LEADER Conference Engaging Communities

 Why communities need to be involved  Engagement outcomes  Policy and practice context  Example and key success factors

Where are we now?  Question of community engagement ‘no brainer’ for some  Well rehearsed in government lexicon but does it mean different things for different people?  Consultation or engagement?

Community Engagement… Developing and sustaining a working relationship between one or more public body and one or more community group, to help them both to understand and act on the needs or issues that the community experiences (National Standards for Community Engagement)

Why involve local communities?  Lived experience, knowledge, understanding and intelligence about local needs and priorities  ‘Doing to’ doesn’t work!  Increased participation leads to better economic, health and social outcomes  Increased participation leads to greater community empowerment and stimulates a healthier democracy

Community engagement outcomes;  Stronger, healthier and more resilient communities  Increased community empowerment  Increased social capital  Increased community participation  Healthier local democracy  Higher levels of equality  Reduced impact on public services

Communities are increasingly the focus of public policy

 Community led regeneration  Health – assets based approaches  Reshaping care – co-production with communities  Public services reform  Planning, criminal justice, early years…  Potential legislation in the form of the proposed Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill  New duties for CPPs

Success factors in realising policy ambitions – consider…  Motivation  Capacity  Opportunity

The Playz, Pennyburn Key success factors

Why is Playz a good example?  Initially supported by the local housing association, it was driven by the community starting with an issue identified by the community  Range of methods – door knocking, community events, surveys, focus groups, design groups  Barriers to engagement were addressed

 Transparent process, lots of information  Engagement linked in with other activities, e.g. personal development programme for young people  High levels of engagement with multiple stakeholders, agency and community  Designed from the start to be community led, capacity building process integral part

The result?  A blight transformed into an asset  Sense of local pride and achievement  Higher levels of community activity and participation across all ranges  Local employment and training places  Hub for exchange of community assets  Community ownership and respect  A new generation of community activists!

Moving forward  How can we engage at an early stage to identify local needs and aspirations and to identify and agree appropriate interventions/solutions in partnership with communities?  What is the role of the LAG in this regard?  How might we link with all the other policy agendas (and funds) and what benefits are there in linking with community planning processes?  How do we assess and respond to local capacity building support needs?  What skills and competences need to be developed?

Some tools and resources…  National Standards for Community Engagement  VOiCE  Action Research in Communities research/ARC/ research/ARC/  Participatory Budgeting  Scottish Co-production Network

Workshop questions 1.What’s happening now? 2.What are the key success factors? 3.How can these be built into the new programme? 4.What are your three key messages or aspirations for the next programming period?