4-minute read

Community engagement can be an important two-way decision-making process that involves a range of people from different backgrounds and lived experiences – the slogan ‘by the people, for the people’ really encapsulates what community engagement is about. That is, a push on collaborative, equitable and mutually beneficial sharing of ideas and thinking, to find sustainable and equitable solutions to social issues.  

Community engagement can deepen relationships and trust between organisations and communities and re-shift power dynamics that are often at play.

At Habitus, we bring people together to share their knowledge, skills and experiences to find solutions to complex issues. Our experience tells us that a values-based and co-developmental approach is key in bringing about change.

Here are the five pillars we recommend to follow, so that you excel in engaging the people in your community:

1. Understand the local context and community

Understanding the community’s strengths, priorities, experience and shared history is key in engaging people meaningfully.

At Habitus, we spend a considerable time doing the background research on the community we are engaging. This means considering who we’re trying to speak to, and their positioning with the community, as this will affect the insights we gather. As part of our initial exploration, some areas of consideration are:

• Who within the community do we want to engage and why?

• Who makes up the community?

• What are the characteristics that the community shares?

• What is the history of the community?

Recognising that we are outsiders to the community we are trying to engage is also important. There is a fine balance between being inquisitive, but respectful. Knowing what the boundaries are helps us navigate difficult themes or topics, and make for better engagement with community members.

2. Meet people where they're at

Carrying out a scope of what the local area looks like and identifying ‘hotspots’ are important in ensuring a wide reach of engagement. This could be public spaces such as libraries, coffee shops, community centres and GP practices. Part of this is also identifying what we classify as ‘unusual hotspots’ – for instance, betting shops, foodbanks, the Post Office, pubs, and local spaces where a range of communities co-exist.

You will want to be where people are most likely to be spending time within their community, as this allows you to make sure that your approach to community engagement is equitable. Proactive engagement like this ensures you are being equitable, since you follow where the people in your community go.

3. Build relationships that are meaningful

Gaining trust through visibility is vital – making yourself known to the community has been evidenced as key in building trust and buy-in.

Engaging communities should never be extractive, and building trust with a small number of individuals who may have access to a wider pool of residents or individuals will help to build trust over time. By taking this approach, we have built meaningful relationships with key members of various communities, leading to us being able to reach a broader range of people within the community that would otherwise not have been possible.

Consistency is key, requiring holding regular contact, attending community events, or simply ‘hanging out’ with people to find out how they experience day-to-day life.

4. Recognise complexity

Many of us working on community engagement in different capacities often underestimate the power of joy and lightness, particularly when discussing challenges faced by communities.

Part of this is being able to hold space for difficult conversations, yet also creating a space for people to share joy. This can be through activities that bring people together, helping them find solutions to complex issues faced by people within a community. Using a range of creative tools allows people to tell their stories in different ways, fostering an environment that is joyful, but also recognises complexity.

Importantly, it allows you to bring fun and lightness, centring joy in the process.

5. Work in partnership with the community

Community engagement should always involve community organisations and partners who may be able to bring people together. Identifying and tapping into existing networks is essential in ensuring that people from a range of communities are included in your projects and programmes.

Communities often have answers to the problems they face, therefore going back to these communities to validate findings or solutions is important.

At Habitus, we always embed a feedback loop where we meet with people – be it in person, online or through sharing materials – as a way of giving back to the community and empowering them by sharing our findings.

The pillars presented aren’t exhaustive, though should be seen as a starting point when planning community engagement activities. These may not work for all settings, however, part of the excitement of planning community engagement is considering what works for whom, and under which circumstances – and being creative in the process.

The presented pillars offer a high-level look at the guiding principles of great community engagement, informed by academic research, best practice and our own experiences gained from supporting organisations running their own community engagement programmes.

If you would like to know how we can assist you with your own community engagement programmes, feel free to speak with us.

At Habitus, we have developed and designed successful community programmes for various charities, health organisations and businesses both in the UK and internationally.

We are accomplished in peer research, co-production, action-based and anti-oppressive research and evaluation. We are experts in helping organisations to engage wider community participation in their projects so that their work is more inclusive and impactful. Through this approach we are dedicated to increasing lived experience leadership.

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