College of Social Work and Community Development Library
Despite various programs aimed at alleviating poverty, 89% of Filipinos still remain poor, highlighting that infrastructure and livelihood initiatives alone are insufficient without raising awareness among the population. There is a pressing need for programs that promote awareness of local and national realities and foster genuine, mass-based community organizations for collective action. In response, the Office of Continuing Education has developed the program “A Community-Based Participatory Training for Rural Development.” This three-year initiative aims to train social development workers at the grassroots level, emphasizing people’s participation and collective action as key drivers of social change. Utilizing both structured and unstructured training methods, the program will educate leader-organizers to acquire the necessary knowledge, attitudes, and skills (KAS) to effect change in their communities. Two rural barangays will be selected as project sites, where staff will follow phases including preparatory work, social investigation, pre-participatory training, participatory training, and organization building.