Unit 5: Methodologies and Approaches of Community Actions and Involvements

Across Disciplines I

Lesson 5.2
Community Profiling
Contents
Introduction 1

Learning Objectives 2

Let’s Connect 2

Discover 3
Community Profiling 4
Steps in Doing a Community Profile 5
Constructing a Community Profile Form 7
Themes of Information 7
Sources of Information 8
The Importance of the Community Profile 9

Wrap-Up 11

Try This! 12

Challenge Yourself 13

Reflect on This 15

Photo Credit 16

Bibliography 16
Unit 5: Methodologies and Approaches of Community Actions and Involvements
Across Disciplines I

Lesson 5.2
Community Profiling

Introduction
Communities aim to maintain an environment where all the members are accepted and
provided with programs and services. Community leaders take care of their members with
policies and regulations that promote equality and equity among them. Community
members, in turn, try their best to cooperate and maintain the peace and order of the
community.

In sustaining a community, it is important that the leaders create and maintain a community
profile. This will enable the community to be up-to-date withknow vital information about
their community and the members who reside in it. This lesson will highlight the definition
and significance of community profiling, the steps in creating one, and how to construct a
community profile that can be used for managing and developing a community.

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Unit 5: Methodologies and Approaches of Community Actions and Involvements
Across Disciplines I

Learning Objectives DepEd Learning Competency

At the end of this lesson, you should be able
In this lesson, you should be able to do the to explain the processes, methodologies, and
following: approaches in applied social sciences related

● Define community profiling and to community action (HUMSS_CSC-12-

IVa-d-17).
its significance in the community.
● Understand and explain the
steps in creating a community
profile.
● Construct a community profile
form.

Let’s Connect

A Unique Community 10 minutes

Instructions
Form a group of four to six members. In the table provided, enumerate the different
characteristics you observe in your community that makes it unique. Briefly discuss why
these characteristics are important and how eachit distinguishes your community from
other communities. uUseing the guide questions that follow.

Characteristics That Make Your Community Unique

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Unit 5: Methodologies and Approaches of Community Actions and Involvements
Across Disciplines I

Guide Questions
1. What were the factors did you considered in identifying these characteristics in your
community?
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Why are these characteristics significant to the identity of your community?

________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

3. How has your community changed over time? Provide examples of the changes.
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________

Discover
Community leaders must do their best to preserve vital information about the community
to maintain its relevance in society. To reflect the community’s characteristics and needs
accurately, it is necessary for leaders and members to actively participate in the creation of
their community’s profile. Community profiles help leaders and members determine their
community’s demographic makeup and recognize the different characteristics of the people
who live there, how they are changing, and how they are doing compared to other areas.

How can the development of a community profile help

its leaders and members?

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Unit 5: Methodologies and Approaches of Community Actions and Involvements
Across Disciplines I

Community Profiling
A community profile contains the collection of information about a particular community.
It describes a community’s land use, natural environment, economy, cultural traditions, and
history. By creating a community profile, leaders can accurately define the community’s
resources, needs, and challenges.

A community profile exhibits the background information needed for planning processes,
such as community action plans. It can also be utilized in natural resource management and
community economic development. A community profile is unique; it differs from other
community documents because it involves the community’s participation.

Fig. 1. Community participation by its leaders and members

The community profile can also be presented to governments and organizations that can
supply the needs that have not yet been met in the community. It may also be utilized to
show how new projects can impact its members’ quality of life. A community profile is also

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Unit 5: Methodologies and Approaches of Community Actions and Involvements
Across Disciplines I
useful in applying for funding, programs, or services from government agencies or
non-profit organizations.

Check Your Progress

Why is a community profile important for both community leaders
and members?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

Steps in Doing a Community Profile

The steps that follow suggest how to develop a community profile. There is no definitive way
to combine these different steps and the methods proposed for each step, but it can help
leaders and members decide which information is vital for the community profile. The
community should adopt the techniques, consider the circumstances in which its members
are working, and consolidate the data according to the community profile's priorities and
objectives.

Step 1: Consult with Community Leaders and Members.

For a community to develop its profile, its leaders and members must distinguish which
information must be included. They should understand the community as a whole to
provide relevant and accurate data for the community profile.

Step 2: Identify Community Issues and Attitudes.

Community leaders must be aware of the issues affecting the community and the present
attitudes of its members. This will enable the leaders to seek potential partners who can
help provide programs and services needed by the community. Also, leaders have to be
sensitive toward the members’ attitudes and behavior to avoid conflict with those who
collect the data. The leaders have to ensure that all community members are adequately
oriented about why community profiling is being done and what benefits they will gain from
experience.

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Unit 5: Methodologies and Approaches of Community Actions and Involvements
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Step 3: Establish a General Picture of the Community.

In doing a community profile, data gatherers have to establish a general picture of the
community. This may include various sectors they consider to be important and information
that can further aid the community’s profiling process. Furthermore, the community’s
general picture will help leaders and members envision how they can improve the
community in the future. This step involves identifying themes of information that are
needed to set up the community profile.

Step 4: Validate Information from the Community.

