Community Engagement

Introduction

This paper will be a critique of community engagement with specific emphasis on the participation aspect. The importance of overall participation of all involved members of the community will be examined in broader details with regards to policies dealing with education and employment and the subsequent equal opportunities that should in principle be available for all members in the society regardless of age, race or sex. However, before delving into the participation aspect, the definition of community engagement, the concept of community engagement and the principles of community engagement will be examined in order to get a better understanding of the critique. The participation aspect will then be examined in details with regards to overall equity and equality based on the principles of community engagement.

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Definition

To best get the definition of community engagement one has to grasp the meaning of community to begin with. Community can be defined as “a fluid concept used to describe people (demographics, cultural and ethnic characteristics or risk profiles), location in terms of geographical boundaries, connectors such as common values and collective motivations or power relations in terms of communication patterns, formal and informal lines of authority and influence or resource flows”(Hatcher, n.d., para 2). From this detailed definition of community, we get community engagement as being “a systematic process that provides an opportunity for citizens, planners, managers and elected individuals to share their experience, knowledge and goals and combine their energy to create a plan that is technically sound, economically attractive, and generally understood by most of those affected by it and is thus politically viable”

(Silberberge et al, 2011, p. 7). In a nutshell community engagement in its simplest form is simply defined as “a dimension of public participation” (Jones & Wells, 2007, p. 408).

Concept of community engagement

From the definition, the concept of community engagement has in it the mandate, of identifying and valuing cultural strengths in the process of integrating the concept with institutional and scientific expertise all in an effort to maximize the benefits of the process to the individuals involved (Hatcher, n.d). Community engagement blends in social sciences and arts from a range of disciplines such as cultural anthropology, social work, organizational development, political science, psychology, and sociology with other literatures based on community mobilization, community psychology, community participation, cultural influences, and constituency building (Watson, 2007).

Participation and the principles of community engagement

The concept of community engagement is based on clearly set principles that govern the engagement of any community based engagement between various members of society and or with the various institutions (Blake et al, 2008). These principles are important when it comes to guiding a community in its design, evaluation and implementation of the said community engagement. The first principle is that clarity should be maintained in any engagement about the various goals and purposes of the various efforts of community engagement that are employed for the communities and populations that are being engaged. In the case of legislation to ensure equity and equality for all races when it comes to educational access, the said law regarding this effort should not be having any room for ambiguity in its operation. The reason why ambiguity should be thoroughly removed is because the law will not have the desired effect if various individuals and institutions subject their roles in ensuring equity to various interpretations (Ipsos, 2006).

The second principle is “to become knowledgeable about the community in terms of its economic conditions, political structures, norms and values, demographic trends, history and experience with engagement efforts” (Silberberge et al, 2011, p. 13). For any successful engagement, there has to be a bridging among the various members of the society in order to cut down on social, political, economic and historical disparities before any resulting viable engagement (Evans et al, 2009). For instance in a working environment such as the mining sector, traditionally mining activities have been dominated by males in a society and females have found it extremely hard to get ahead in the industry. However, policies of affirmative action in this sector have ensured that in Australia women are getting preferential treatment so as to boost their employment numbers in the country’s numerous mining operations (Social Economic Environment, 2006).

The first two principles are all to be engaged in before the formal commencement of any community engagement initiative. They are especially true in cases where a country or a society has been subject to discriminatory practices in the past such as the American black-white segregation policies that existed in most states in the past (Watson, 2007). After the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, many of these southern States appealed these policies and allowed for communal integration of all races in their universities, colleges and other institutions of higher learning (Evans et al, 2009).

Apart from the first two principles that deal with the start-up aspect of community engagement, the third and fourth principle deals with the process of having an effective engagement. The third principle states that for effective engagement the initiators of the process should “go into the community, establish relationships, build trust and work with the leadership to seek commitments that create processes for community mobilizing” (Silberberge et al, 2011, p. 31).

It is not just enough to have legislation and processes that aim to promote community participation, in say, the enactment of legislation but it also helps a lot when the appropriate research is done in order to outline the best possible line of action (Rogers & Robinson, 2004).

By engaging in a widespread participatory approach, individuals will feel that they are part of the process of change for a better society. In the enactment of affirmative action policies, management of a company should be consulted extensively so as to ensure a well meaning act of harmonization of gender and ethnic disparities do not end up compromising the quality of labor force output (Moely, Billing & Holland, 2009).

