What does good community engagement look like?

Community engagement is supported by the key principles of fairness and equality, and a commitment to learning and continuous improvement. Good quality community engagement is:

  • effective − in meeting the needs and expectations of the people involved;

  • efficient − by being well informed and properly planned; and

  • fair − by giving people who may face additional barriers to getting involved an equal opportunity to participate.

When done right, it can provide the foundation for:

  • shared decision-making – where communities influence options and the decisions that are taken;

  • shared action – where communities contribute to any action taken as a result of the engagement process; and

  • support for community-led action – where communities are best placed to deal with the issues they experience and are supported to take the lead in providing a response.

How do we ensure high quality community engagement work and outcomes?

Community engagement done well requires a commitment of time and resources to ensure a well-developed process can be carried out.

The National Standards for Community Engagement are good-practice principles designed to improve and guide the process of community engagement.

Each of the seven Standards provide detailed performance statements that everyone involved can use to achieve the highest quality results and the greatest impact. They show what good engagement looks like, and how to do it.

You can read more about the Standards here.