You're struggling to involve community members in program design. How can you effectively engage them?

When engaging with marginalised communities, building trust goes beyond just demonstrating that you value their perspective; it requires showing that your values align with their lived experiences. Effective community engagement demands values-based decisions and actions that acknowledge and address those experiences. In my experience, this is essential. E.g. I once facilitated a series of community conversations to help shape a local authority’s cultural strategy. The feedback that resonated most was the community's appreciation for how their feelings of exclusion were acknowledged and thoughtfully integrated into my approach and the final report. This wasn't just about listening—it was about demonstrating understanding through action.

I would start by hiring experts from within the community and building a good reputation in stakeholder relationships. Most of the time communities know the solutions to their challenges so don't go in already invested in your solution, instead listen and utilize your resources effectively to build the program from the grassroots, in my experience these are the projects and programs that truly create sustainable change.

In my experience, trust-building is just one of many important aspects of engaging communities in program design. The key to fostering genuine community engagement is empowering community members to meaningfully participate in the process. By integrating trust-building, active listening, co-creation, and cultural sensitivity, we can ensure that community members are fully involved and committed to the program's success. Offering training and capacity-building opportunities also enhances their ability to contribute effectively to the design and implementation of the program.

Building trust is the foundation for effective community engagement. Start by being present in the community, attending local events, and showing genuine interest in their concerns. Transparency about your non-profit's goals and how community input will shape the program is key. Regularly communicate progress and how their feedback is being used. Trust is earned over time by consistently demonstrating that you value their perspective and are committed to incorporating their voice into your program.

Listening doesn't involve just asking questions and analysing the responses, but genuinely trying to understand different ways of seeing that can help rethink problem statements and solutions if necessary. For instance, I saw a survey which asked farmers what agricultural interventions they wanted, and concluded condescendingly that farmers want deeper wells. However, when interacting with the community, it emerged that farmers did not want deeper wells per-say but were used to harmful interventions imposed on them by an urban mindset and found 'well digging' to be the least intrusive of these on their farming practices. What they really wanted was less interference without genuinely being consulted.

SGT has had good results using the Level 3 in Advice and Guidance as a way of developing people from excluded communities, whether they are prisoners, in the CJS in the community or from excluded groups within the community- the offer of a valued qualification draws people in, and what is delivered enhances people ability to work with all the many agencies that are struggling to engage. Its win-win, people from excluded communities get a decent qualification, some of them will go on to work in or with the wider support sector, diversifying the workforce, being community champions and overcoming those 'hard to reach' issues we are always hearing about!