Step 3 of 7
Other Opportunities
What else is possible?
In addition to your existing and coming opportunities, are there any other opportunities you’ve not yet explored? One of the ways you can discover new opportunities is to learn what the needs are in your community.
Who should be involved
The whole community: leadership, staff, Elders, members and youth, plus local businesses and anyone whose life could be affected by what you decide.
What you’ll need
Your Step 1 asset inventory, your Step 2 opportunity tracker, any reports or studies about your community, a place to meet, and the Step 3 worksheets.
You’ll finish with
A list of your community’s needs, the root causes behind them, and an agreed set of priorities and opportunities to pursue first.
01 · LEARN
Opportunities you haven’t explored yet
Look at your community and territory with fresh eyes. Is there an opportunity to meet a need your community already has, or to offer something no one is offering yet?
Tourism experiences
Sharing your land, culture and stories with visitors, on your terms.
Fishing and hunting
Guiding, outfitting and services built on knowledge your community already holds.
Agriculture and husbandry
Growing food and raising animals for your community and for sale.
Space for manufacturing
Land or buildings that could host making, building or processing.
A grocery store
Fresh, affordable food close to home, and money that stays in the community.
Other products and services
Whatever your growing community needs and currently goes elsewhere to get.
What is a need?
A need is the distance between where things are now and where your community wants them to be. Some needs are practical, like safe housing or a way to get to town. Others are harder to see, like people wanting their knowledge and experience to be valued.
Every need is also a possible opportunity. Once you know what your community needs, you can begin making plans to meet those needs through businesses, or in collaboration with businesses that want to work with you or in your territory.
Why needs come third
In this process, we choose to assess needs after we know what community assets we have and what projects are coming. That way your community sees its needs alongside the strengths and opportunities it already has.
Needs change over time. Plan to look at them again regularly.
Before you begin: plan how you will listen
A little planning makes sure you hear from the whole community, not only the loudest voices.
- Who will we hear from? Make room for Elders, youth, families, staff, businesses and people who don’t usually speak up.
- How will we reach them? Gatherings, home visits, phone calls, a short survey, or a mix.
- Who will ask the questions and keep the notes? Give helpers any guidance they need first.
- When will we finish? Set a simple timeline, and share the plan with the community before you start.
- How will we share what we learn? Decide now how the results will come back to the community.
02 · GATHER
Four community activities
Work through these in order. A and B tell you what your community needs; C and D show you why, and what you could do about it.
ACTIVITY A
Start with what is already known
A lot of information about your community probably exists already. Gather it before asking anyone new:
- Census and other government statistics
- Health information and reports
- Studies by provincial governments, agencies or other organizations
- Your own Step 1 and Step 2 records
Note what is missing. That tells you what to ask the community.
Worksheet 3A · Needs assessment
ACTIVITY B
Ask the community
- Use the plan you made in “Before you begin.”
- Ask people what is missing in their lives and in the community, and what they would like to see.
- Listen for needs that are hard to see as well as practical ones.
- Bring everything together into one list of needs.
Worksheet 3A · Needs assessment
ACTIVITY C
Find the root causes
To solve a problem well, learn where it really comes from. For each important need:
- Describe the problem in plain words.
- Ask “why does this happen?” and keep asking until you reach a cause you can act on.
- List what is holding change back, and what is pushing it forward.
- Note who is affected, and who could help make change.
Worksheet 3B · Root causes
ACTIVITY D
Turn needs into opportunities
For each need and its root cause, ask:
- Could a community business meet this need?
- Could we meet it in collaboration with a business that wants to work with us or in our territory?
- Which of our assets from Step 1 could help?
- Does a project from Step 2 open a door?
Worksheet 3C · Opportunities list
03 · DECIDE
Agree on your priorities together
You won’t be able to do everything at once. Agree on how you will choose first, then choose together.
- Which needs affect the most people, or affect people most seriously?
- Which needs are we ready and able to act on now, with the assets we have?
- Which opportunities would meet a real need and bring lasting benefit?
- Which opportunities fit our values and protect our land?
- What are our top priorities, and what is the first step for each?
Worksheet 3D · Priorities
Agree on your criteria first
Before ranking anything, agree as a group on what matters most. For example:
- How many people it affects, and how seriously
- Whether we can realistically make a difference
- The resources it will take
- Whether the community is ready
- The long-term benefit
Make sure every voice counts
Some people may be new to this kind of process or reluctant to disagree. Draw them out. Their knowledge of the community often matters most. Make sure final choices are truly agreed upon.
04 · RECORD
Your Step 3 workbook
Capture your needs, root causes and priorities in the Step 3 workbook. It becomes the third chapter of your community’s plan.
- 3ANeeds assessment
- 3BRoot causes
- 3COpportunities list
- 3DPriorities
Would it be helpful to work with someone?
ICDPRO’s team can facilitate your community needs assessment and priority-setting sessions.