Organize the Community for Action

Factors which influence participation ¹

An individual’s decision to participate in collective action for health is based on a number of factors; some are community related and others are personal. This section briefly summarizes examples of both.

Community-related factors

• The magnitude of the problem: an objective measure of the prevalence or extent of the problem.
• A history of community support: includes the presence of organizations or agencies involved in the issue, the presence of traditional systems for dealing with the issue, the amount of effort and resources expended on the issue in a defined period of time by any sources within the community.
• The existence of personal networks: similar to the above item, this factor refers to the number, strength and connectedness of various networks people belong to in the community, whether any of these extend beyond the community (and could be sources of support and resources), and the presence of leaders in such networks.
• The availability of resources related to the issue: includes the availability of information about the issue within the community, the presence of channels of communication that carry information about the issue, the amount of money and other resources available for the community to use in addressing the issue, and the presence of alternative practices/behaviors that could substitute for or alleviate the problem.
• A history of external support: includes past and present policy, legal, financial, or infrastructure support from outside the community for the issue (e.g., donor funding, technical assistance, enforcement, staffing of local health service sites, supplies).
• Prior community action: the extent to which collective action, in general and/or specific to the issue, has previously occurred in the community. This factor is sometimes called collective efficacy, the belief that the group/community is capable of accomplishing a task by working together. It is obviously influenced by some of the previous factors.
• Subjective norms: refers to perceptions of what other people do or think should be done about a particular issue, including the perception of how acceptable collective action is on this issue.



RWANDA: The Dependency Syndrome A unique feature of SC's work in war torn Rwanda was a philosophy of nonmaterial assistance. At a time when millions of dollars were flowing into the country to respond to the Rwandan tragedy, SC focused its energies on building the community's capacity to identify and care for children and did not supply traditional material emergency relief. This decision was based on the belief that there was a greater need to encourage self-reliance in order to avoid what is typically referred to as a "dependence syndrome" in emergencies. In the direct aftermath of the war, many community members were not interested in participating in an activity that did not provide immediate material benefits. Once material assistance begin to dwindle, however, communities were appreciative of SC's approach and felt empowered to care for the children in their communities without outside assistance. "As an individual I could do nothing," one member of a Rwandan community observed. "As a group we could find a way to solve each other's problems."

Personal factors

• Personal involvement: the degree to which people have direct personal experience with an issue.
• Perceived self-efficacy: refers to a person’s belief that he/ she is personally capable of performing a particular task.
• Prior personal participation in collective action: the number of times people have done something as a group, either in a generic sense or with regard to the issue at hand.
• Strength of identification with the community: the degree to which people recognize the group affected by an issue as a community, and/or the degree to which they feel they belong to the group affected by the issue in question.
• Perceived consequences of change: refers to an individual’s perception of what the consequences of change are vis-à-vis the issue. What will happen to me if I do this? If I don’t? If my community does/does not? What are the costs and benefits for me/my community?

Each of the personal factors may be positive or negative, strong or weak in any given situation. The stronger and more positive they are, the more likely people in the community are to want to participate and to actually take part in collective action. Some of the predictors may be positive, but if they are outweighed by a particularly strong negative factor, intent will remain low. For example, a person may believe that digging a community well would be beneficial (positive consequence) and that his/her neighbors think so, too, but if he/she doesn’t think the equipment needed to dig a well is available (availability of resources), the intent to act will remain low.

Raising awareness
Overcoming barriers and resistance to participation