The state of a community, measured four ways.
A ward-level reporting model that combines what residents say, how they are wired to work, what they can do, and the measured conditions they live in — into one picture of a community's state, and a plan to change it.
Four lenses, four questions.
Each answers something the others cannot.
Community Voice
"What do residents say is wrong, and what would actually help?"
Focus groups surface lived experience, the community's own diagnosis, and the solutions they will stand behind.
Source: 8 focus groups (residents + faith leaders)
Work-Orientation Profile
"What kind of work is this community wired to build?"
A validated psychometric assessment profiles how people are oriented toward work — the human grain to build enterprise along.
Source: 189 psychometric assessments (RIASEC-based)
Capability & CV Audit
"What can people do today, and what blocks the next step?"
Structured CVs and a skills audit turn "unemployed" into a concrete inventory of experience and the single barrier to income.
Source: CV generation & capability audit
3CB Baseline Survey
"What is the measurable state, that we can track over time?"
The Community Capability & Conditions Baseline scores 11 domains of life, giving a defensible starting point and a longitudinal yardstick.
Source: 3CB instrument · v14.2 rubric · 11 domains
Uitsig scores 50.7 / 100 — "Developing".
A community with a thriving spirit but a broken buffer.
Condition
Capability
Depth
Domain profile — mean score /100, coloured by band. The reference line marks the 50-point "Developing" midpoint.
Nearly half the cohort is in an income squeeze at the same time.
Structural-pressure read: Social Unrest Risk composite 0.379 (High) · institutional trust (Q33) 2.49 / 5 · 41% of households have a financial runway of one month or less.
This is a community of Helpers.
Wired for care, mentoring and service.
Primary worker type — share of 189 assessed (psychometric)
Aptitude profile — mean RIASEC score. Social towers over every other dimension.
Top archetypes: The Guide 17% · The Advisor 16% · The Facilitator 11% · The Guardian 10% · The Engineer 8% · The Consultant 7%.
Capability audit — and it points the same way. The dominant skill category is Service Industry, matching the Helper / Social grain. The binding constraints are post-school qualifications and mobility.
The four lenses agree.
Agreement is what makes the evidence safe to act on.
Each finding below was reached independently by two or more methods. When a survey number, a focus-group theme, an aptitude profile and a capability audit point the same way, it is no longer an opinion — it is a community fact.
| What we found | The convergent evidence | Confirmed by |
|---|---|---|
| Money, not motivation, is the binding constraint | Financial Capability is the weakest domain (31/100); 47% below the poverty line and 46% out of money before month-end. Focus groups described debt, loan sharks charging 30–50% on SASSA cards, and survival economics. | ConditionsVoice |
| People can work — the system won't let them | Employment domain 35/100 and labour-market capability just 12.4/100, yet residents named existing trades and side-hustles; the capability audit shows real skills blocked by credentials (4% NQF5+), mobility (4% licensed) and nepotism. | ConditionsVoiceCapability |
| The workforce is built for a care-and-service economy | 59% are "Helper" types and Social aptitude (76.8) dwarfs all others; the capability audit's top skill category is Service Industry; and residents independently proposed a community hub built on helping, mentoring and caregiving. | WorkCapabilityVoice |
| Institutional trust is broken; community trust is not | Institutional trust (Q33) sits at 2.49/5; focus groups reported distrust of police and formal institutions — but strong reliance on churches, neighbours and each other. | ConditionsVoice |
| The community has the will to lead its own renewal | Agency & Aspiration is the top domain (73/100, "Thriving"); residents insisted "Ons doen dit onsself" — we do it ourselves — rejecting hand-outs in favour of a chance to earn. | ConditionsVoice |
The model drives a sequenced, measurable plan.
Score the state
Baseline the 11 domains + crisis flags. Establish where the community starts and who is in crisis now.
Find the leverage
Target the weakest, highest-population domains — here, Financial Capability, Employment and labour-market capability — where movement shifts the most lives.
Build to the grain
Design interventions that fit the community's aptitudes and its own proposed model — a care-and-earn hub, not an imported programme.
Re-baseline
Repeat the 3CB annually. Change becomes demonstrable at ward level, year on year — not a story, a number.
Priority interventions — each anchored to a measured weakness and evidenced across lenses.
The same method maps directly onto municipal community-development scope.
Township Action Plan — WC DEA&DP
- Situational analysis & community profile → the 3CB baseline + domain report
- Focus groups (youth, women, traders) → the Community Voice method
- Asset-based community mapping → capability audit + work-orientation profile
- Household & business surveys → the Wakamoso digital data-collection platform
- Co-designed vision, strategy & action plan → the state-to-action logic above
Municipal Demographic Surveys
- Door-to-door digital enumeration → 188-respondent baseline run at ward level
- GIS mapping & dwelling digitising → KML-polygon cohorting (Uitsig)
- EPWP local-labour training → community-team model already in place
- Household database aligned to questionnaire → structured export & scoring pipeline
- Public participation before data collection → the Voice + trusted-institutions approach
Wakamoso Community State Model — Uitsig instance. Built from the 3CB baseline (n=188, C3B rubric v14.2, exported 12 August 2026), 189 psychometric work-orientation assessments, eight focus groups and the opportunity-card survey. CCCI, domain scores, capability figures and crisis flags are actual cohort values; interventions are drawn from the community's own proposed model and the C3B advice framework. Framework authorship: Dr. Mélani Prinsloo (Wakamoso / CDI). Proprietary instrument, rubric and advice framework — for partner and proposal use.
Related: Community Mapping & Action — the method · Uitsig renewal-baseline case study · Our approach — C3B and the three analytical lenses.