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threat? (huge, big, medium, small, tiny)
How easy is it to address? (very easy,
moderately easy, difficult)
IMPACTS
What is the outcome of addressing it?
What will happen if it is not addressed?
Who will it affect?
RESPONSES
Who can or should address it?
What is needed in order to address it?
What capacities already exist within the
community to address it?
How long will it take?
What are the potential costs?
What other factors are required?
Is external support absolutely required? If
so, what type of support?
DECISIONS
Should we address it?
If so, what exactly should be done and by
whom?
TOOL: Community Wellbeing Impact Assessment Worksheet
Purpose: This tool can be adapted and used to assess the likely impacts (positive and negative) of a
particular proposed activity on community-defined aspects of wellbeing. The activity under assessment
may emerge from within the community or from an external proponent.
Resource: Adapted from material provided by the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organizational
Development (CIKOD) and the Tanchara community in Ghana, which used the worksheet to assess the
impacts of gold mining on wellbeing.
See www.community-protocols.org/toolkit or the accompanying DVD for the full version.
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Encourage the community to seek as much information as possible about the proposed activity.
This will improve the accuracy and fullness of the assessment.
Facilitate a broad community discussion to identify key aspects of material, social, cultural, and
spiritual wellbeing. Examples could include food, health, shelter, education, tenure security,
presence of social groups, equity, and freedom to practice traditions and beliefs, among others.
Cluster them into clear themes. Create an organized table of the different aspects of wellbeing
arranged under their respective headings. The table should include columns with space to indicate
whether the proposed activity is likely to have a positive, negative, or neutral or no impact. It
could also include columns to note if more information is needed and to provide any comments
(see Table 7 for an example).
Going through each row in the table, assess the likely impact of the proposed activity on the
different aspects of wellbeing. The score could be a simple ‘yes’ or checkmark. It could also be
more descriptive or provide a relative value on a defined scale.
After the assessment worksheet is complete, facilitate a community discussion about the results.
Overall, is the proposed activity likely to have a positive or negative impact on community
wellbeing?
Consider planning specific responses to the proposed activity. If the assessment showed a strong
negative impact, the community may wish to take action to resist or prevent the activity from
progressing further. If the activity is likely to have positive impacts, they may wish to engage with
it proactively to further increase potential opportunities.