The methods and case studies under the theme of Community Engagement will help you:
- involve people in the decisions that affect their lives
- design policies, services, systems or products that are more equitable, sustainable and regenerative
- build trust with and empower people and their communities
Effective engagement
Effective engagement means more than just telling people what you are doing. It actively brings people into the design process, to tap deeply into their lived experience and local knowledge.
If you don’t engage with people, you risk creating the wrong thing, that they don’t actually want or need. Or worse, doing something that they actively reject or is damaging.
This kind of engagement is especially important when you are creating something in an area where there is considerable historic and even intergenerational mistrust, for example policing.
Communities are diverse
A community is not a single creature with one set of beliefs, needs, priorities and challenges. The people who make up a community are different, even if they might they look similar from the outside.
It is important that you take the time to understand the differences within a community, even if you are only engaging in what seems like a community of like-minded people.
Communities are diverse
A community is not a single creature with one set of beliefs, needs, priorities and challenges. The people who make up a community are different, even if they might they look similar from the outside. It is important that you take the time to understand the differences within a community, even if you are only engaging in what seems like a community of like-minded people.
Source
Though the report is focussed on net zero, the effective Community Engagement guidelines are applicable to a much wider range of inclusive innovation projects.