Step 1: Event or Issue

The FBF process starts when people identify an issue which needs to be reviewed.

This might be a significant concern or just a regular pattern of activity that needs to be carefully examined to see 'what we are doing and why we are doing it'. Whatever it is, the event or issue needs to be clearly identified - preferably by a group of people working together.

Salvation Army facilitation teams have learnt four important things to remember in a home/community visit - Stimulate, Appreciate, Learn and Transfer (SALT). In other words, encourage people to talk (stimulate), listen to and value their perspective and resources (appreciate), learn from their experience, situation and ideas (learn), capture their learning and share it with people in other communities (transfer).

RECOMMENDED TOOLS FOR STEP 1

Listening skills are crucial in all aspects of FBF (Tool 2.1). Home visits and community mapping have been proven to be an important way for Salvation Army teams to understand and appreciate the issues (Tool 2.3 and Tool 2.4).

Making time to listen and explore issues with people is strongly recommended at this step. Prioritising (Tool 2.8) will be useful if there are several options and choices to be made.