Defining your community

Defining your community is an important first step in planning and organising community action. Being able to define and describe the key characteristics of your community will allow you to understand the dynamics of your community, and to track changes over time.

There are two main factors to consider:
Firstly, you have to consider geography. How would you describe your community within the natural landscape? How spread out or compact are your community members from each other or from the village/town centre? How do transport and accessibility affect community members?

Secondly, consider household demographics. What is the population like in the households within your community? Consider age structure, poverty/income, employment status, main employment categories or educational attainment. There are resources out there which can help you gather data on your community in terms of various demographics factors.