Publications from ODSW Social Insights: Letters by DSW (Vol 2) | Página 82

Practice Issues
In some instances, a complex situation may require a community to
provide inputs and insights at the right phases but may be better led by an
authority in resolving it. Situations that lend themselves to active community
involvement may be the ones where the community needs to collectively
determine its importance and therefore the amount of resources to invest
into dealing with it. Examples of such situations include littering and safety
in the local community.

2. Agreeing on a common goal
When the issue to be addressed is one that is better resolved, solved or
prevented by a community effort, it is useful to determine how the problem
can be framed. It is critical to ensure a proper understanding of the issue
and its importance. Awareness of an issue is only the beginning. People
may know that it exists but not understand its implications. The next step
is to explain the issue clearly to those it affects by letting them know how it
works, where it is encountered, and what the significance of it is. If provided
with good information, those who come together to work on the issue will
be better able to commit towards a goal. It is useful to set aside time for
the various groups to come to a common goal and to have it written out for
clarity.

3. Developing a strategy
A strategy is a way of describing how the goal is going to be achieved.
It is less specific than an action plan (which tells the who-what-when). A
strategy tries to broadly answer the question, “How do we get there from
here?” A good strategy will take into account existing barriers and resources
(manpower, people dynamics, money, power, materials, etc). There can be
different strategies such as providing information, giving support, removing
barriers or duplications and pooling of resources to achieve the common
goal.
Developing a strategy is one way to focus efforts and figure out how things
will get going or get done. A strategy will try to take advantage of resources
and emerging opportunities, respond to resistance and barriers and will
allow time, energy and resources to be used more efficiently.
To organise community partners to help devise strategies, it is useful to
make gatherings productive with good facilitation and closure on how to
bring contributions and ideas forward. A productive gathering is dependent
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