Engagement Strategy for Future Community Engagement

Inclusive Engagement Strategy

The Mid and East Antrim

Community Planning Partnership

November 2019

1. Executive Summary

This inclusive engagement strategy has been developed by the Mid and East Antrim Community Planning Partnership and aims to ensure that all members of our Borough will have an opportunity to be involved in the community planning process in Mid and East Antrim. This strategy highlights the key aims of community engagement for ‘Putting People First’, Mid and East Antrim’s first community plan. The strategy has analysed several successful theories of engagement and has tailored a specific set of engagement methods which will allow community engagement to excel in our Borough. 

1. Introduction

This Inclusive Engagement Strategy will act as a framework for future community engagement throughout the duration of the community plan. The strategy will enable the community planning partnership to achieve a higher level of engagement which will be absolutely vital as the local citizens are a real asset to our Borough. This will allow the community planning process in our Borough to become a beacon of how community engagement should be carried out. Although the partnership are currently in the implementation phase of the community plan it is important to note that this strategy focuses on engaging with the community at all stages of the community planning process.

Community Engagement is the process through which the community are informed about and/or invited to contribute, through consultation or involvement, to proposals or policy changes relating to services, events, strategic plans, issues and projects (Shire of Northam, 2011). Engaging with the local community should be viewed as an asset to inform decisions instead of being a tick box exercise, it is extremely important for the partnership to prioritise community engagement to ensure the delivery of the themes and actions outlined in the ‘Putting People First’ Community Plan. This draft strategy will also inform future community engagement throughout the various departments within Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.

1. Aims and Objectives of the Engagement Strategy

To develop an efficient and successful Engagement Strategy the aims and objectives of the strategy must firstly be clearly identified to ensure that the engagement methods are tailored towards achieving the aims and objectives. The aims and objectives of the inclusive engagement strategy are;

• Achieve a higher number of people in the Borough who are involved in the community planning process.
• Work collaboratively with the local people and the statutory and non-statutory partners to achieve the implementation of the Inclusive Engagement Strategy.
• Specifically engage with Section 75 groups to increase the diversity of community engagement in the Borough.
• Promote a sense of pride in community planning to ensure that everyone feels that they can have a role to play in the process.
• Gain a higher quality of community engagement through exploring methods designed to achieve increased interaction and collaboration from the Borough’s citizens.
• Constantly evaluate and assess the engagement strategy and alter where necessary to improve overall engagement.

Figure 1 shows the phases of designing an inclusive engagement strategy which the partnership have agreed on adopting. The partnership will be responsible for implementing each phase and ensuring that each phase will be carried out to the best of our ability.

Figure 1- Phases of Community Engagement Strategy (Source: Capire:2016)

1. Value of Community Engagement

Community Engagement has an extremely important role, especially within a community planning context, we as a partnership have an opportunity to evolve community engagement in our Borough for all sectors through the medium of community planning. It is also extremely important that we achieve actual engagement and that we do not just include and involve people and groups just to say that we have achieved community engagement. “Engagement goes further than participation and involvement. It involves capturing people’s attention and focusing their efforts on the matter at hand –the subject means something personally to someone who is engaged and is sufficiently important to demand their attention. Engagement implies commitment to a process which has decisions and resulting actions. So it is possible that people may be consulted, participate and even be involved, but not be engaged”, Aslin and Brown (2004).

Community engagement is a process that is constantly evolving, there is always areas which can be improved upon and can enable the general public to be better involved in the community planning process. It is important that the process of community engagement within the community plan spans from informing the community of statutory documents to the collaboration with the community of specific projects to achieve the key outcomes over the next 15 years. The main challenge for the partnership is to ensure that this evolution of community engagement is as effective and successful as possible with the Borough’s citizens being constantly engaged with in the community planning process.

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Currently, as a partnership it could be perceived that we are providing for the citizens, we must move towards enabling people and community groups to be empowered and to have more of an influence in the governance of the community planning process. Since the Local Government Act 2014 required all of Northern Ireland’s Councils to undertake the community planning process the most successful form of community engagement has been the community panel. The panel includes representatives throughout the width and breadth of the Borough with community groups, elected members and non-statutory partners all being represented. This panel has a direct input within each of the 5 delivery groups as well as the Strategic Alliance which is the key partnership body for community planning in MEA.

