Health Professionals > CAPIR

Core Module 1 - CAPIR Introduction

In this module:

About CAPIR
The CAPIR Process
How is the CAPIR Website Organised?
The CAPIR 'Process Drivers'
Tools, Readings and Links

About CAPIR

The Community Action, Planning and Information Resource (CAPIR) is a learning resource that helps individuals and communities to solve problems.

CAPIR doesn't give you the answers to your problems but leads you through a process that helps you to identify and solve problems unique to your community. This process is simple and effective and actually helps things happen in a community.

The CAPIR process recognises and respects the knowledge, skills and abilities present in all communities. The process acts as a support for community action and encourages you to 'learn by doing'.

Working through the CAPIR process helps individuals and communities to control their own future and become less dependent on Government.

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Origins of CAPIR

The Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care funded Public Health Services (now Population Health Branch), Queensland Health to develop a way to support community planning around public health issues. The Community Public Health Planning in Rural and Remote Areas Project was put in place to do this.

Community health is related to many factors such as social, environmental and economic issues. The CAPIR project aimed to support communities while they tried to solve problems arising from these issues. Normally, there are many government departments involved with these issues. This resource had to support relationships and partnerships that crossed departmental boundaries so communities could access the most appropriate help for their particular issues. The library module called Health Development has more information.

Public Health Services' staff worked with many communities across rural and remote Queensland on the Community Public Health Planning in Rural and Remote Areas Project. The lessons learned from that project were used to develop the CAPIR process and this website.

As both the community members and government workers involved 'learned by doing', it became clear that others could benefit from access to this simple, effective process that actually helped things happen in communities. As well, many government departments, individuals and private organisations contributed to the generic skills modules in the resource. Each module acknowledges the person and organisation that developed it.

Who can use CAPIR?

CAPIR was designed for use by community representatives, government and other workers who have the responsibility of helping a community through a planning process and subsequent community-based action.

CAPIR caters for those completely new to all community planning through to experienced facilitators looking for a process that works.

Foundations of CAPIR

The CAPIR process is based on important research such as Participatory Action Research (PAR) and established methods such as community development and community capacity building.

The related reading section contains more information about the PAR process and these methods.

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The CAPIR Process

The CAPIR process is based on generating action, which then generates change.

Before you start this process in a community, you need to consider these important factors:

Entering a community or another group requires time.
Before you enter a community, you should gain the support of community-based champions.
Your entry to the community should result in finding a group of people interested in working for the good of their community. These people could form a new group or there may already be an established group with this aim. The Community Entry and Participation library modules give more information about this.

The community-based group should take the time to discuss and document:

what they hope to do and what they hope to learn
the rights and responsibilities that accompany being a member of a group. The Rights and Responsibilities core module provides more information.
the values under which the group will operate. The Values core module provides more information.

Throughout the CAPIR process, the activities and actions that are generated by the process are evaluated against community and group values.

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How is the CAPIR Website Organised?

CAPIR has two major sections - the library modules and the core modules.

The library modules are general interest, skill-based modules that also provide references to other resources and Internet links to relevant sites. These modules can be accessed anytime during the program to help users increase their knowledge and skills.

These modules cover topics such as group skills, Internet skills, participation, and negotiation skills.

To get the most out of this resource, communities are encouraged to record their own information and learnings as they work through the steps of the process. These steps encourage communities to complete tasks, review what they have learned, and change any future plans in response to the lessons learned. The first plans might be rough and simple, but more complex plans will evolve as the community acts, reflects on its actions, and develops new plans.

The core modules lead the user through the CAPIR process. The process is based on action (ie. 'learning by doing'). The end result of this process is that the community develops new knowledge about solving its problems.

The first three core modules (CAPIR Introduction, Community Entry and Values) are very important. It is highly recommended that you work through these modules before you use the other core modules.

Although the core modules are presented sequentially, communities can choose to access the most appropriate module for their needs. For example, the community may have been through a planning process recently and may wish to go straight to the Fields of Action module. Although it's not necessary to go over old ground, the CAPIR process may provide new information or insights.

In working through the process, inclusivity and deliberate work based on mutual respect and responsibility should be emphasised. If the developmental work of the early modules has not been done carefully, significant outcomes of the mobilisation process may not be achieved.

Each core module consists of introductory material that explains the aims of the module and the 'Process Driver'. The Process Drivers are described in the next section of this module.

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The CAPIR 'Process Drivers'

The letters R (Reflecting), I (Interpreting), D (Deciding), A (Acting) and E (Evaluating) represent the stages of the action cycle for each core module. These letters and the actions they represent make up the 'Process Driver'.

The 'Process Driver' drives the community planning and action process by providing:

strategic questions to guide your discussions and action
a way of recording your answers to these questions and documenting any work you carry out.

You can start your community planning at any stage of the action cycle but it is best to complete all stages in one module before moving on to the next module.

The core modules are complete in themselves and once you have done the highly recommended modules (CAPIR Introduction, Community Entry and Values), you can work through the modules in any order. However, the content of each core module is based on the modules that proceed it. At the beginning and end of each core module there are recommendations about what information it would be best to have before proceeding, and which module you might like to go to next. It is important to understand that these are guidelines only.

The exciting thing about this process is that it helps communities come up with new information to solve their problems, and it may just change the way you work!

Work through the 'Process Driver' for this module to get an understanding of the basic format for each core module.

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