Situation: A team of public health nurses organizes a low-income farming barangay using Community Organizing Participatory Action Research (COPAR). The team has already completed its site selection and courtesy calls. Two years later, the elected health committee has completed a latrine project on its own. The members now want funds and technical help to build a water system. Which activity should the nurses facilitate at this point?

The organization already exists and has carried out a project, so the process is in the sustenance and strengthening phase. Networking and linkaging with the local government, technical offices, and non-governmental organizations helps the organization mobilize resources on its own. The nurses facilitate the link; they do not take over the organization's work.

The community organization has already demonstrated its capacity by completing a latrine project independently. This places the group in the sustenance and strengthening phase of COPAR, where the primary role of the nurse shifts from direct implementation to facilitation and resource linkage. The elected health committee is not asking the nurses to do the work for them; they are asking for help connecting to external resources, which is exactly the kind of capacity-building support appropriate at this stage.

The correct action is to link the committee with the municipal engineering office and NGOs, because the organization must learn to mobilize resources on its own rather than depend on the nurse team. Writing the funding proposal for them (option 1) would create dependency and undermine the group’s ownership. Holding a new election (option 3) is unnecessary because a functioning committee already exists. Repeating the community study (option 4) is also inappropriate since the need for a water system has already been identified by the community itself.

The evidence from community capacity-building research supports this approach. In the evaluation of community mobilization during the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors worked with community anchor organizations to coordinate sessions, rather than delivering services directly to residents ^[1]. The health promoters’ role was to create conditions for local organizations to act, not to replace them. Similarly, the knowledge mobilisation framework for citizen science emphasizes that building capacity means strengthening the community’s own ability to access knowledge, partnerships, and resources, not performing those functions on their behalf ^[2]. When practitioners act as connectors rather than implementers, communities gain the confidence and networks needed for sustained action.

Nurse action	Effect on community capacity	Appropriate in sustenance phase?
Write funding proposal themselves	Creates dependency; community does not learn resource acquisition	No
Link committee to engineering office and NGOs	Builds networks; community negotiates and manages resources	Yes
Hold new election	Disrupts existing leadership; implies current committee is inadequate	No
Repeat community study	Delays action; ignores already-identified priority	No

Key point! In the sustenance and strengthening phase, the nurse’s role is to facilitate linkages, not to take over tasks. The health committee has already proven it can complete projects; now it needs access to technical and financial partners.

Watch out! Do not confuse “helping the community” with “doing the work for the community.” Submitting a proposal on their behalf may feel supportive, but it prevents the organization from developing the very skills it needs for long-term sustainability. The community organizing literature consistently identifies external control as a threat to ownership and continuity ^[1][2].