The fourth principle is based on the fact that self-determination of the community is the right and responsibility of all members of the community (Silberberge et al, 2011). With regard to the role this participation plays in ensuring equity in the society, its importance cannot be over emphasized. For there to be any significant change in how society treats its marginalized populations in education an employment opportunities, there has to be an overall paradigm shift in their perception of what is right and what is wrong (Rogers & Robinson, 2004). For the community engagement to succeed, however, principles number five through nine have to be applied meticulously. These principles also apply in other forms of community engagement such as in commerce (Connor, 2009). The fifth principle relates to the continual partnership with all individuals in the community so as to improve health and create change. This fifth principle emphasizes on transparency of community engagement when it comes to how interactions take place. In terms of enactment, a classic example in this case with regards to equality and participation is what is happening in the American school system; schooling institutions have completely adopted ethnic and racial balances over the past few decades (Redding, Murphy & Sheley, 2011).

Principle number six emphasizes on the need for the engagement to respect and recognize the community’s diversity. It is in this understanding that further cooperation can be fostered as gradual understanding ease in the designing, planning and eventual implementation of laid out policies. In the UK, the government has gone a long way in ensuring that different races within its society and particularly the Indian migrant population have equal opportunities in the British educational system (Rogers & Robinson, 2004).

The seventh principle states that community engagement “can only be sustained by identifying and mobilizing community assets and strengths by developing capacity and resources to take action and decision making” (Silberberge et al, 2011, p. 35). The community assets when it comes to participation aimed at eliminating disparities is always the entire society which has to pull together towards a common goal (Hatcher, n.d).

Unlike the previous seven principles, the eighth principle is particularly focused on the need of community engagement initiatives to be flexible in nature so as to cater for the changing needs which are inevitable with time. The unique thing about community engagements is that they are normally dynamic in nature. For instance in cases where there is economic turmoil, different genders, particularly women and individuals of older age are forced to get into employment or rather look for any economic activity from wherever in order to supplement their meager incomes. In such cases policies to deal with non discrimination ought to be adjusted so that they also cater for the needs of this newly disenfranchised populace in terms of availing to them the limited employment opportunities that are on offer and which under normal prevailing circumstances would find nearly impossible to access (Watson, 2007).

The ninth principle focuses on commitments of a long-term nature between community organizations and its various partners (Silberberge et al, 2011). Long term commitment for any viable community engagement must be all but guaranteed by the participants if the objectives are to be exhaustively met. In various participation approaches, the needs are generally those that tend to address historical neglect that has resulted in major disparities in the society. In the American case for instance, with regards to racial integration, it was not enough to state that affirmative action could guarantee equal opportunities in institutions of higher learning and later on in the job market if children of minority groups continued to languish in inner city schools that consistently performed poorly as compared to schools in suburbs. There was need for grassroots collaboration from elementary school level in order to standardize and minimize disparity right from the roots (Redding, Murphy & Sheley, 2011).

Conclusion

Participation is without doubt the greatest contributor to a successful community engagement initiative. Therefore in order to guarantee the success of an initiative such as the pursuit of equity in society in terms of gender, age and race as examined in this paper, a wholesome approach is necessary as the elimination of endemic historic disparities in the society requires participation from across the board of the entire fabric of society. This paper looked at participation with regards to the principles of engagement. This way of analysis provided an overall view of a complete process from the initial enactment and implementation of an initiative to having an effective engagement and finally to the final principles that account for the long term success of an engagement.

References

Blake, G., Diamond, J., Foot, J., Gidley, B., Mayo, M., Shukra, K. & Yarnit, M. (2008). Community engagement and community cohesion. UK: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Connor, A. (2009). 18 rules of community engagement: A guide for building relationships and connecting with customers online. Silicon Valley, CA: Happy About.

Evans, S. Y., Taylor, C. M., Dunlap, M. R., & Miller, D. S. (2009). African Americans and community engagement in higher education: Community service, service-learning and community-based research. Albany, NY: State University of New York.

Hatcher, M. (n.d). Community engagement: Definitions and organizing concepts from the literature. Retrieved May 15, 2012 from http://www.cdc.gov/phppo/pce/part1.htm