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Stage 1: Ideate and Scope

You may already have one thing or more in mind that you regard as a problem for the community or a particular location. You may have observed increasingly salty groundwater, more storms, floods, or observed damage to nearby ecosystems. If you don’t have problems in mind yet, ask yourself, and possibly friends or neighbors: what are the issues that hold the community back from becoming more resilient?In most cases, you may find several problems. You could rank them by priority/urgency, or even try to do an early sketch of a problem tree (see problem tree template provided). In such a chart, you visualize the links between your observations: What may be the causes (shown as the roots)? What is the core problem (the trunk)? What are the consequences of the core problem (the branches)?Again, at this early stage, don’t spend too much time on this analysis. You are unlikely to have the full information yet. At stage 3, the views and the knowledge of others will be used for a more detailed analysis.&nbsp;

1. Ask. What is the problem?

Now move beyond the main issues and reflect on these three aspects – your community, your environment, and your external settings. Here are some questions you may want to think about. It’s perfectly fine to not have the answers to all of them yet.<ul><li>Your community: In your community, who are the main players or groups affected by the problem, or possibly contributing to it? Try to think of different perspectives (e.g. women/men, different livelihood groups such as those making their income from fishing, agriculture, tourism).</li><li>Your environment: What are the ecosystems in or around your community? To what extent has their health or status changed over the years? If their status has declined, why has this been the case? What functions have these ecosystems played traditionally? To what extent do they continue to play these functions?</li><li>Your external settings: What agencies are in charge of managing the ecosystems? What regulative/protective frame-works or management plans exist? To what extent are these enforced? What other plans exist (land use/development)? Are they in line with the frameworks above or do they compete? What funding exists for managing ecosystems, and what could be potential additional sources of funding?</li></ul>Write down your notes on a simple piece of paper or download and fill out the <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/e25kzc3i48nb2o3/F.1%20Idea%20scrapbook%20(for%20stage%201).docx?dl=0" target="_blank">idea scrapbook</a>.

2. Brainstorm. What is the context?

The next step is about the formation of ideas as to how the problems you have identified may be solved in your given context.Based on your experience and on what you have read so far, maybe you already have something in mind?You should first define your objective, then explore ideas as to how that objective may be achieved.Define your objective as a status in which the main problem has been addressed. This could be a very broad objective (e.g. “enhanced community resilience”), focus on concrete results for the community (e.g. “reduced damages and losses from storms”), or have the local ecosystem itself at the focus (e.g. “improved status of mangroves”).Next, think of actions that would be needed to reach your objective. To get ideas, you may want to have a peek ahead at the start of <a href="https://dev.natureprotects.org/posts/identify-solutions" target="_blank">stage 4</a> to see an overview of nature-based solutions. Usually, several different actions are needed to reach your objective. So you may want to list a couple of possible actions.Let’s think of our example objectives.<ul><li>Improved status of mangroves: combine direct actions (active restoration) with indirect actions (regulations or measures that prevent further damage).</li><li>Reduced damages and losses from storms: this objective is wider, so you may need further actions in addition to mangrove reforestation. These could include structural measures (e.g. reinforcement of houses), trimming of trees around houses, as well as preparedness measures (early warning systems, evacuation systems, response teams).</li><li>Enhanced community resilience: this is the broadest objective and may include all the actions above, as well as further measures to improve overall conditions. Depending on the problems you identified, this may include food banks or saving groups (to raise coping capacity), health and hygiene promotion, or the construction of wells and latrines.</li></ul>Whatever you come up with is your perspective and yours only, and will be are very useful as a basis for discussion. Again, don’t spend too much time on it. Recognize that you may not have the full information yet. The insights of others around you will make the eventual action plan richer and better informed (we’ll get to planning at <a href="https://dev.natureprotects.org/posts/make-a-plan" target="_blank">stage 5</a>).&nbsp;

3. Form ideas. What could be done?

For now, you should think about those you would like to discuss your ideas with. Consider the following entities and groups:<ul><li>In the community: leadership (mayor, the village head, council, elders and informal leaders), groups (e.g. cooperatives, business associations, disaster management teams, civil society/interest groups, social, cultural, religious groups).</li><li>Government: local authorities (lowest administrative levels), specialized departments and agencies at the relevant level (e.g. planning, natural resources/environment, fishery, disaster management, economy &amp; trade, public works).</li><li>Other stakeholders: NGOs with relevant expertise, Red Cross/Red Crescent, tourism and industry associations.</li></ul>Congratulations! You have now a rough sketch of problems, context, ideas for possible actions, and have identified the people you’ll take your ideas to. At the next stage, let’s learn how to best engage with others and collectively take the idea forward.

4. Scope. Who may be partners?

Download the <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/e25kzc3i48nb2o3/F.1%20Idea%20scrapbook%20(for%20stage%201).docx?dl=0" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(102, 163, 224);">idea scrapbook</a> to write down your idea, going through the key elements:<ul><li>Problems</li><li>Context</li><li>Possible solutions</li><li>Stakeholders &amp; possible partners</li></ul>In addition, you may want to develop a problem tree. Two versions are available in the application toolbox <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/1vgjp0z4431udb9/F.2a%20Problem%20tree%20template%20(for%20stage%201).pptx?dl=0" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(102, 163, 224);">here</a> and <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/h5uee1z84c5xzux/F.2b%20Problem%20tree%20template%20(alternative,%20for%20stage%201).xlsx?dl=0" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(102, 163, 224);">here</a>. Are you finished with Stage 1: Ideate and Scope? Move on to <a href="https://www.natureprotects.org/posts/engage-others" target="_blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Stage 2: Engage Others</a>.

Toolbox explanation: Idea Scrapbook & Problem Tree

Learn how to form an idea and to come up with a rough sketch with these steps in this stage:<ul><li>Step 1.1 | What is the problem?</li><li>Step 1.2 | What is the context?</li><li>Step 1.3 | What could be done?</li><li>Step 1.4 | Who may be partners?</li></ul>Like all journeys, our journey towards enhanced resilience starts with an idea: where exactly do we want to go? Like all journeys, our journey has a starting point: from where do we start? Like all journeys, our journey needs a route: how do we best get from here to there? Whatever you plan to do or achieve in terms of enhancing resilience, you will need to engage and convince others — the wider community, government agencies, local businesses, and so on.Before you approach others, you should have a rough concept of what you would like to propose as a basis for early discussions. Your idea does not need to be perfect or detailed yet. Instead, you should expect that it will evolve and change as inputs and insights from others are gathered.