The aim of this activity is to help you understand:

• Where does my community start and stop?

• What do I know about the people in my community?

• What do they want to do about energy?

Defining your community is an essential step in any community project planning. Communities can take different forms and exist in different contexts. These can be simplified to two principal types : a ‘community of location’ made up of people who live in a particular area, or a ‘community of interest’ made up of people who share a common interest or identification.

The first thing to decide is whether your community is defined by location or by interest. This will affect who you reach out to, how you engage with them, and it may affect what type of project you choose to do.

For communities in a certain place

• Understand the boundaries - is it an administrative boundary (like a Local Government area or a town), or a physical boundary (such as a particular part of the electricity network, or an apartment complex)

• Research your community - how many households, how many businesses are there and what sort, is there industry? What are the demographics, cultural diversity, and socio-economic factors? what do other groups who serve your community already know about it? The calculate your community statistics activity gives you more guidance on how to find the data you will find useful.

• Do a mapping exercise with others to identify key places of interest for your community energy project

For all communities (location based and communities of interest)

• Map your stakeholders

• Find out if there is already survey information

• Set up a stall at a local event and start talking to people.

• If there isn't already a survey, consider doing one yourself. You can download the Heyfield Community Survey as an example.

Resources

• The energy data activity for your community will also provide you with useful information.

• Heyfield Prefeasibility Report: Example of a prefeasibility study including socio-demographic data, engagement activities and communication measures.

• Stakeholder Mapping Template for mapping key stakeholders in your community.

• Heyfield Community Survey: Example of a community survey for better understanding your community's needs.