Community Assessments
What are Community Government Self–Assessments?
Self-assessments are intended for use by community governments to assess their own strengths and weaknesses in operations and governance. The information collected during the self-assessment process can be very valuable and used by council members and community government operations to help guide priority planning for improvement of community government activities.
Purpose of Community Government:
The purpose of a community government, under existing NWT Legislation is to:
- provide good government;
- develop and maintain a safe community; and
- provide services, products and facilities.
What is the Community Government Self-Assessment Tool?
This tool is being provided to community governments for use in a self-assessment. The self-assessment tool can be used as one resource towards a complete evaluation of the community’s ability to govern and to provide municipal services effectively.
Who should be involved in the self-assessment?
Mayor or Chief and Council members must be supportive and involved in the self-assessment process, along with senior administrative and key operations staff, in order to make it meaningful and truly reflective of the opinions of those involved in community governance.
What preparation is needed?
The first step is to discuss the idea of doing a self-assessment with Council and Senior staff members. While many of the questions in the self-assessment questionnaire are opinion questions, others are “fact-based” and will require someone to pull together the statistics and documentation. As a Council, be prepared to back up results with documentation.
How does it work?
The self-assessment process is a combination of preparation, workshop discussion and consensus building involving Council and senior staff. Once Council has decided to proceed someone must be assigned to pull together the background documentation. Communities can choose to have their self-assessments self directed, facilitated, or provided in a workshop format.
The questionnaire is the core component of the self-assessment process, along with a series of discussion questions including information about missing indicators that may be particularly important to recognize your community’s unique characteristics, values, and assets.
How long will it take?
After the background documentation has been gathered, the self-assessment workshop session itself is expected to take 2-4 hours. If delivered in a workshop fashion 4-6 hours may be required.
Goal of Community Government Self-Assessment
Through the completion of this self-assessment, communities will gain a better appreciation for issues affecting them and possible solutions for advancing the community.
Self Assessment Categories
Six Categories, covering the major roles and responsibilities of community governance are reviewed with the self-assessment.
- Governance – an evaluation of the elected body in an effort to determine if Council is complying with the requirements of the Act and practicing principles of good governance while advancing community operations.
- Administration - the capacity of the community government staff to provide quality programs and services, reliable information to Council, and the ability to remain compliant with legislated requirements.
- Finances and Financial Management – good financial management is critical to the success of a community government and the delivery of its services and ensures that resources are available, properly managed, and funds spent in accordance with priorities.
- Service Delivery – determining whether community government is able to provide services (i.e: fire protection, clean water supply, sewage collection and treatment, garbage collection and disposal, etc.) in a manner that is affordable, effective, and meets public demands.
- Infrastructure – an assessment of the infrastructure of a community provides an indication of its ability to provide core services, well –being, and future financial situation.
- Community Well-Being – indicators of community well-being are indicators of long-term community health and sustainability.
Who can complete the Community Government Self-Assessment Tool?
All community governments in the Northwest Territories.
For further information on the Community Government Self-Assessment Tool contact your MACA Regional Superintendent or:
Dan Schofield
School of Community Government
Department of Municipal and Community Affairs
#500, 5201-50th Avenue, Yellowknife, NT X1A 2L9
Toll Free 1-877-531-9194
P: 867-873-7755 F: 867-873-0584
E: DAN_SCHOFIELD@gov.nt.ca
W: www.maca.gov.nt.ca
CGMP Partners:
Government of the Northwest Territories, Municipal and Community Affairs
Government of the Northwest Territories, Department of Human Resources
Northwest Territories Association of Communities
Local Government Administrators of the Northwest Territories
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*Program Guidelines will be available in April 2011