RATIONALE

This paper is about doing an academe-based community outreach. The research methodologies involved in the study are particularly identified and highlighted to motivate researchers to translate research activities to benefit the community.

CONTEXT

The headline of a newspaper (Philippine Daily Inquirer, July 15, 2008) goes, “MORE KIDS OUT OF SCHOOL”, Providing education for all eludes RP gov’t. “The percentage of children in primary school was down to 83 percent in the 2006-2007 school year from 90 percent five years earlier, the NSCB said in a study, according to Agence France Presse (AFP).”

The Philippine government will find it difficult to cope with the demands of this particular problem. The academe with its “thousand and one” foot soldiers could easily come to the rescue. It is in this context that an “Empowerment Intervention Program” which is school-research-based is proposed. An upscale to include other communities is the desired future.

CONTENT

A. Methodologies
Using a methodological pluralism approach, the methodologies employed were: Survey, Identification of Place, Secondary Data Collection, Demographics, Focus Group Discussion, Interviews, Participant-Observation Technique, Ethnographic Documentation, and Reporting.

B. Studies
College of the Holy Spirit of Manila in cooperation with Bahay-Tuluyan, Philippines conducts an outreach program for street children in urban and rural settings that includes (1) children’s festival, (2) makeover of children’s quarters, (3) art design of ‘Child at Venture Internet Café’ and (4) healthcare (World Bank Development Marketplace 2007).

Centro Escolar University’s Health and Wellness of the Elderly (in Malolos, Bulacan, a sub-urban setting) seeks to (1) establish normal values and reference range in the clinical chemistry and hematological parameters; (2) measure the extent of drug utilization; (3) know the healthcare practices and establish the health status in terms of oral health, visual acuity, nutritional intake, mental health, and; (4) promote the quality of life of the older people through factors that enhance life satisfaction.

La Consolacion College Manila’s four-year outreach program in Pantabangan, Nueva Ecija, which is north of the Luzon Island, is a community/sustainable development program in partnership with the local government and aims to provide livelihood to constituents while nurturing the watershed of the Pantabangan Dam. In a study for possible community-based ecotourism development at West Pantabangan, a quantitative analysis of the residents, specifically, who they are, how well they identify with the area, what type of tourism they support, and what potential impacts they perceived occurring as a result of ecotourism development.

San Beda College’s Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Program in Pagsanjan, Laguna, which is south of the Luzon island, aims to establish collaborative activities with private businesses and the local government unit (LGU) to help the partner community. It seeks to promote self-reliance and community development through (1) human empowerment for alternative livelihood (HEAL) and (2) Leaders Education for Advancement (LEAD).

C. Reccomendations

Methodologies and innovations used may be replicated. Such may be done for upscaling or may be used as a benchmark for other related trends and issues pertaining to an academe-based community outreach.