The community panel can be an ideal place to try and achieve empowerment within our community. Community engagement through community planning has an opportunity to transform the community planning process currently being implemented in the Borough. Figure 1 shows the delivery structure of the partnership, the delivery and thematic groups will be key in implementing the engagement strategy with the community panel and the strategic alliance being two key groups where improved engagement will be targeted. 

Figure 2 - Mid and East Antrim Community Planning Partnership Deluvery Structure (Source:MEACPP)

Figure 3 - Positive Impact of Community Engagement (Source: ChangesUK)

Figure 3 shows the possible impact of engagement and how community engagement can realistically allow us to achieve outcomes both as a partnership and individually for those who will be engaged with.

4.1  Scotland’s National Standards for Community Engagement

Due to a lack of statutory engagement standards for community planning partnerships in NI, the partnership have adopted Scotland’s national standards for community engagement and will strive to adhere to the two core aims within the guidance. The two core aims are;

• “Making sure people and communities are genuinely engaged in the decisions made on public services which affect them; allied to
•  A commitment from organisations to work together, not apart, in providing better public services”, (Scotland Executive,2007).

Within this document there are ten principles of engagement, we also aim to adhere to these principles throughout the community planning process. Adopting Scotland’s national standards will allow the partnership to follow in the footsteps of the community planning partnerships in Scotland which are deemed to be an example of best practice. 

1. Stakeholder and Community Engagement

In our Borough there are a range of key stakeholders that are currently engaged in community planning through various mediums, i.e the community panel, the direct services committee and the delivery groups. The partnership have agreed that the below list represents all of those who are of a key interest for the partnership to engage with. These stakeholders include;

• Local residents
• Community based groups
• Community panel
• Strategic alliance
• Faith groups
• Communities of place
• Communities of identity
• Communities of interest
• Section 75 groups
• Web based or virtual groups
• Elected Representatives
• Statutory partners

To ensure the above groups are engaged with appropriately it is vital that the interests are clearly identified, this in turn will ensure that the partnership will identify the most suitable method of engaging with each stakeholder. With many of the above stakeholders already having an open dialogue with the partnership there is an opportunity for those who represent the above stakeholders at these meetings/events to act as a leader and to possibly recruit more participants for engagement.

To enable the partnership to complete an effective community engagement strategy it is important that the context of the term ‘community’ is identified. Community is an often keenly debated term due to the varying meanings and context in which the word is used in. Within the context of this strategy the partnership have agreed that the term ‘community’ can be understood as:

1) Communities of place, which relate primarily to the surrounding geography.

2) Communities of identity, which links to the social characteristics.

3) Communities of interest, which relate to the benefits which arise by associating with a community.

1. Identifying Engagement Methods

To enable the partnership to identify the appropriate engagement methods for inclusively engaging with the above stakeholders during each phase of the process the partnership have agreed to asses the matrix shown below. Figure 4 allows the partnership to select appropriate engagement techniques for the differing phases of the community planning process.

Figure 4 - Community Planning Engagement Methods (Source:Community Planning Toolkit)

By analysing figure 4 the partnership have been well informed to select a range of balanced engagement methods which will enable successful community engagement to be implemented throughout each stage of the community planning process.

During the community planning process different stakeholders will require different methods of engagement which will belong to varying levels of community engagement, i.e to inform, consult, involve, collaborate and empower. Figure 5 highlights what each level of engagement entails and designates several methods to each of the five levels of engagement. Analysing figures 4 and 5 have allowed the partnership to develop engagement methods which are both suitable for the varying phases of the community planning process and the varying interests of the stakeholders.

Figure 5- Spectrum of Community Engagement (Source: IAP2)

1. Methods of Engagement

There are several methods of engagement that the partnership will implement to achieve optimal engagement between the key stakeholders already identified and the community planning process in our Borough. Currently, the partnership are implementing formal methods of engagement which are not successful in engaging with ‘hard to reach’ groups. Each of the below proposed methods will include the stakeholders who the partnership will aim to engage with through the specific method and the phase of the community planning process where this method would be most appropriate for.

7.1  Community Mapping

Stakeholders - Local residents, Community based groups, Community panel, Strategic alliance, Communities of place, Communities of identity, Communities of interest, Section 75 groups and Web based or virtual groups.

