Practical Questions for Community Builders

This list of questions has been developed to assess success factors in community building.

Reproduced with permission from:

Mattessich, P and Monsey, B Community Building: What makes it Work: a review of factors influencing successful community building. Amherst, Wilder Research Center, 1997.

Characteristics of the Community

1A. Community awareness of an issue

• Are the objectives for your community building project based ion immediate concerns of the neighbourhood? Can we broaden them out latter into a more comprehensive effort?
• Do community members understand - and are they aware of - how the issues affect them?

1B. Motivation from Within the Community

• Does the motivation already exist in the community?
• Do people in our community have the interest to work together to address the issue?
• Do the goals and tasks in our community building effort come directly from community members?

1C. Small Geographic Area

• Is the focus of activity within a defined and manageable geographic area?
• Do the people we are working with consider themselves part of the same community?

1D. Flexibility and Adaptability

• Are community members open to change?
• Do community norms place rigid restrictions on the methods of a community building process? Are there ways to lessen or remove these restrictions?
• Can we switch tasks, goals, objective if necessary?
• Are we stuck thinking about the issue or the process of community building in one way?

1E. Pre-existing Social Cohesion

• Is the re a stable population of people to work with, or are people continually moving in and out?
• Do organisations or associational groups (religious, sports, business, other) operate effectively in the community? Can they be tapped into as a resource for a community building effort?
• Are there particular groups in the community that are not well connected? Are there ways to strengthen the interrelationships among these groups so all residents can participate more fully?
• Do any commonly held values among community members offer a basis for building cohesion? (for example the desire for better health services or education?)

1F. Ability to Discuss, Reach Consensus and Cooperate

• Do the people in this community have a history of working together to solve problems or help people?
• Do activities offer community members the opportunity to practice open dialogue, develop trust, and increase group decision making skills?

1G. Exisitng, Identifiable Leadership

• Does the community have members who are already taking on visible leadership positions (scout leaders, religious leaders, people who organise community events)? Are theses people available and interested in doing additional community building work?
• Does the community have a reservoir of leadership, as yet overlooked?
• What would it take to involve and train people who have not taken on leadership roles in the past?

1H. Prior Success with Community Building

• Does this community have a history of working with community building? Was it a successful experience?
• If it was unsuccessful, what needs to be done to increase trust and confidence in the present community building process?
• If the community has no experience what is the best way to get started, taking some small steps, rather than moving immediately into a full blown initiative?

2. Characteristics of the Community Building Process

2A. Widespread Participation

• Do the people participating in the community building initiative represent the population? Are there some groups in the community not involved? How will this affect problem solving and decision making?
• Do mechanisms exist to help new participants feel accepted and part of the process?
• Does enough energy go into ongoing recruitment and outreach?
• What options exist to reach out to groups not already involved?

2B. Good Systems of Communication

• Does communication about community building activities occur in a timely way?
• Is communications part of the overall communitybuildling process and not just an addon responsibility?
• Does the community building effort have a variety of techniques an strategies to reach as many people as possible?

2C. Minimal Competition in Pursuit of Goal

• Do multiple community building efforts presently exist in the same community? Do they all have similar activities working with the same people? Is this a source of conflict?
• Are leadership and resources in this community building effort stretched because of competition between the groups?

2D. Develop Self-Understanding

• Do community members agree in important aspects of their identity? Who they represent? What geographical areas they represent? What their purpose is?
• Do community members have a clear understanding of priorities?
• Does a fair process exist for decision making?
• Do group members know what steps need to occur to accomplish tasks and ultimately reach goals?

2E. Benefits to many residents

• Do goals and activities reflect the needs of most of the members of the community?
• Do people know about the benefits expected from the community building activities and goals?

2F. Focus on Product and Process Concurrently

• Is there a balance in the community building effort between achieving ultimate goals and paying attention to process?
• Does the community have funding available for the process of community building that is not tied to goals?

 2G. Linkages to Organisations Outside the Community

• Do community members have formal and informal links to people and organisations in government and other communities? If not, can the community develop these links?
• Should people from outside the community be invited to join in the community building effort(for example, as members of a board or committee?
• Do we have efforts going on to build relationships with outside agencies, political officials, the media, and funders as relationships are built within the community?
• Have we examined other community building efforts to learn from them?

2H. Progression from Simple to Complex Activities

• Are the activities planned for this effort reasonable, given community members' ability to accomplish tasks?
• Does this community building effort have both long and short term goals as a way to develop community members skills?

2I. Systematic Gathering of Information and Analysis of Community Issues

• Does the community building effort have enough information about the issues on the community to take action?
• Would additional information about community issues help direct discussions? Provide background for developing solutions? Assist in solving problems and developing consensus?

2J. Training to Gain Community Building Skills

• What training do participants need in this community building effort? How can it be obtained?
• Do participants see a need for training in a particular area? What would be most beneficial?
• Is training an ongoing part of the community building process (tasks, activities, meetings are considered a learning experience), or is it a one-time effort?
• Doe experienced participants train new people?

2K. Early Involvement and Support from Existing, Indigenous Organizations

• Can we recruit these groups What organizations or groups in the community, such as religious congregations, parent-teacher groups, or business associations, have strong ties to the community?
• How to help with the community building effort?

2L. Use of Technical Assistance

• Could we advance our community building process faster with the help of an outside expert?
• Do we want technical assistance experts to just provide information or a servie or do we want them to also be teachers?
• Will the technical experts we hire support our community building process?

2M. Continual Emergence of Leaders, as Needed

• Does this community building effort rely too heavily on the person who provided the spark for initiating the group?
• What needs does our effort have for leadership from multiple sources, and for leaders with different styles?

2N. Community Control Over Decision Making

• Do we have the flexibility in this community building effort to make decisions about how best to use funds.?
• What are the needs and agendas of our funders? Do they coincide with our needs?

2O. The Right Mix of Resources

• Is the community building effort being overwhelmed by too many resources and not being allowed to build its internal strength?
• Is the community building effort at a point where it needs outside resource to grow?
• Does the community building effort include an investment of resources from within the community?

3. Characteristics of Community Building Organizers

• Do the organizers for this community building effort understand how decisions are made in the community?
• Do the organizers for this community building effort understand the social norms, values, and culture of the community?
• Do the organizers of this community building effort understand the demographic make-up of different groups in the community and how they relate to one another?
• Do organizers of this effort understand the needs, frustrations, and problems facing the community?

3B. Sincerity of Commitment

• Do the organizers for this community building effort have the best interest of the community in mind?
• Do community members believe the orgnaizers are fair?
• Do the organizers spend time in the community getting to know people?
• Do the organizsers plan to be involved over a long period of time?
• Do the organizers stay with the effort even through the hard times to help the community overcome obstacles?

3C. A Relationship of Trust

• Has the organizer spent time developing relationships with people in the community?
• Does the person organizing this community building initiative have the skills to build trusting relationships with community members?
• Does the community organizer favour some community members over others?
• Does the community organizer have the same goals and mission as the rest of the community members?
• Do community members trust the organizer will follow through on commitments?

3D. Level of Organizing Experience

• What type of experience do we want a community organizer to have?
• Do community organizer candidates for this effort have the experience needed?
• Is there training or technical assistance available to fill in the gaps in the organizer's experience?

3E. Able to be Flexible and Adaptable

• Are the organizers able to adapt to changing situations, people, politics, and social climates?
• Are the organizers and the organizations they represent flexible in their approach and able to adapt to the needs of the community?