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Dynamics of Community Organizing in Two Community Forestry Projects in Region 2
Dissertation Abstract:
The study was conducted among 110 Community Forestry Project (CFP) participants in Region 1; 72 in Bitag Grande, Baggao, Cagayan; and 38 in Kadikitan, Landingan, Nagtipunan, Quirino, all in the Philippines, from December 1995 to March 1996. The objectives were to: 1) document, analyze, and make a comparative analysis of the processes of community organizing in two community forestry projects; 2) identify the variables that influence the empowerm ent of people's organization(POs); and 3) assess the relationship of the characteristics of member, community organizers (COs) in effectin g empowerment of people's organization. Retrospective process analysis was used to capture the context and process of community organizing undertaken in the CFP s ites. Data were collected through a combination of indi vidual survey, focused group interviews, direct observation, and review of secondary data sources such as monthly, quarterly, and annual accomplishment reports of the assisting organizations and minutes of meetings of the POs. Descriptive statistics (e.g., mean, frequencies, percentages, and ranges) were used to analyze the independent and dependent variables while Spearman correlation and phi coefficient analyses were done to determine the association of members, community, and COs' characteristics with the measures of empowerment such as decision-making, local resource management, linkage, participation, and overall empowerment. The significant independent variables were then subjected to multiple regression analysis to identify the major determinants of overall empowerment and its measures.
The majority of the respondents perceived a moderate level of empowerment of their POs. Significant factors affecting empowerment measures and overall empowerment varied in the two CFP sites. Based on the results, leadership style, membership in organization, form of communication, and CO's attitude toward the community were the significant factors affecting decision-making in Bitag Grande. No variable was significantly related to decision-making in Kadikitan.
Tenurial status, distance of community to the town proper, need for community organizing, membership in organization, and the CO's skills in organizing, resource generation, planning, overall community organizing, and technical capability were the significant factors related to local resource management in Bitag Grande. Except for distance of community to the town proper, all variables were positively related. In Kadikitan, the distance of community to the town, the CO's organizing skills, resource generation ski ll s, planning skills, overall community organizing skills and technical capability were negatively and significantly associated with local resource management.
For linkage, the significant variables were distance of community to the town, CO's organizing and overall community organizing skills, and technical capability in Bitag Grande while in Kadikitan it was the CO's organizing skills. All associations in Bitag Grande were positive but negative in Kadikitan. Educational attainment and overall community organizing skills were the significant factors associated with participation in Bitag Grande and household size and need for community organizing in Kadikitan.
For the overall empowerment, members' educational attainment, awareness on community organizing, form of communication, CO's organizing skills, planning skills, overall community organizing skills, and attitude toward the community were the significant factors in Bitag Grande. Form of communication was the only factor significant in Kadikitan. Of the signi ficant variab les, the fo llowing were identified as major determinants of empowerment in Bitag Grande: membership in organ ization and COs' attitude towards the community for decision-making; need for community organizing, COs' organizing skills, and COs' overall community organizing skills for local resource management; technical capability for linkage development; members' educational attainment for participation; and members educational attainment and COs' attitude towards the community for overall empowerment.
In Kadikitan, only local resource management had a significant determinant, which was the distance of community to the town.