Phase – Development of the community plan

Level of Engagement - Collaborate

Description - During the community planning process this initiative will be most suited to being implemented during the development of the community plan. This method will involve a model of the Borough being presented at a local venue in one of the main towns of the borough. People are then invited to write their ideas on to pieces of card and place them based on where they would like their ideas implemented on the map. This method enables a group of people to work together to try and design a positive place. Community mapping also has the potential to be implemented on more site-specific projects, such as the possible development of a new leisure centre at St. Patrick’s barricades. This method is quite proactive and can also ensure that some of the community’s issues are ironed out at an early stage of development. There is an opportunity to implement this method online for the virtual groups in our Borough, a map of the proposed site can be uploaded and the virtual groups can detail their opinions online.

7.2  Public Meetings

Stakeholders - Local residents, Community based groups, Faith groups, Communities of place, Communities of identity, Communities of interest, Section 75 groups, statutory partners and Elected members.

Phase – Development and implementation of community plan

Level of Engagement - Consult

Description - Public meetings should be used as a tool to consult with people who have a particular interest in the community planning process. During the development of the plan this method will be key in obtaining the varying opinions of the community with regard to what they feel should be included in the community plan. The public meetings during implementation can act as a progress ‘check in’ with the community on how the partnership is achieving the actions and outcomes highlighted in the community plan.  These meetings can ensure openness and transparency between the partnership and the general public, this can also be used to brief staff and ensure all statutory staff are in the loop. There is also the opportunity to have a positive debate about the process and to gain instant feedback from the public.

7.3  Workshops/Focus Groups

Stakeholders - Local residents, Community based groups, Faith groups, Communities of place, Communities of identity, Communities of interest and Section 75 groups.

Phase – Development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of community plan.

Level of Engagement – Consulting and Involving

Description - This method would be best suited to engage with people who would be deemed hard to reach, such as younger people or ethnic minorities. This theory includes small groups of 5/6 people being given a task or a theme to focus on for the duration of the session. These sessions can help the partnership to gain a perspective from a different of view from groups who are being under represented in current community engagement. This initiative requires few resources and can be easily facilitated by the Boroughs community centres and community organisations.

7.4  Roundtable Discussions

Stakeholders - Local residents, Community based groups, Faith groups, Communities of place, Communities of identity, Communities of interest, Section 75 groups, statutory partners and Elected members.

Phase – Development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of community plan.

Level of Engagement - Consulting

Description -Roundtable discussions can be used as a tool for consensus building. They have multi-stakeholder involvement managed by consensus and aim to promote oral communication between members. The partnership aim to implement this method by inviting statutory partners and community organisations to discuss recent community planning progress. The key benefits of this initiative is it can help to break down barriers of engagement by bringing people together to discuss an issue as equals. A member of the community and a statutory partner can have an equal input through this method. Due to the format of these discussions this method can help to provide innovative solutions to problems as each member will prioritise different themes in terms of the wider discussion topic.

7.5  Web-Based Engagement/ Arm Chair Involvement

Stakeholders - Local residents, section 75 groups and web based or virtual groups.

Phase – Development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of community plan.

Level of Engagement - Inform

Description - Social media can be used as the primary virtual based form of community engagement as it is deemed the most popular form of online communication. The main reason this method should be considered as an important aspect of future engagement is due to its convenience and how it can also involve section 75 groups who are unable to attend scheduled meetings and events. The partnership can use social media to ask questions of the online community by inviting the public to take part in discussions via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram etc to gain their perspective. It is perceived that this method should always be used with a combination of different engagement strategies by possibly asking similar questions that were previously asked at a meeting or workshop. Due to the high number of followers on Mid and East Antrim Borough Councils social media accounts it is likely that this account will be used to promote community planning online.

7.6  Open Space

Stakeholders - Local residents, Community based groups, Faith groups, Community panel, Communities of place, Communities of identity, Communities of interest and Section 75 groups.

Phase – Development and implementation of community plan.

Level of Engagement – Involve

Description – An Open Space meeting is essentially a management tool which tries to overcome the difficulties of conventional approaches to community engagement. The event is designed to last 1-3 days and can accommodate many people. This method has the potential to be implemented through a thematic approach. There are several stages of this method;

• Opening circle: everyone sits informally in a circle with a facilitator opening proceedings.

