East Renfrewshire – Better Community Engagement

Staff Workshops – October 2010

Purpose of Today’s Event

• To introduce ourselves to departments• To tell you what our remit is• To discuss key issues and best practice • To introduce the ERC Standards• To give you an opportunity to let us know what you

need

The Community Planning Team

Background:• Cabinet Report (March 2010)• Restructured Community Planning Team (May 2010)

Remit:• To improve the corporate coordination, planning and

management of community engagement• To develop an Engagement Support Framework• To support community influencing groups

Defining 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”(Scottish National Standards for Community Engagement)

Defining community engagement

‘Community engagement can take many forms’…. but it is ‘…always a process that involves purposeful dialogue between public agencies and communities aimed at improving understanding between them and taking more effective action to achieve beneficial change.’

The National Standards for Community Engagement

Engagement and EmpowermentScottish Government View:

• Community Empowerment is part of the broader agenda of engaging with communities

• Empowerment is about people having higher degrees of control and influence

• But - we heard clearly that many people simply want better opportunities to engage

• Community Engagement remains of key importance • Legislation hasn’t gone away• Single Outcome Agreements do require communities to be engaged

(‘Making Community Empowerment a Reality’ 2008)

The view from Audit Scotland:

‘Community engagement needs to be more sustained and more systematic. The introduction of National Standards for Community Engagement provides an opportunity for CPPs to improve the consistency and effectiveness of community engagement.’

(Community planning: an initial review 2006)

What are the National Standards for Community Engagement ?

Measurable performance statements for good community engagement

• Launched May 2005• Built from community experience• Designed by community and agency representatives• Based on best practice principles• Specific enough to guide actions• Useable in different types of engagement • Achieving highest quality practice• Endorsed by key stakeholders and 3 national events

What are the National Standards for Community Engagement ?

• Involvement• Support• Planning• Methods• Working Together• Sharing Information • Working with others • Improvement• Feedback• Monitoring and Evaluation

Involvement Standard:

We will identify and involve the people and organisations with an interest in the focus of the engagement

Involvement Standard – Examples of Indicators1. All groups of people whose interests are affected by

the issues that the engagement will address are represented

2. Agencies and community groups actively promote the involvement of people who experience barriers to participation

3. Agencies and community groups actively promote the involvement of people from groups that are affected but not yet organised to participate

Tools and Techniques

The Engagement Framework

• The ERC Standards• Guide to Engagement Techniques• The Pre-Planning tool• Training for Staff• A Corporate Engagement Calendar• The Engagement Database of Contacts and Events

Next Steps

• Workshops running throughout October• Feedback collated by ERC and SCDC• Feedback report circulated to all early December• Development of Framework components ongoing and

updates provided• Get in touch with the team at anytime