Learning Module

In
National Service
Training Program

NSTP-CWTS MODULE
2
ND
SEMESTER A.Y. 2022-2023
 2ND SEM A.Y. 2022-2023
FINAL MODULE

Chapter I: Community Needs Assessment

“The best way to assess yourself is to base the assessment on the product you
produce daily.” -Sunday Adelaja

Lesson 1:
-Knowing the Community
- Sociological Concept of a Community
-Aesthetic and Moral Values of a Community
Lesson 2:
-Community Needs Assessment
-Steps in conducting a Community Needs Assessment
-Data gathering Methods for Community Needs Assessment
 COMMUNITY NEEDS ASSESSMENT

’’The best way to assess yourself is to base the assessment on the product you
produce daily.’’ -Sunday Adelaja

--------------------------------------LEARNING OUTCOMES ----------------------------

At the end of this chapter, the learners should be able to:

1. Determine the concept of community;

2. Apply the purpose of a community needs assessment in building ah

community program; and

3. Demonstrate the process of conducting a community needs assessment.

----------------------------------------GETTING STARTED ------------------------------

This chapter presents the concept of community and community needs

assessment. It primarily focuses on conducting ah community needs assessment,
which is necessary for determining areas for improvement, solving problems, and
developing goals.

-------------------------------------------- LET US TALK ----------------------------------

Knowing the community

Community is simply defined as a group of people with common interests

living together in the same place. This term is derived from the old French word
comunit’e and the Latin term communitas, which are broad terminologies for
fellowship, commonness, unstructured society, or organized society.

The most common and simplest definition of community is that it is an

aggregation of families and individuals who have settled in a compact and
contiguous geographical area and share significant elements of common life, as
shown in their manners, customs, traditions, and modes of speech. For Manalili
(2009), a community refers to an organization of people who can undertake projects
based on its members experiences, resiliency, motivation, and willingness to learn.
In archeology, community is understood in two ways. First, it is a place where
people physically reside in, which is an idea similar to the concept of ancient
settlements. Second, it is a group of individuals who live near and interact with each
other. An active community is an organization of people who strategize,
conceptualize, implement and evaluate a program (Bunagan, Acibo, Villasoto, &
Rodriguez, 2009). The definition of community may vary, but certain commonalities
are noticeable when explaining and describing its concept (Norman, 1998).

In Genesis 1:27 of the Old Testament, the word community encompasses all of
God’s creation in the universe, including man and woman, whom He created in His
own image. He allowed them to have dominion over all living things and Garden of
Eden so that it could be guarded and cultivated. Man and woman are not created to
live in isolation from one another. The first framework established in understanding
the essence of a community concentrates on the relationship of the lord with His
creation.

Sociological Concept of a Community

Sociologically speaking, the family is the smallest unit of a society. It is

composed of immediate and non-immediate members, whereas a community is
composed of different families who live in the same place and share the same
interests. The activities of a family that are also conducted by a community include
sharing common resources, working for the common good, and building harmonious
relationships.

These central qualities of a family are also the basic building blocks of any
community. It is believed that stronger families help develop stronger communities.
An individual person can form a family, a family can form a community, and a
community can form a nation.

Aesthetic and Moral Values of a Community

The aesthetic and moral values of community consist of the ideas that its
members hold (e.g., how they know what is good from bad, beautiful from ugly, and
right and wrong). The justification for the set of values of communities are
necessary in explaining their actions.

As a community develops, its value change. A change in values ma result

from innovation in technology or the social hierarchy. Examples of values include
solidarity, commitment, mutuality, and trust.

It was Greek philosopher Aristotle who first postulated the concept of

community as a group established by people with shared values. That initial
definition has been refined and expanded throughout the years. It has been
recognized, for example, that people can belong to different types of communities:
(1) communities of place, in which people are linked in the geographical sense;(2)
communities of memory, in which people who may technically be strangers share a
morally significant history; and (3) communities of face-to-face personal interaction,
in which people are governed by sentiments of trust, cooperation, and altruism
(Boyles, 1998).
 How, the, can a community be understood at the beginning of the 21 st century?
How it will be understood in the future?

Community Needs Assessment

A community needs assessment is a process in witch the problems, issues,

and concerns of a community are identified through the use of several tools. A
needs assessment, social analysis, or community diagnosis is a concrete basis for the
formulation of programs. It reflects the sentiments, needs, aspirations and,
recommendations of the community. It becomes significant when it is conducted as
the students get immersed with the people. Assessing the needs of a community is a
prelude to effective program implementation. It helps solve the problems, issues,
and concerns of the people in the locality.

In determining the areas for improvement in a community, the following steps

should be performed:

1. Gather information about the community’s attitudes and opinions in order

of importance.

2. Determine how the citizens rank local issues, problems, and opportunities.

3. Give the citizens a voice in determining policies, goals, and priorities.

4. Evaluate the community’s current programs and policies.

5. Speculate on what the people are thinking and what they may really want.

Steps in Conducting a Community Needs Assessment

1. Establish a working committee to solicit community involvement, and develop a

plan of action.

