Community Engagement: From What to Who?
Community engagement involves a strategic process with the specific purpose of working with identified groups of people to identify and address issues affecting their well-being. Inclusivity, diversity, and local knowledge in collaboration to solve real-world problems and improve society is central to engagement.
Successful community engagement means paying close attention to:
- Who is involved – e.g., which stakeholders and rights holders?
- Regulatory requirements – is engagement required by legislation or is it voluntary?
- Individual choice and agency – do people want to be engaged?
- Opportunity – not everyone has equal opportunity or access.
- Barriers – what are barriers to engagement?
Reflecting on who is engaged will enhance procedural equity in ways that better capture the interests and influence of different groups, provide an entry point to understand potential conflicts or risks, and identify opportunities to build relationships among individuals and groups based on shared interests.