Introduction
This section of the toolkit provides guidance on the issues to consider when planning and designing community engagement. It focuses on quality and effectiveness, process planning and designing engagement tailored to the particular issue, level of participation to be achieved, timeframe and range of stakeholders affected.
Planning and Designing Community Engagement
Community engagement works best where it is an ongoing cumulative process enabling relationships and trust to build and strengthen over time. Individual engagement events should be planned and designed with this in mind and aim to contribute to the overall aims of the engagement process. Community or voluntary groups may want to participate at a range of levels – from providing advice to co-designing the process and from undertaking some aspects of the engagement to delivering projects to meet some of the outcomes.
Thinking through the following questions and issues will help in the planning and design of community engagement.
• What level of participation is it hoped will be achieved?
• How to identify the stakeholders?
• Communications.
• Stage of the engagement process.
• Resources.
• Are there any limitations?
• Timely feedback and next steps.
• Tools to help choose a method.
• Methods.
What is the purpose and scope of the engagement process?
From the outset be clear about the scope and purpose of the engagement process. For example, is the process designed to: • Identify or prioritise what the needs and priorities for Community Planning should be?
• Develop a consensus on a proposal or plan?
• Inform the decision-making or service delivery of a community, council or department?
• Develop new or collaborative ways of implementing elements of the Community Plan?
• Review progress on the Community Plan?
Agreeing a clear purpose will help identify engagement objectives, anticipated outcomes and help to determine the scope and depth of the engagement. This can range from consultation to involvement in decision making through to community and voluntary groups delivering projects and services. Providing information on proposals, plans or services is part of any communication plan to support engagement but is not in itself community engagement. Often communities will need support to help them engage meaningfully. The Community and Voluntary Sectors (CVS) are skilled in providing this support – but may need access to resources to do so.