Making local connections
Engaging and involving a broad range of community members in your community development activity is crucial to its success. Researchers such as Kilpatrick and Falk, among many others, have noted the importance of involving people from the beginning of a project in determining objectives and identifying priorities and actions.
Have a range of opportunities available for people to be involved in ways that are convenient and appropriate for them. Often particular effort is required to help ‘hard to reach’ groups and ‘silent voices’ to be involved. Some ways in which you might achieve this include:
- Identify the different groups in the community and the ‘hubs’ around which people gather. For example, the local school is often an important ‘hub’ to make contact with parents and families.
- Ask people how they might want to be involved
- Explore different ways that people could be involved, other than meetings
- Think about factors that might inhibit people’s involvement, and try out activities and strategies that would overcome those factors.
- Make activities fun, social and family-friendly
- Support people who are the ‘drivers’ of community work
- Offer invitations for people to be involved for a short time or for a particular task
- Remember that when you develop expectations in the community you have six months within which to have at least one small success
- Celebrate and promote small successes
Extra resources
- A range of publications by Sue Kilpatrick and Ian Falk, with other authors, are archived at the Centre for Research and Learning in Regional Australia website.
- See the section on Connecting with your Community for more information about community engagement.
