Guideline for Community Engagement
Guideline for Community Engagement
(Consultation/Mobilisation/Outreach)
508000109855Key objectives of the guideline:
To ensure project staff clearly understand the essentials for conflict sensitive community engagement
To assist the project field staff and contractor in establishing an effective working relation with the communities
To improve consideration of conflict sensitive community engagement throughout the project cycle.
To set out processes to increase the involvement of local population in decision making and planning for community-based interventions
To underline the importance of ensuring communities have a voice and role within project processing and implementation
00Key objectives of the guideline:
To ensure project staff clearly understand the essentials for conflict sensitive community engagement
To assist the project field staff and contractor in establishing an effective working relation with the communities
To improve consideration of conflict sensitive community engagement throughout the project cycle.
To set out processes to increase the involvement of local population in decision making and planning for community-based interventions
To underline the importance of ensuring communities have a voice and role within project processing and implementation
Introduction
The Community Engagement Guideline
The community engagement guideline is a tool to support ADB/AFRM project processing teams and execution and implementing agency staff (including PMO, PIU, Supervision Consultant and Contractors) involved with project design and implementation processes. This could include community mobilisers, engineers, and safeguards officers etc. This tool provides practical guidance on how the community engagement process can be designed and implemented to best support the development and implementation of a given projects’ FCAS conflict sensitivity approach.
This guideline aims to establish a comprehensive system for community engagement to ensure that various engagement events are appropriate to the specific needs of different stakeholder groups and are fitting to the context under consideration. This will assist the field staff, contractors, PMOs and ADB in the planning and delivery of various community engagement operations in a conflict sensitive manner.
What is community engagement and why does it matter for conflict sensitivity?
Community engagement refers to the “actions and processes taken or undertaken to establish effective relationships with individuals or groups so that more specific interactions can then take place”. For the purposes of this guideline, community engagement includes community consultation, community mobilization and community outreach.
19297652540Community engagement allows the communities and project staff to mutually identify concerns, opportunities, risks and potential solutions resulting in a more informed decision-making process and greater mutual benefits including:
More informed decision-making process
Increased trust from the community
Greater community buy-in to projects
Reduced security risk through community ownership
Better quality projects through improved opportunities for monitoring
Enhanced government-community relations and increased government legitimacy
00Community engagement allows the communities and project staff to mutually identify concerns, opportunities, risks and potential solutions resulting in a more informed decision-making process and greater mutual benefits including:
More informed decision-making process
Increased trust from the community
Greater community buy-in to projects
Reduced security risk through community ownership
Better quality projects through improved opportunities for monitoring
Enhanced government-community relations and increased government legitimacy
Community engagement relates to conflict sensitivity in two key ways. Firstly, community engagement is central to the development and implementation of an effective conflict sensitivity approach; secondly, community engagement needs to be conducted in a conflict sensitive manner.
Organisations operating in an FCAS context must be mindful of the two-way dynamic between an intervention and the context, where the context impacts on the intervention and intervention impacts on the context; in both positive and negative, intended and unintended ways. Interventions should be designed and implemented in a way that mitigates potential and/or actual negative impacts and realises/maximizes potential and/or actual positive impacts. The community engagement process is one of the most critical field level interventions to achieve this. For instance, the conflict sensitivity needs assessment conducted as part of the development of the AFRM FCAS approach concludes that projects investing in the establishment of good working relationships with the communities are less prone to violent conflict and insecurity and better able to deliver projects in a timely manner.
01932940The community engagement must be planned from the outset of a project and while planning the process we should think of the following.
Define your community and be inclusive
Be clear why, when and how you are going to involve people
Consider who should be involved and what will be acceptable to them
Be realistic and honest
00The community engagement must be planned from the outset of a project and while planning the process we should think of the following.
Define your community and be inclusive
Be clear why, when and how you are going to involve people
Consider who should be involved and what will be acceptable to them
Be realistic and honest
Moreover, during community engagement, project staff must consider how to engage certain groups with the project such as armed non-state actors (ANSAs), local power holders, warlords and etc. whom are not usually considered as stakeholders, but such entities often have deep interest and influence in our interventions and can pose severe risks to the interventions and communities. Conflict sensitive engagement provide an equal participation opportunity for the whole population however particular attention is needed for gender and the views of vulnerable groups and voiceless to be mobilised and involved in the engagement process. Neglecting a certain group/party to engage with the project could create grievances and conflict where effective community engagement is vital to overcome those uncertainties.
Key challenge for a robust community engagement in FCAS countries is how to do it in a way that is practical, meaningful and mindful of the conflict context. Prior to engage local communities, we should focus how conflict dynamics and local sensitivities interact with the engagement process of various stakeholders.
Conflict Sensitivity in Community Engagement (Guiding Principles)
Community engagement throughout the project cycle
Community engagement is an ongoing process and should be integrated throughout the project cycle, including, for example, in feasibility studies for project design, when introducing the project to local communities, during project implementation, monitoring and evaluation and during the exit process when activities are completed in a region. Community engagement should be considered during concept development and be incorporated into the Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) when field level information is collected, and consultation is necessary. