Community Engagement A Continuing Partnership for Grassroots

Linkages and collaborative efforts of organizations, groups, or institutions are avenues for community development. The convergence of private and government organizations and educational institutions cultivate their nurturing pursuits for the community. One of the elements of good governance is the partnership of groups that results in benefits for the community. In this study, an institutional community extension project for a grassroots community in Naga City, Camarines Sur, Philippines was evaluated in terms of its processes, effectiveness of training for trainers/facilitators, and level of knowledge gained by beneficiaries after the training. The study used the descriptive method of research and weighted mean as the statistical tool to interpret data. Findings show that the adoption of the Governance Model may be replicated, training of trainers developed competent facilitators and trainers, and the beneficiaries gained high knowledge of Governance and very high knowledge of Entrepreneurial education. The partnership of an educational institution with a non-government organization positively influenced beneficiaries to engage in the extension project and equipped them with knowledge on managing their businesses. Capacitating the trainers on the project processes made them more competent. There is a need for an improved institutional procurement process and budget allocation for community extension projects to maintain the level of motivation and participation of the beneficiaries. The project team and the NGO’s commitment to closely monitor the beneficiaries is highly encouraged. An assessment has to be conducted two years after the project to determine the impact of the project on the beneficiaries.

Keywords –Convergence, Evaluation, Outcomes, Partnership