COMMUNITY ORGANISING TRAINING
3. Identifying Issues and Setting Goals
Turning Community Concerns into Achievable Campaigns
Every community faces challenges, but not every challenge becomes a campaign. The difference lies in how an issue is understood, defined, and organised into action.
This topic teaches how to listen carefully to your community, identify what truly matters, and set achievable goals that create visible, lasting results.
Effective organisers do not begin with solutions. They begin by asking questions, understanding experiences, and clarifying what change will make a real difference.
1. Listening to the Community
Listening is the starting point of every campaign. It allows you to see problems through the eyes of those most affected.
Through structured conversations and open meetings, you can uncover the concerns that unite people and build shared motivation to act.
Practice:
- Meet with community members and ask open questions about what issues they face and what they wish could change.
- Take note of the problems that are mentioned repeatedly. These are usually the ones with the widest support.
- Ask what success would look like for them. This helps transform frustration into a vision of achievable change.
Trainer’s Reflection:
Early in my work, I learned that people often speak about symptoms before they name the cause.
Someone might say their street feels unsafe, but what they mean is that lighting is poor or there is no space for neighbours to meet.
Listening for what sits beneath the surface helped me see where our campaigns could have real impact.
2. Choosing the Right Issues
Not every issue is suitable for a campaign. Some are too broad, others too personal, and some require resources beyond what a local group can manage.
A good issue for organising has three qualities: it matters deeply to people, it is achievable within your capacity, and it can lead to visible results that strengthen the group.
Try this approach:
- List the top three concerns raised in your conversations.
- For each, ask: Can this be solved locally? Can it be won within a realistic timeframe? Will progress on this issue build confidence in our Association?
- Choose one or two that meet these tests and build your campaign plan around them.
In Practice:
When one community group began meeting, their list of concerns filled a page. After discussion, they chose to focus on one issue: restoring access to a local park that had been neglected for years. The decision to focus made the difference. Within months, they secured a meeting with council staff, organised volunteers for cleanup days, and gained local media support. Their success on one visible goal gave them the credibility to tackle larger challenges later.
3. Setting Clear and Measurable Goals
Once an issue has been chosen, it must be defined clearly. Goals that are specific and measurable keep everyone focused and make progress easier to evaluate.
A campaign goal answers three questions: What will change? Who has the power to make that change? What steps will show progress along the way?
Practice:
- Write a goal statement using this format: We want [change] by [decision maker] so that [benefit or outcome].
- Break it into smaller objectives that can be achieved within weeks or months.
- Agree as a group on what success looks like and how it will be measured.
Trainer’s Insight:
In one campaign, we spent too long discussing what we opposed instead of what we wanted to achieve. The turning point came when we wrote down one sentence that began with “We want.” From that moment, our meetings became focused, our message clearer, and our energy more disciplined.
4. Keeping Campaigns Focused and Achievable
As your campaign develops, it is easy to lose focus or take on too many goals at once.
Disciplined organising means protecting your group’s time, energy, and morale by keeping campaigns within reach and always linked to your purpose.
Reflection:
- Review your current activities. Do they still serve your agreed purpose?
- Are your goals realistic, or have they become too ambitious without new resources or allies?
- What small victory could you achieve next that would renew energy and show progress?
Trainer’s Reflection:
Each time we achieved a small win, even something as simple as getting a response from a decision maker, we shared it widely. Celebrating progress reminded people that their effort mattered. Those moments of recognition kept motivation alive between larger actions.
Summary
Identifying issues and setting goals turns community frustration into strategic action.
By listening deeply, focusing on achievable issues, and setting clear goals, your Association learns to direct its energy toward results that build confidence and credibility.
This process prepares you for the next stage: planning campaigns and actions that bring those goals to life.