‘Community Engagement – the What and the Why…’

Imagine a world where there are no duties to involve, consult or engage…

There would be no guidance, no custom and practice. So when would you go out and ask the people what they want or specifically, what they need?

Would you still do it?

The absence of consultation and engagement would give decision-makers complete autonomy to implement services that do not meet community needs. Relationships and trust between public bodies and communities would be non-existent. This would shortly be followed by a series of complaints, poor services and lack of community control.

Well, thank goodness for democracy in the UK – the public will influence the future of public services!

When it comes to consultation and engagement, communities like to be involved in such processes one way or another. There are those that want to be actively involved, others would like a say in decisions, some might just want information only, and finally, there are those that are not interested so long as experts are involved in the decision-making process.

Yet, some projects aimed at benefitting communities proceed with minimal interaction with the wider community – leading to certain groups or members feeling ‘left out’ of the process. This is often down to a lack of community engagement, and for effective and meaningful consultation to take place – kickstart the process with good community engagement.

New to 2020, the Institute is now running a training course on Making Community Engagement Meaningful. Book this and refresh, or gain an understanding of the meaning of community engagement and the best techniques to use. For our members, head to the members area and watch a recording of our webinar, Community Engagement, from last year.

What is community engagement?

People commonly confuse public consultation with engagement.

For example, just last week, residents in a London Borough were furious that they were “not properly consulted”. However, the senior transport planner clarified the difference. We, as consultors, must do more to educate the public between the differences. But what is the difference?

Consultation is a precise activity that has a well-defined scope, start and end dates, formalised methods to gather views, best practice for analysis, interpretation, and feedback. Whereas, Engagement is defined as actions and processes taken or undertaken to establish effective relationships with individuals or groups so that more specific interactions can then take place.

Ensuring that communities are aware of when you are engaging with them and when you are consulting with them, is essential to maintaining your credibility and helps to minimise scepticism.

Why is community engagement so crucial?  

Many individuals do not engage with decision-makers and you may often hear them say ‘why should I engage’, ‘no-one will listen’ or ‘they will just do what they want’. What these remarks are really telling you is that: people want to have their say but do not feel that it makes a difference in the decision-making process. So, why bother?

Failure to engage with the community can lead to a low response rate in public consultation, distrust, and community division. Although there is a call for a consultation, this does not necessarily mean that individuals will partake– but I don’t have to tell you that, as you have probably learned this from your own consultation experience!

Sheena Ahmed – SheenaA@consultationinstitute.org