We help design those tools through discussion. There will be a discussion among the various interest groups about who values what, both before and after they decide on strategies and what to measure. Different interest groups may want to measure different things. We should help facilitate the process of negotiation and the selection and design of different indicators that suit different needs or explanations. Questions for discussion Assessment is the process of describing the state of a system and judging progress towards a goal.
Indicators are measurements taken to describe the state of something or to monitor changes.
The first two questions are about the state of the system and the way it is changing, while the third is about strategies. This is the question that leads to indicators. The stage of planning action is when field workers need to be ready with questions and advice on techniques for developing indicators. People are continually assessing their situation and surroundings. For effective community-based indicators we need to translate the things people want to measure into a manageable form.