There are different methods on how to collect and validate data from the community
leaders and members. This information is significant in developing a community profile
since community members are the primary sources of valuable information. These also
need to be validated by the members and leaders to ensure the gathered data’s accuracy
(e.g., context).

Step 5: Summarize Findings.

After all essential data have been gathered, the findings have to be summarized to
segregate useful data intended to develop the community profile. The summary must
highlight significant information that will help the community display its primary
characteristics and its current needs. The summary will also help future leaders plan
programs and services that can be offered to the community and maintain those still
relevant.

Step 6: Develop the Community Profile.

After all themes, sources, and validation of information have been accomplished, leaders
and members can now create a community profile. Everyone must cooperate and
coordinate so that all pertinent data can be included and adhere to its goals and plans. The
community must consider this an essential document that they can present to potential
partners and other government agencies from whom they can ask assistance. The
community profile development will also enable leaders and members to see who and what
they are as a community.

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Unit 5: Methodologies and Approaches of Community Actions and Involvements
Across Disciplines I

Constructing a Community Profile Form

A community profile can be created to plan or communicate with the government or other
possible partner organizations. Having a clear objective in a community profile helps
community leaders and members know what they can or cannot achieve. If the construction
of a community profile is part of the planning process, leaders should consider the
community’s strengths, struggles, and current and future goals. Leaders should also take
into account what the members have envisioned for the community’s development.

Involving community members in the planning process helps increase their understanding
of the community and teaches them new skills. In creating a community profile form, two
aspects are considered important: themes of information and sources of information.

Themes of Information
The first theme is the community’s environment. In this theme, knowledge about the
community’s natural environment includes climate, air quality, water, wildlife, and
vegetation. A description of the human environment is also included, such as the
description of previous land use, decisions or directions about land use, and the
community’s landholdings. This theme also consists of communication infrastructure, waste
and wastewater, transportation, and energy.

The second theme involves the social aspects of the community, including the
community’s demographics or the statistical characteristics of a population. Health and
well-being, education, and governance are also part of this theme. The health and

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Across Disciplines I
well-being sector includes any health issues in the community and enumerates the available
physical and mental health resources of the community. The education sector records the
community members’ level of education and the available education opportunities and
resources found in the community. The governance and administration sector summarizes
the operations of the government.

The third theme is the community’s culture. Knowing a community’s culture helps people
understand its current situation and aids in making decisions about the future. This sector
includes the community’s sources of local knowledge, history, traditional practices, and
indigenous languages.

The final theme is the community’s economic profile, which outlines the community
members’ career information, existing businesses, and financial activities within the
community.

Sources of Information
There are several sources of helpful information for the creation of a community profile.
The first is the community itself. Community leaders and members have a wealth of
information about various topics; they know its history, culture, lands, resources, and needs.

Members can gather community knowledge in many ways; one is by conducting a

community survey to collect information such as community interests and demographics.
Another method is by interviewing those who are known as knowledge holders in the
community. Storytelling can also be used to gather information if history has been
previously shared orally. Lastly, photography and mapping can also be used to document
the community’s natural environment, human environment, and cultural sites to provide
sources of information.

Another source of information is the collection of data done by the government. The
government schedules a national census of the population and collects various data on all
the communities under its jurisdiction. This information is readily available to communities
upon their request and upon coordination with the concerned government agencies.

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Unit 5: Methodologies and Approaches of Community Actions and Involvements
Across Disciplines I

The third source of information is the community’s different organizations. Different

community organizations may be significant sources of information for social aspects, such
as health, education, and the local economy.

Check Your Progress

How can you help your leaders create an accurate and relevant
community profile?
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

The Importance of the Community Profile

While a specified group of people will lead the community profile’s creation, it is ultimately a
document that describes the community. Therefore, it is ideal if all community members
participate in constructing a community profile. The community members’ involvement will
significantly help construct a community profile since the members’ opinions and
suggestions can encapsulate the community’s characteristics more accurately.

Gathering background information about the community is one of the critical steps in the
planning process. At the same time, it can both be a difficult and overwhelming task. Thus,
the construction of a community profile should be given importance since it will contain vital
information for future programs that can benefit the community.

The community profile is useful for various purposes. These are some of the strengths of
having a community profile:
● It is an effective way of collecting information about a diverse community and its
leaders and members which may not be properly documented.
● It can highlight the gaps in understanding a community and its leaders and
members, guiding future research.
● It can encourage a broader ideology about what a community is, who is involved, and

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Unit 5: Methodologies and Approaches of Community Actions and Involvements
Across Disciplines I
how they will be involved in sustaining the community.
● It can be utilized as an opportunity to develop relationships in the community as it is
researched and developed together with the members.
● It can raise awareness and interest within the community and build the capacity of its
members.

On the other hand, these are some of the difficulties in constructing a community profile:
● It is an engagement activity. Participants involved in community profiling need to be
transparent about its purpose and methodology, including what will happen with the
gathered information.
● Communities are complex. Eventually, a rich and diverse picture may be developed
from the general picture. It is important to consider how different information will be
collected, presented, and managed.

