« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
Section seven: Networking and sustainability
Title National Standards for Community Engagement: support materials | Author(s) Scottish Community Development Centre |
Date 2005 | Publisher/ web link Communities Scotland
http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/* | Geographical focus Scotland | Theme / topic focus Community engagement |
Size Various | Accessibility User Guide and Illustrations are clear and simple, Case Studies rather longer;
Reference Manual was designed for use only on specific points but is reasonably accessible in a learning context | Cost Free | Coverage Standards and indicators |
Type Support materials for users of Standards | Primary audience Public agencies, community groups |
Summary of content The materials available are a Users Guide, Illustration from the Pilots, Case Studies, Reference Manual and Toolkit. The Users Guide is a simple introduction to using the Standards. The Illustrations are a summary of points from the Case Studies related to each Standard. The Reference Manual provides practical comments on each suggested indicator for each Standard - for example the section on the 'Improvement Standard' effectively provides a brief guide to the principles of community and agency capacity building. The toolkit is designed for trainers/ facilitators and suggests ways of helping people to assess their performance on each Standard, with possible exercises. |
Comments / assessment Hopefully, any capacity building for community engagement in Scotland will refer to the National Standards. But these documents also contain a great deal of material that could be used to introduce the principles of community engagement more generally - or rather this would be using the National Standards as a learning aid - one of their intended uses. |
* http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/stellent/groups/public/documents/webpages/cs_010771.hcsp#TopOfPage
Title Community Engagement How to... Guide | Author(s) Scottish Centre for Regeneration |
Date Subject to updating | Publisher/ web link Communities Scotland
http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/* | Geographical focus Scotland | Theme / topic focus Community engagement |
Size n.a. | Accessibility Short and succinct assessments of many approaches and resources | Cost Free | Coverage Techniques and principles |
Type Web based guide | Primary audience Public agencies, community groups |
Summary of content The site is divided into four major sections: a directory of practical techniques to help involve local people in decisions, a list of publications, with helpful assessments of their value, a directory of case studies of organisations or techniques that have worked to improve community engagement and a How to …Guide on 'Engaging Ethnic Minority Communities', growing out of work on the National Standards. |
Comments / assessment Everything on the site is very well linked to other sources of information. Specific summaries are provided for community representatives, Community Planning partners, community advisers and researchers. The 'techniques' section is a mixture of reviews of specific techniques e.g. Open Space events, general issues such as 'publicity' and resources such as ABCD. However this perhaps is better than a narrow 'toolkit' approach. The publications section provides a guide to many resources on engagement that we have not attempted to review here. The Case Studies have been developed as tasters, so contain less detailed information. The 'ethnic minorities' guide appears to be better than any other Scottish resource on the subject. |
* http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/stellent/groups/public/documents/webpages/scrcs_006693.hcsp#TopOfPage
Title Good Practice Guidelines for Consulting and Engaging with Communities | Author(s) Shetland Islands Council |
Date Subject to updating | Publisher/ web link Shetland Islands Council
http://www.shetland.gov.uk/consultation/guidelines/ | Geographical focus Shetland | Theme / topic focus Consultation and engagement |
Size n.a. (not large) | Accessibility Simple and easy to use | Cost Free | Coverage Planning and delivery of consultation projects |
Type Practice guide | Primary audience Local government staff |
Summary of content This Toolkit is "designed as a reference and learning source for those planning and carrying out activities to engage with the public in planning, delivering and evaluating services across Shetland". The core of it is brief notes outlining issues (and local procedures) for 11 stages in the process from 'why consult?' to evaluation. Other resources such as a brief checklist form for people planning consultation are included. |
Comments / assessment More of a model that others could emulate than a resource for direct use -full of references to Shetland policies and contacts. But the brief and simple contents and the presentation are well worth a look. |
Title Making community participation meaningful | Author(s) Danny Burns & four others |
Date 2004 | Publisher/ web link The Policy Press, Bristol | Geographical focus UK | Theme / topic focus Regeneration |
Size 71 pages | Accessibility Designed for group use, with graphical exercises etc | Cost £14.95 | Coverage Assessment framework |
Type Set of tools and exercises | Primary audience Community engagement organisers |
Summary of content Based on 'roadtesting' of two earlier frameworks drawn up by different groups of the same authors, the publication aims to distil the most important questions that need to be asked to assess the effectiveness of participation strategies. It provides a framework of these key issues and indicators relating to them, forms for self-assessment asking questions relating to each issue, some tools and exercises designed to help groups to address the questions, and guidance on the whole process. |
Comments / assessment Does what it sets out to do very thoroughly and effectively. Covers issues such as 'what communities exist in your locality' and 'Do you have an effective approach to community and organisational learning' as well as the effectiveness of participation, partnership working etc, so parts could be used in variety of contexts, not only regeneration. |
Title Networking Resource Pack | Author(s) Various |
Date 2003 | Publisher/ web link Community Development Exchange ( CDX)
http://www.cdx.org.uk* | Geographical focus General (the resources and contacts are English and somewhat dated) | Theme / topic focus Networking |
Size 58 pages (pdf version) | Accessibility Available online - a variety of materials and resources reasonable clearly indexed | Cost Free online | Coverage Primarily for community development workers |
Type Digest of materials - conference papers, case studies, reflective papers etc | Primary audience Those interested in networking |
Summary of content Varied content including the role of CDX as a networking organisation, a practitioners guide to networking, do's and don'ts; case studies, and more substantial papers on CD and networking, and networking in partnerships. |
Comments / assessment Certainly a mixed bag, presented as a compilation of useful material rather than as a coherent guide, but includes much useful material on the value of networking and how to go about it. |
* http://www.cdx.org.uk/reports/networkingresourcepack.pdf
Other resources
There are probably more 'how to' guides on community engagement than on all other aspects of capacity building put together, and we have not attempted to review them all. Probably one of the best is 'Participation Works! 21 techniques of community participation for the 21st century' by the New Economics Foundation, which reviews "twenty-one proven techniques from around the world" such as Planning for Real, Participatory Appraisal, Citizens Juries etc. However it suffers like all in this genre from being a recipe book rather than an aid to fundamental capacity building of any kind. http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/uploads/doc_1910200062310_PWA4.doc
The handbook by Burns et al is combined from two earlier sources: 'Active partners: Benchmarking community participation' (Yorkshire Forward, 2003) and Burns D & Taylor M 'Auditing community participation: An assessment handbook' (The Policy Press, 2000), which we have not listed separately.
« Previous | Contents | Next »