Ask local People
Enhancing local life is a team effort that starts with the local people. To truly make a positive impact, it's vital to collaborate with them right from the beginning. Engaging the local People early on is the key to sparking meaningful and successful change.
Imagine if you choose an initiative that doesn't resonate with them—it could mean wasting valuable resources. Conversely, when you and the local folks select a project that genuinely captures their interest, you'll witness increased commitment and active participation.
Let's embark on this journey together, ensuring our efforts align with the local People's needs and priorities.
What do we ask local People?
To understand the challenges of local People, you must talk to them. Below are suggestions of questions to ask. Don’t just get a “yes” or “no” answer; try to understand why a person answers “yes” or “no”. Collect the answers to be able to analyze them. In the next paragraph, i will give you ideas on how to ask these questions.
Are you satisfied with your access to water?
Are you satisfied with your access to clean water?
Are you satisfied with your access to food?
Are you satisfied with the quality of your food?
How is your physical health?
How is the health of your mind?
Are you satisfied with your home?
Are you satisfied with your access to medical care?
Are you satisfied with your knowledge/education level?
What transportation options are available to you, and are they satisfactory?
How would you describe the overall sense of community in your area?
If you could improve one thing locally, what would this be?
Are you struggling with anything in life?
In your daily life, what challenges do you face that impact your well-being?
You mentioned to me several challenges. Which one is the most painful for you?
These are examples of questions. The questions will depend on your context. You can use yes/no type of questions and open-ended questions.
How do we ask local People?
It sounds trivial, but it isn’t. You need to ask People one by one and not as a group. If i ask you a question and there are other People next to you, it could be that the answer you will give is different than if we had a private conversation.
Let me give you some ideas to collect answers:
You could interview local People in the street or go door to door. You record the answers on a paper or a digital device.
You could create a poll in a Telegram group where People can reply anonymously if they want to.
You could create a survey on a platform like Survey Monkey and ask People to fill it out.
You could create a survey, send it by email, and ask People to send it back.
These are just a few ideas, and you can see that technology can help you, especially if you need to reach hundreds of People.
I would advise you to assign one person to create the survey and gather answers. Pick someone good with information. Maybe someone analytical or organized.
Synthesis
As you gather and analyze responses from local People, you may notice that some challenges are consistently mentioned. When a challenge is frequently brought up, it likely signifies its importance to the community and suggests that addressing it should be a priority.
It's crucial to create a priority list of challenges based on the responses of the local People, not your own preconceived prioritization. Consider the following priority list as an example:
People fall ill after drinking tap water.
Insufficient food supply.
Traffic congestion in the city.
Note the framing of these challenges. They are presented as problems because, in this list, we capture challenges rather than propose solutions. Instead of stating, "Improve water quality," it is articulated as "People fall ill after drinking tap water." The emphasis is on expressing these as problems, avoiding causality statements like "People are sick because they drink water from the tap."
At this stage, refrain from delving into solutions. Focus on engaging with local People to understand and clearly articulate their challenges.