Assessing community capacity to implement security initiatives

Aliona Horova
facilitator and mediator with international experience,
expert in organizational development,
member of the board of the NGO "Institute of Peace and Understanding" (IMiP)

From time to time every community faces security risks that prompt residents to come together and respond in various ways. However, such practices usually overlook the question of the community’s readiness and ability to effectively cope with security challenges.

At the same time, implementing a comprehensive security initiative/program clearly requires a high level ofinstitutional capacity within the communityto establish and ensure the viability of such an initiative. This involves understanding things like:

• Does the community have sufficient resources—and which ones—to meet the challenges?
• Do the relevant professionals at the community level have enough knowledge and skills?
• How quickly and how effectively are community residents prepared to mobilize to address security challenges?
• How coordinated and complementary is the cooperation among relevant services, providers, and organizations at the community level? etc.

Therefore, this tool is designed to help an initiative group understand how ready the community is to implement a security initiative and which areas of community capacity should be strengthened to ensure the initiative’s viability.

When discussing answers to this questionnaire, representatives of all services, providers, and organizations—state, municipal, commercial, and civic—whose functions include shaping a safe environment in the community in the broadest sense of the term should be invited.

Don't delay — discuss each question with the initiative group and select one answer for each. The survey results will give you a clear understanding of the community's capacity to implement safety initiatives.