Analyzing Community Problems

In this time of economic hardship, making the best use of resources, both human and financial, is more important than ever.

Analyzing community problems helps your community group clarify the causes, consequences and nature of a problem before you try to solve it.

A problem should be analyzed in the earliest stages of a project – before you develop priorities, set goals or mobilize action.  The way a problem is defined will determine the type of solutions that will be developed.  Also, remember that problems usually have more than one cause and there is a natural tendency to think of solutions before fully understanding the nature of the problem.

Keeping these key points in mind, the steps to analyzing community problems
include:

Step 1 – State the problem as you see it now
Step 2 – Describe why this is a problem
Step 3 – Describe the causes and consequences of this problem
Step 4 – Describe who is involved
Step 5 -­ Identify missing information
Step 6 -­ Define the problem briefly
Step 7 -­ Define the problem in manageable terms

The information above is excerpted from The Community Leadership Handbook, by James F. Krile with Gordy Curphy and Duane R. Lund (Fieldstone Alliance, 2006).