Community Development and Divergent Forces in Philippine State Universities and Colleges Developing a Protocol in Evaluating Extension Projects Towards Community Empowerment

Divergent paradigms operate in State Universities and Colleges SUCs, which influence the performance of extension projects towards attainment of full empowerment as the ultimate goal implied by the universally-accepted definition of community development. In particular, a livelihood and environment project of Cebu Normal University (CNU) implemented in Caputatan Norte, Medillin, Cebu, Philippines was assessed based on five (5) primary parameters and two (2) secondary parameters. A novel protocol using Delphi Method shows was developed and used for this particular study, which could be adapted in evaluating the performance of community extension projects. In this particular case, the performance of CNU livelihood and environment project falls between ―demonstration‖ and ―community organizing‖. The evaluation shows that there is still a need to reinforce activities to the ultimate goal. However, it is also implied that the secondary parameters are more robust indicators in assessing the outcomes of the project implementation towards full community empowerment.

Keywords: Community Development, Empowerment, Self-Sufficiency, Dependency, Extension Programs