• The market place: participants choose the thematic workshop they wish to attend and can move between workshops.

• Having your say: members participate in discussions and comments are recorded.

• Closing circle: this is the plenary or feedback session where issues and points raised during the discussions are reported.

• Report of the proceedings: all feedback comments are collated into a report and will be distributed via email to attendees (Community Places, 2014).

This method has the potential to be an important community engagement tool for the partnership in gaining feedback for each of the 5 themes in the community plan. The most important aspect of this initiative is its flexibility as people are encouraged to provide their opinions in each of the key themes.

7.7  Street Stalls

Stakeholders - Local residents.

Phase – Development and implementation of community plan.

Level of Engagement – Involve

Description – This initiative is an interactive way of engaging with people who may not attend more formal forms of community engagement. For this initiative to be successful it should be located in an area with large footfall. The Bandstand in Ballymena would be an ideal area to engage with as many members of the general public as possible. The method consists of holding exhibits which can be used to capture the views and comments of local residents who may not usually take part in community planning. This method of engagement can also be used to generate public interest in support for a certain project. This method has the potential to collaborate with the ongoing places based project which is currently being rolled out in Carrickfergus.

7.8  Place Standard Tool

Stakeholders - Local residents, Communities of place, Communities of identity, Communities of interest and Section 75 groups.

Phase – Development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of community plan.

Level of Engagement – Collaborate

Description – This method involves the completion of a simple framework to encourage a conversation about a particular place. There are 14 separate physical and social elements where people are required to rate their area out of 7, with 1 being poor and 7 being excellent. This tool will allow the partnership to gain vital feedback in how the Borough’s residents rate each of the 14 elements of Mid and East Antrim. This method can also be incorporated towards the Carrickfergus place based approach.

Figure 6 - Place Standard Tool (Source:Healthscotland)

1. Community Engagement Indicators

An agreed group of indicators will enable the partnership to assess performance regarding the levels of community engagement. It is important that these indicators will provide an accurate representation of the performance of community engagement. Indicators will be used to plan, monitor and evaluate community engagement within the community planning process. Indicators are for all participants to use to ensure the strategy is performing and to enable the partnership to alter engagement methods where and if necessary. Regular assessment of performance against the indicators will enable all the partnership to achieve a successful and flexible engagement strategy. The agreed indicators for assessing the engagement strategy are included below;

• Number of people attending public meetings, group discussions etc.
• Number of people participating in online engagement.
• The amount of feedback forms being completed.
• Social Media interaction levels, amount of ‘Likes’, mentions etc.
• Amount of suggestions and interactions at street stall, workshops etc.
• Quality of feedback of each separate engagement method.
• The statistics of those who both are engaging and who are not engaging.
• Correlation levels between specific groups and certain engagement methods.
• Rating of areas elements using the place standard tool.

1. Maintaining Community Engagement

To continue and improve community engagement levels it is vital that the results of the engagement methods are relayed back to the members who have taken part. This ensures that there is transparency between the partnership and the stakeholders, this could possibly enable the public to be able to actually see that their input is valued. It is also vital that the local people can provide feedback on the positives and negatives of each engagement method which may tailor how each engagement method is implemented.

1. Conclusion

This strategy has outlined and explained the effectiveness and suitability of several engagement methods alongside specific stakeholder groups. The partnership aim to implement each of the methods to improve and develop community engagement throughout each phase of our community plan. There are some methods that are extremely innovative in their design and will require new communication techniques between statutory partners. The engagement methods are not designed to be used as a standalone process of community engagement, it is important that these methods are combined with one another to ensure engagement across all stakeholders. Community engagement is a constantly evolving process, to enable the partnership to continuously engage positively with the various stakeholders the engagement process must constantly be evaluated and altered where necessary.

1. References

• Aslin and Brown (2004).
• Source: http://changesuk.net/themes/community-engagement/
• Scotland Executive: Better Community Engagement January 2007 A framework for learning
• https://www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/co-production-in-commissioning-tool/co-production/In-more-detail/what-makes-co-production-different/
• https://www.communityplanningtoolkit.org/sites/default/files/Engagement.pdf
• Capire (2016) The Inclusive Community Engagement Toolkit
• https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/3703/guid
• Word Count =3522 – 57 = 3465