Consulting Your Community

All projects begin with a need, but not all organisations can identify the need they are seeking to address or can prove the need for their project. Gathering evidence about needs, particularly from those you are seeking to help, is the first step in designing a project and lack of consultation is top of the list of reasons funders give for turning down applications requesting support. But consultation should not end at the project design stage - it should be a continuous cycle which feeds into every stage of delivery: planning, implementation, and review. It enables organisations to continually understand, learn, and adapt to meet the needs of their community.