The UN Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), through its Community-based Environmental Management Information System (CEMIS) project, is developing and testing a manual for assessing effective demand by communities for environmental infrastructure services in Jakarta, Indonesia. The approach is to train communities to assess their own demand for services through community self-surveys and community workshops. It uses community leaders and volunteers, reduces the need for external resources and lead to community empowerment and self-determination. It would also mobilize locally-available information and resources.