Therefore, communities change continuously; hence, there is a need to constantly update

the information in the community profile to truly reflect its current state. While the
community profile can only claim to be accurate at a time, it is still valuable for addressing
the community’s current needs and describing its current conditions.

Wrap-Up
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
● A community profile contains the collection of information about a particular

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Unit 5: Methodologies and Approaches of Community Actions and Involvements
Across Disciplines I
community. It describes the community’s land use, natural environment, economy,
cultural traditions, and history.
● These are the following steps in doing a community profile:
○ Consult with the community leaders and members.
○ Identify community issues and attitudes.
○ Establish a general picture of the community.
○ Validate information from the community.
○ Summarize findings.
○ Develop the community profile.
● There are two important aspects in creating a community profile form: themes of
information and sources of information.
● The construction of a community profile should be given importance since it will
contain vital information which can be used for future programs that can benefit
the community as a whole.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Try This!
A. Identification. Read the statement carefully. On the blank provided before each
number, identify what is being described.

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Unit 5: Methodologies and Approaches of Community Actions and Involvements
Across Disciplines I

____________________ 1. Involving community members in this process helps them

deepen their understanding of the community.

____________________ 2. They are interviewed by those gathering information about the

community.

____________________ 3. It may be utilized to show how new projects can impact the
members’ quality of life.

____________________ 4. It is scheduled by the government and involves the collection of

various data.

____________________ 5. It outlines the community’s current job data, businesses, and

economic activities.

____________________ 6. It includes a description of the previous land uses, decisions or

directions about land use, and landholdings.

____________________ 7. Having this helps community leaders and members know what
they can or cannot achieve.

____________________ 8. A community profile encourages having this and emphasizes

what a community is, who is involved, and how they are involved
in sustaining the community.

____________________ 9. Their involvement will greatly help construct a community profile

since their opinions and suggestions will be part of the process.

____________________ 10. This sector includes the community’s sources of local knowledge,
traditional practices, and indigenous languages.

B. Short-Answer Response. Choose the correct community profiling theme where the
following items belong from the choices provided in the box. Write the correct answer
on the blank before each number.

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Unit 5: Methodologies and Approaches of Community Actions and Involvements
Across Disciplines I

environment social aspects

culture economic profile

____________________ 1. Climate and weather patterns in the community

____________________ 2. Health and well-being of community members

____________________ 3. History of the community

____________________ 4. Dominant business sectors in the community

____________________ 5. Demographics of the community

Challenge Yourself
Short-Response Essay. Answer the following questions briefly and coherently.

1. Picture your community and its leaders and members. Fill in the table below with the
corresponding observations you have made in your community.

1. The traditional activities still being practiced by the community up to

the present:
a.
b.

2. The common community interests being developed by the leaders:

a.
b.

3. The data shared by the leaders to members of the community:

a.

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Unit 5: Methodologies and Approaches of Community Actions and Involvements
Across Disciplines I

b.

2. Explain the importance of the members’ awareness of the relevant and important
data in the community. How can community members maintain their participation in
the community?
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

Suggested Rubric for Grading

The rubric below is a suggested one. Your teacher may modify the rubric based on your
needs. Consult your teacher for the final rubric.

Performance Levels

Suggested
Criteria 1 2 3 Score
Weight
Beginning Proficient Advanced
Proficiency Proficiency

Content Less than half of the More than half of All of the answers
answers are logical the answers are are logical and ×3
and plausible. logical and plausible. plausible.

Completeness Less than half of the More than half of All the required
items are present. the items are items are present. ×2
present.

Language Less than half of the More than half of All answers are
answers are the answers are grammatically
grammatically grammatically correct correct and free ×1
correct and free from and free from spelling from spelling errors.
spelling errors. errors.

Total Possible Score 18

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Unit 5: Methodologies and Approaches of Community Actions and Involvements
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Reflect on This
As a member of the youth and your community, how do you think community profiling can
be useful in preserving the cultural history and legacy of the previous generation? Suggest
two ways on how you will be able to promote these within your community with the help of
community profiling.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Photo Credit
Local Community Development by CECAR - Climate and Ecosystems Change Adaptation R is
licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Flickr.

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Unit 5: Methodologies and Approaches of Community Actions and Involvements
Across Disciplines I

Bibliography
Allan, Georgia. “How to Profile Your Community Like a Pro.” Informed Decisions. April 13,
2017.
https://blog.id.com.au/2017/how-to/how-to-profile-your-local-community-like-a-pro.

Department of Health and Human Services Australia. “Community Profiling.” Accessed

February 18, 2021.
https://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/85093/Community_Profilin
g.pdf.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “Rapid Guide for Missions.”
Accessed February 18, 2021. http://www.fao.org/3/a0273e/a0273e07.htm.

Hawtin, Murray, and Janie Percy-Smith. Community Profiling: A Practical Guide: Auditing Social
Needs. UK: McGraw-Hill Education, 2007.

Russel-Edmonds, Jessie. “Creating a Community Profile.” Indigenous Community Planning.

December 2016.
http://indigenousplanningstudio.ca/assets/creating-a-community-profile.pdf.

5.2. Community Profiling 16