Setting Goals and Values

As you're scoping a potential and/or new NDC project, setting goals and values are not only essential to drafting an MOU but are also a crucial part of setting up for equitable engagement. The specific goal of a project, whether it be to receive funding, increase buy-in, or build community coalitions, should determine how you approach outreach and engagement. And setting values with the partner helps you both stay aligned in your process and decision making.

In order to develop an equitable process it’s essential to incorporate equity into your goals and values. Equity is something that only occurs with intention, you have to be intentional about distributing power and resources because otherwise, you will continue to perpetuate systems of oppression. Furthermore, developing an equitable process isn't something that just happens at the beginning of a project. Equity is something you should be reflecting on throughout a project. After you set goals and values with a partner, you should document them and consistently ask yourself whether you are achieving them. You might consider adding your goals and values as a recurring header in a running notes document, or you could set aside a few minutes to reflect on them in each meeting. No matter how you do it, it’s important to be consistent about staying values aligned, especially when equity is one of those values.

Setting Goals

Questions about Project Goals

What is the short-term goal to be achieved in this project?

What are the partners long-term goals?

How will the project deliverable serve to achieve that goal?

Who will ultimately have to approve or fund the implementation of this project?

Once you’ve defined the goal of your project and your design principles, you can work backwards by asking yourself what deliverables need to be created to achieve this goal, who needs to participate in the creation of these deliverables, why they need to be engaged, and when to bring them into the project. Using the RACI Matrix can be a useful tool to visually break down a project into actionable and measurable components.

When you're defining the role that engagement will play in your project, you should reference the Continuum of Community Engagement. Think about what level of engagement you want each stakeholder to reach within the scope and goals of the project.

Questions about the Role of Engagement

How does the partner relate to the community? How do their wants/needs relate to the community's?

Is engagement for that approval/funding and/or for good design itself?

Where does the engagement for this project fall within the continuum of community engagement?

Who do we mean when we say “the community”?

Read more about the spectrum of community engagement.

Developing Values

As you’re setting goals for your project, you and the partner should also set values for the project. While the goals are about specific deliverables or outcomes you want to achieve, your values are beliefs and principles that you want to uphold as you work towards these goals. You can use these values to guide your process, by asking yourself whether each decision you make is value aligned.