2. List the important aspects or areas that need to be analyzed.

3. Identify the population to be surveyed.

4. Determined the information needed.

5. Select a random sample of people to survey.

6. Develop and pre-test a questionnaire.

7. Collate the information gathered.

8. Analyze the data.

9. Go back to the community to validate results or findings.

10. Finalize the report.

Data Gathering Methods for Community Needs Assessment

1. Focus groups discussion (FGF) by key informants

The key informants of a community are the people who hold socially relevant
positions, such as educators, public officials, clergymen, business representatives, or
volunteers.

2. Community forum or assembly

This involves holding group events that include the entire community
such events give visibility to the leaders and raise the status of the community;
however, they require extensive planning and publicity. Participatory action research
uses this method effectively.

3. Public records

Public records, such as the national census, provided social and

demographic data of the community. The data included the profile of the population,
such as age and gender., educational level, among others.

4. Survey

Surveys and questionnaires involve asking individuals in the community

about their everyday needs. These can be implemented through the following:

a. Mailing questionnaires to randomly selected members of the

community

b. Doing telephone surveys

c. Handing out questionnaires during assemblies

d. Posting questionnaire on the internet

Needs Assessment survey

A needs assessment survey is conducted to identify community needs that

are necessary for subsequent actions. This survey contains a set of questions to be
answered by the people in the community through personal or telephone interviews,
online or face-to-face surveys, or email or written correspondences. The following
data are gathered in a needs assessment survey:

1. Historical data
 2. Geographical data
3. Political and legal data
4. Demographic data (e.g., age,size,race,growth patterns,and population
distribution)
5. Economic data (e.g., the nature of economic base in relation to the
social,cultural,educational,moral,and cultural superstructure).

Roles of a Community in a Needs assessment

1. Help identify interest groups and citizens who can be a part of working
committees
2. Facilitate a group discussion to determine important issues and priorities
3. Select the sample to be surveyed, and design a system to identify the
respondents
4. Provide a pool of question from witch the working committees will draw
upon addressing issues upon concerns
5. Design a way of distributing and collecting survey questionnaires and
encoding and analyzing the resulting data
6. Provide summary reports of data
7. Suggest programs whereby results can be solicited
8. Work with citizen to come up with well-informed courses of action

-----------------------------------------SUMMING UP ------------------------------------

A community needs assessment identifies the strengths and resources

available in the community to meet the needs of children, the youth, and families. A
community assessment is a systematic examination of the community status
indicators of a given population that are used to identify key problems and assets in
a community.
--------------------------------------WORK ON THESE ----------------------------------

Name:____________________________Course and Level: ________________

Facilitator: ____________________________Date ___________________________

A. APPLICATION

Instruction: Draw a spot map of your barangay and label it.

Name:_______________________________Course and Level ________________

Facilitator: ____________________________ Date: _________________________

B. REFLECTION

Instruction: Write your reflection on the spaces provided.

1. The aesthetic and moral values of a community consist of the ideas that its
members hold as well a the justification necessary in explaining their actions. What
other aesthetic values can you think of?

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2. Why is the family considered the smallest unit of society?

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Name: _________________________________Course and Level:
_______________

Facilitator: _____________________________Date: _______________________

C. EXERCISE

Instruction: Write the letter that corresponds to the correct answer on the space
provided before each number.

______1. Which of the following refers to a group of people who share the same
interests and live in the same district or locality?

a. City-state c. Culture
b. Community d. Society

______2. Which of the following is not designed to live in isolation?

a. Angel c. Creation
b. Community d. Man

______3. What is the basic building block of any community?

a. City-state c. Nation
b. Family d. Society

______4. Which of the following is the process in witch the problems, issues, and
concerns of a community are identified through the use of assessment tools?

a. Community documentation
b. Community assessment
c. Community immersion
d. Community monitoring

______5. Which of the following statements is not a part of the steps in determining
the areas for improvement in a community?

a. Gather information about the citizen’s attitudes and options in order of

importance.
b. Determine how the citizens rank issues, problems, goals, and priorities.
c. Evaluate the community’s current programs and projects.
d. Monitor the community program.

______6. What is the area of focus in identifying the needs of a community in

general?
 a. Geographical data
b. Religious practices
c. Social and economic aspect
d. Laws

______7. Who can give credible and relevant information about a community?

a. Key informants c. public records

b. Community forums d. surveys

______8. What is the community needs assessment instrument that uses

questionnaires?

a. Surveys c. Forums
b. Public records d. Assemblies

______9. Which of the following is a type of documented information that, if update

and validated, can provide the social and demographic data of a community?

a. Books c. public records

b. Guide questions d. Surveys

______10. What type of data provides the surveyed population’s age, size, race,
growth, patterns, and distribution?

a. Economic data c. Geographical data

b. Political data d. Demographic data

______11. Which of the following is the process in which the problems, issues, and
concerns of a community are identified through the use of several tools?

a. Community maps
b. Community assessment
c. Community needs
d. Community monitoring

______12. Which of the following is not a step in conducting a community needs

assessment?

a. Analyze the data

b. Select a random sample
c. Justify the population needed
d. Finalize the report

______13. Which philosopher first postulated the concept of community?

a. Plato c. Aristotle
b. Socrates d. St. Thomas Aquinas
______14. According to the first concept of community, people belong to different
types of communities. Which of the following is not considered a type of community?

a. Community of place
b. Community of memory
c. Community of ecology
d. Community of personal interaction
______15. which field of study defines the family as the smallest unit of society?

a. Anthropology c. Sociology
b. Forensics d. History