Community Profiling

Community Development is not simply going to the community to dole out goods, though of course, the small help that one gives when partnered with learning activities or trainings can help those who are in need by giving them the means to begin to stand up.  But the beginning of development is in knowing the community first, one is not helping when the help given is forced and not needed when there's actual needs.  I intend this to be a simple primer in preparing for profiling.  The bullet lists below can provide a panorama of ideas and options useful to any community development leader.

Rationale/Objective

• Describe the current state of the community.
• Describe/explain the community's needs at present.
• Describe the current situation of the environment.
• Describe the current situation of the economy/financial capacity or status.
• Describe the current situation of the health; physical or mental.
• Describe the current situation of the literacy, whether adults or students.
• Describe the current situation of the community's capacity for disaster risk reduction and management.
• Describe the current situation of community members' spiritual needs or capacities.
• Describe the current situation of community members' leadership needs or capacities. 

These are just samples, they can be used, mixed and matched, or be used as platforms for new and better ideas.  The same holds true for what follows.

How to Conduct

• Interviews - separate interviews from participants to avoid collusion.
• Focus Group Discussions - representative participants to pool together ideas.
• Transect Walk - to document human street life in the community.
• Participatory Activities - mapping, graphing, video making - lets the community members actively give inputs in a creative manner.
• Immersion - to ground the understanding of the community.

Suggested Phases

• 1 phase to gather data
• 1 phase to organize data
• 1 phase to present the data back to the community for validation

Ideal Output

• Video
• Participatory Video 
• Documentary
• Vlog or Blog
• Infographics
• Paper
• Thesis
• Monograph
• Journal Article

Community Profile v Impact Study

• Community Profile should precede a community development program.
• Community Impact Study should be used before ending a program.
• A program is a sustained community development agenda for a community targeting a 1 or more areas of development. 

Important Reminders

These ones cannot be neglected, not a list of choices but a list of 'musts.'

• Archive raw data (e.g. in a G Drive)
• Adopt research ethics
• Protect respondents
• Practice informed consent
• Use anonymity for respondents