Resource spotlight: The National Standards for Community Engagement
/This article was featured in the SCDC Weekly - 17th July 2024.
We know that outcomes improve when community priorities are part of how services are developed. That's why high quality community engagement is crucial to create the conditions for better democratic participation and decisions that properly reflect the needs communities face.
The National Standards for Community Engagement are good-practice principles designed to improve and guide this process. The seven standards act as a benchmark and reference point, help to achieve policy aims around empowerment and community control.
Using the Standards, community engagement can lay the foundations for shared decision-making, shared action and support for community-led action.
High quality community engagement can also help to reduce existing inequalities, meaning people who find it difficult to be involved because of language barriers, disability, poverty or discrimination can properly influence the decisions that affect their lives.
In our recent response to the Democracy Matters consultation, we've called for new and enhanced community engagement duties for public bodies – something we think is crucial if communities are to have greater influence and control over public services.
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