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Extra Resource

How to Engage your Community

Community Engagement

This guide will help you to understand who you should engage in your school business and different ways to do it. You will also find examples from different schools and some ideas and templates that could help you in the process.

In this pack:

1. Why Engage your Community - Understand why it is important to engage your

community and the benefits of involving community members.

2. Community Engagement Case Study: Ilowola Secondary School – A case study from

a real school business!

3. Who Should be Engaged? – Identify the key members of your community that

should be engaged with your school business.

4. How to Engage Them – Useful tips to help you to engage the people you have

identified.

5. Appendix - You will find examples of resources you can use to engage your

community. There are some templates that can be modified for your own school.

Finally, it is important to note that this guide provides some recommendations to engage your community, but we are sure that there are many other ideas that you will think of. We hope you will find this useful. Why Engage the Community?

Start by asking yourself why it is important to run a school enterprise. Many ideas will probably come into you head, from generating an additional income for the school, to giving a practical environment for students to develop entrepreneurial skills. There are many benefits, but…

Does everyone understand them?

Will these benefits increase if more people get involved?

How can your enterprise help the community?

Community Engagement is important because it allows schools to explain and share the importance and benefits of their school business to a wider community. If more people are engaged, the bigger the benefits of mutual collaboration could be. Think of different ways in which the community could support the project, for example:

There could be parents with knowledge of accountancy or sales, or that maybe

know about farming or crafting techniques.

Maybe someone in the community could donate some of the materials you need to

start the business.

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It is also important to consider how your business could make an impact on others, for example:

With the knowledge acquired, students could start a small garden in their homes to

help support their families.

If the business needs to employ external people, maybe you could employ people

from the community.

With all of this in mind, take a look at the following sections to put what you have been thinking into action! Let’s start with a great example of a school business that has really engaged their local community: Ilowola Secondary School in Tanzania.

1. Community Engagement Case Study: Ilowola Secondary School

Business: Organic Beekeeping

Business Name: ‘ILOHONEY’

Ilowola Secondary School in Tanzania launched a beekeeping enterprise producing organic honey. As they did not have the funds available to purchase new beehives, they used left over timber from the school’s construction project and asked parents to contribute a small amount of money.

In order to set up their business in the best way possible, they invited experts from outside the school to give lectures to students on beekeeping and on how to implement projects.

The benefits of this business have spread beyond the school. Beekeeping helps the environment by organically enhancing crop production in neighbouring farms. This has helped the farmers and discouraged them from destroying neighbouring forests and damaging the habitat of the many animals that live there. The school also reserved a natural forest for provision of flowers for the bees to make honey. This has provided a habitat for the bees as well as wild pigs, several types of birds, hare, and other smaller animals and microorganisms.

The teachers have used the business as an opportunity to enrich learning across the curriculum, and were able to link it with subjects as diverse as carpentry, biology and geography.

The business has also attracted visitors. This has given the school national and international exposure. The school are also planning to inform the Ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources about their project, as the Government is encouraging people to keep bees for business and may be able to support the school in some way.

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Ilowola’s school business has been very successful and has been able to generate money and help students to pay for their school fees. This has encouraged parents to support their children to be involved in the business. It has also strengthened the support from the school management as they see that the project has great potential to sustain the school financially.

In the second year of their business, the school further developed their honey business and also expanded and started a successful school restaurant. They are now making plans for their third year in business!

2. Who Should be Engaged?

First of all it is important to determine who should be engaged in the School Business. There are some community members, like parents, that should be involved in every business, while there are others that will depend on the kind of business you are developing. For this reason, this question does not have one unique answer because it will depend of the characteristics of each school or business. Any person, group or organisation that has an interest or concern in your business is a stakeholder. The picture below shows some stakeholders a school business may have.

Who are your stakeholders? Think about all your stakeholders. Make a list of them and discuss with the students how they influence the school business.

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Note that not all stakeholders are equal, and that the efforts to engage them should not be the same either. This is why after making the list, you should analyse the importance and interest each one of them has and select the most relevant stakeholders that should be involved in your school business. Not every stakeholder is a potential supporter; you may find some blockers too. You must also include them in your analysis, and if they are strong it is especially important to address them. There are different ways of making a stakeholder analysis. Always start by making an extensive list of all the stakeholders you can think of. In this first stage you do not have to worry about their importance, just write them down. After you have identified them, analyse each one according to their relevance and relation with your school business, and select the ones you are going to work closely with. You can find examples of two different ways of conducting a stakeholder analysis below using the information of Ilowola School.

Stakeholder Analysis Stakeholder Analysis 1: IDENTIFY YOUR STAKEHOLDERS This is a very simple analysis. To do an analysis like this you must write the name of the school business at the centre and the stakeholders surrounding it. Try to list as many stakeholders as possible. After you have written down all the stakeholders, you should select the most relevant stakeholders for your project. In the Ilowola School example below, they have used a star to indicate their key stakeholders.

