Before any activity takes place it is important to agree a goal for what the community hopes to achieve from either the engagement itself or from implementing a community owned solution. 

Example 1 – Impact of engagement

To determine the impact of any engagement it is important to determine what is the goal of the engagement. For example, it could be that the goals of the engagement are:

• An improved understanding and implementation of the community owned solutions approach.
• Improved ability to collectively influence decision-making.

These goals can be determined with the community at a community meeting or via informal discussions with community members.

Example 2 – Implementation of a community owned solution

The community might want to try out another community owned solution they have heard about such as managing rice paddies to also reduce flooding. Ideally you hold a community meeting, or if this is not possible, talk to as many people in the community as possible to agree the goal for doing this. A goal, in this example, could be to: maintain rice yields and reduce flooding.

Example 3 – Implementation of a community owned solution to retain cultural identify

In this case the community might be worried about a loss of cultural identify, particularly with the youth. To stop this loss it was agreed at a community meeting to hold cultural events to attract the youth. The agreed goal was to: maintain cultural identify through cultural events