potential not only by organizing themselves but
also by upgrading their existing skills to better
manage new inputs- business and community
initiatives- and establish effective links with
local governments and other sectors. Local
human resource development can be best
promoted when trained individuals take up the
responsibility to train other community
members.
4. Socio- economic development
Socio- economic development initiatives are a great
incentive for community members to organize themselves.
It is important, therefore, that an initiative which includes
social mobilization provide support in the form of
matching grants or access to credit, marketing and other
services that will lead to tangible improvements in social
economic conditions within the community if well
facilitated, this process can result in increased institutional
capacity, enhanced social status and voice (especially for
disadvantaged people, including women, the poor and
youth). These results, in turn, motivate people to remain
organized as they begin to enjoy the benefits of collective
action and recognize its potential to create or influence
change in their communities.
 BENEFITS OF SOCIAL
MOBILIZATION
1. For Poverty Alleviation
Social mobilization is an important tool in the
poverty alleviation process, as it enables
communities and the poor to help themselves to
engage actively in solving their own problems and
effectively tackling poverty in its multi- dimensional
form.
2. For promoting Democratic Governance
Social mobilization must be institutionalized
within government for it to be effective. This would
encourage participation in decision- making, build
capacity for participatory planning, build a common
vision on development and ensure transparency.
Creating demand for good governance through
social mobilization must be complemented with
increased capacity of the local government to
manage and effectively respond to this demand and
improve its governance practices Capacity- building
efforts must therefore target civil society
organizations (including CBOs, elected
representatives, etc) and government.
3. For Environment
Social mobilization organizes people to better
manage their natural resources and fight against
illegal practices of organizations that degrade the
environment, through promoting appropriate legal,
regulatory and institutional frameworks and policy
dialogue.

4. For Conflict Prevention

As people organize to address common
problems, and to collectively improve their socio-
economic conditions in an equitable, democratic
and transparent manner, the possibility of conflict
can be significantly reduced.
Social mobilization is said to be best
effective when it reveals that:
1. The organized people representing different ethnic group
act as a vehicle to develop social harmony and peace and
increase the general capacity of the people for self-
empowerment. Full participation at the grass- roots is
only possible if the rural people are organized.

2. A properly designed community mobilization process

leads community members, both male and female, to the
emergence of self- governing institutions which act as
the sustainable organizations for co-operation, peace and
development, helping people to enhance their receiving
and utilizing capacities and also to work together for
household and community initiatives.
3. The result of the social mobilization process is that
people get organized to work together if they live in
close proximity and share common interests for
community development. The foremost requirement in
this process is that people organize themselves into a
broad based and multi- purpose and multi- ethnic
Community Organization (CO).

4. The Community Organization is a mass coalition of all

those residents of a village whose continuing economic
and social interests are best served organizing
themselves as a group. Such an organization can be
created around an activity of importance to most of
the villagers. Before one becomes a member of CO, the
individual struggles against a harsh environment. Once
he/ she is organized in a broad- based group, the
individual has the leverage with which to address and
tackle problems, which he/ she could not have done
alone. The group can function in various fields
depending on the needs of the village or community.
5. Social mobilization is based on the active
participation of all households without any
discrimination. For preventive development to be
effective, mobilization should cover each member
of the community, irrespective of the ethnic group,
economic group or different settlements at the
lower level. Social harmony will be best achieved
by forming social capital through multi- ethnic and
multi- economic group community organizations
which will be engaged in multi- sectoral
development for themselves and their villages.
Reference:
 National Development via National Service Training
Program (CWTS & ROTC)
Sonia Gasilla- dela Cruz (2002)