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Stakeholder Analysis 2: CLASSIFY YOUR STAKEHOLDERS This analysis is the second step of the one you did before. It is a little more complex but if you do it carefully it could be very useful for your business. In the Appendix you will find a template you can use to do it (See Stakeholder Analysis). In this analysis, you need to organise the stakeholders you have already identified and put them into the grid you see below. To do this, you will need to consider the influence and the interest they could have in the project.

Influence: Measures the power the stakeholders have over the project, and to what level

they can help to achieve or to block the desired results.

Example: In Ilohoney, parents have a high influence on the project because they can

encourage their children to take part or not. Also because they are the most

important customers of honey.

Interest: Measures to what degree stakeholders will be affected by the project, and what

degree of interest or concern they have about it.

Example: In the case of Ilohoney, neighbouring farmers should have a high interest

in the project because it affects them directly. They could become important

supporters, but if the school does not inform them about it, then they will not know

how it will benefit them.

You now need to divide your stakeholders into four groups (low influence – low interest, high influence – low interest, low influence – high interest, high influence – high interest), and write them down in the template. The following grid shows how the analysis will look and what should be your approach and strategy with each kind of stakeholder. Have a try with your Stakeholder Analysis template!

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Other Examples There are many examples of community engagement in school businesses. Some of the most interesting ones are explained below, but they are not the only ones! Bodhi School, India Business: Plastic Recycling For Bodhi School, the community is a relevant stakeholder. For their business they collect plastics from the neighbourhood and recycle them to make second-grade plastic items. In this case community involvement is essential, because if the neighbours do not know, or do not care about the business, then the students will not get enough plastics to recycle. Indeco Community School, Zambia Business: School uniforms Indeco Community School set up a business to make affordable school uniforms. For many families in the area the cost of school uniforms created a barrier to education. Not only does the business solve this problem, having a fantastic social impact, it has also created employment opportunities in the community. DLF Public School, India Business: Crafts DLF Public School started their craft business in order to help the local community. The students run a stall that sells crafts made by local artisan families, as well as additional items made by students. How to Engage Them? Once you have identified the members of the community you want to engage, you should look for different ways of doing it. How engaged the community is will determine your relationship with them. There are three key elements that you should take into consideration when trying to engage the stakeholders you already identified: Communication, Participation and Outside School.

Remember:

Parents and community engagement sends a clear signal to students about the value of their work in the school business.

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Communication

Communication is an exchange between the school and its stakeholders that involves information sharing and the opportunity to learn from each other. Effective comunication between stakeholders is the foundation of good partnerships. Schools have the responsibility to help the stakeholders to understand what they are doing.

Always remember:

What are the key characteristics/ strengths of the community?

How are you communicating the information about the school business to your

stakeholders? Are you communicating it in a positive and meaningful way?

Is the role of each stakeholder clear to them? Some stakeholders may want to

collaborate but do not know how, so it is important that you know how and give

them concrete ideas or tasks.

How can schools work with parents and the community to establish a shared set of

expectations about the business?

Some strategies:

1. Use a range of communication tools and channels, including newsletters, websites,

emails, assemblies, parent/teacher interviews, and meetings. Consider the

conditions of your stakeholders when deciding the tool you will use. See Appendix

for lots of examples you can use!

2. Some stakeholders are probably very busy, so limit the number of events and use

other school instances, like parent-teacher meetings to deliver your messages

instead of creating lots of new ones.

3. Develop marketing materials such as school banners and fence signs so more people

know about the business.

Example: Ilowola Secondary School used this year’s Graduation Ceremony of Form IV

students to advertise their business and sell their products among parents. Parents were

really excited and bought a large amount of honey.

Participation

Parents and other community members usually live very busy lives, so the opportunity to participate in a variety of ways, times and places is essential. It is also very important to acknowledge and value their participation.

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Always remember:

How do parents and community members participate in school activities? How can

they contribute with the business?

Are parents notified about major events well in advance so they can plan ahead?

How?

Are there opportunities to develop partnerships with parents or community

members that could deliver more innovative cooperation for the school business?

For example, are there parents that work in the same sector as the school business?

Are there NGOs that could support you?

How does the school community recognise and support collaborators?

Some strategies:

1. Develop a school business calendar outlining key dates during the year when the

engagement of parents and the community is vital and share it with them. Describe

the activities and how they can collaborate. If you have a website you can upload it,

if not print it and give it to parents, or have large ones in places where they will see

them.

2. Develop a list of parent and community skills, talents and availability to ask for their

collaboration when you require it.

3. Invite parents and community members to become involved as guest teachers or

speakers.

4. Generate and maintain contact with relevant members of the community and ask

them to participate.

Example: Ilowola Secondary School has invited experts to train them in beekeeping. They

maintain a good relation with them and will continue receiving their training.

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Outside School

Learning is not limited to the classroom or the school business. The beliefs, expectations and experience of parents and the community can also determine the students’ achievements. Always remember:

How can schools support parents to be positively involved with their child’s learning

and participation in the school business, at home and at school?

How can teachers and parents work together to help children learn?

Does the school know what would help parents and the community to be involved?

How do teachers seek to understand and learn about the students’ environment,

including their home, community and culture?

What does the community expect from the school business? How can they support

it?

Some strategies:

1. Build relationships with local services.

2. Include practical activities that involve parents in homework.

3. Provide parent/teacher/student workshops targeting areas of need or interest in

relation to the school business.

4. Invite parents to ask their children about the school business and their participation

in it.

5. Encourage students to use what they have learned at their homes.

Example: At Ilowola Secondary School, this year the villagers will take place in the project.

There are 20 villagers identified by the village government that will attend the trainings

along with the students.They are forming a beekeeping organisation which will be supported

by the school. Eventually, the villagers will benefit from not only the knowledge but also the

money. The school will also benefit from these villagers as it will provide the market for the

honey and other products.

Challenges

Community Engagement is not always easy. Many times you will encounter problems such

as lack of interest from stakeholders. You must not let this discourage you or your students.

Here are some common problems and some ways to face them. Many of the ideas already

given will also help you to address these problems.

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Problem: Lack of interest

Possible solutions:

It is very common to face this problem at the beginning of the

business. Be creative when you advertise and invite people to

participate. Clearly show them the benefits of the project.

Sometimes the best way to overcome this problem is simply by running a good business.

If the business starts to make profits or has other achievements, people will probably get

interested (but make sure that people know what you have been doing!).

Problem: People want to participate but do not how.

Possible solutions:

You have to have a clear idea of what help you need for the

business.

Speak to those people in order to know them better and have an

idea of their knowledge and interests. Help them to find a way of

getting involved.

Problem: People want to participate but do not have time.

Possible solutions:

Offer different ways of participating, that suit a variety of people.

Some people can help regularly. Others just for one time. Some

may prefer mornings while others afternoons or weekends. Be

flexible.

Announce activities in advance. The calendar may be useful for

this.

Use other instances to engage your stakeholders instead of creating

many new ones.

Problem: People do not believe in your business

Possible solutions:

The best way to make people believe in your business

is by running it and having results. If students are

excited about it and you start making profits, then it

will be much easier to show everyone that it is a

contribution for the school.

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Show them that the business is not only about the money, it is a very good tool to teach

the students different working and entrepreneurial skills that will help the in their lives.

Finally…

We hope that this guide will be useful to get your community engaged. Always remember

that community engagement is a process that is not always easy, so you have to be

constantly looking for new and creative ways of engaging people. If it is not easy at first do

not get discouraged, it may take some time and some people may be harder to engage than

others. You must never forget that a good way to engage most people is just by running a

good business and communicating with everybody what you are doing and how it is

benefitting the students, the school and the community.

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5. Appendix

How to use this Appendix This Appendix was created to give some examples that could help you in the process of engaging your community. Remember that these are only ideas that you may use if they are useful, but you could also think of very different ideas that will be better for your context. You will need to adjust some of them with your particular information. You will find…

1. Stakeholder Analysis Template: This template could be useful when you do the

stakeholder analysis. In the Community Engagement Guide you will find the

explanation of how to use it.

2. Sample Letter: We understand that it is often difficult to explain the benefits of the

programme to Parents and Community Members. You will find a sample letter you

could send to Parents. If you think it will be good to send it, please adjust it as

appropriate.

3. Newsletter: A newsletter may also be a good idea to inform parents about the

school business. This newsletter is only an example but it may be useful. You can

write on it to adjust it with your particular information.

4. Calendar: As we explained in the Guide, a calendar is a good way to inform the

community about the most important activities of the year. If you think it is useful,

you can print it and complete it with your own dates and events.

5. Invitation: You will also find a sample invitation that you can use to invite people to

your events. If you think it will be useful, print it and complete it with your own

information.

STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS

Sample Letter to a Parent Dear Parent, Your son/daughter has been selected to take part in the School Enterprise Challenge. It is a very prestigious international awards programme, in which over 5265 schools from 106 different countries participated in 2016. For the awards programme, your son/daughter will be asked to work with their classmates and two teachers to start their own school-based business. To take part in the programme they may have to meet with their team during and outside school working hours. However, we must assure you that the School Enterprise Challenge has many benefits for your son/daughter, their school and your community and will not distract them from academic study. Firstly, the programme will empower your son/daughter with valuable skills and experience through offering them a hands-on education in the challenges of running a real business. Secondly, the focus on social and environmental sustainability will encourage charitable activities. Thirdly, the programme will improve your son/daughter’s school by enabling it to generate publicity and recognition locally, nationally and internationally. The School Enterprise Challenge is a fantastic opportunity for your son/daughter and I hope that you will be able to work with us to make sure it is a great success! Please contact the school with any questions you may have. Yours Sincerely, [Teachers Name]

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2016 School

Calendar

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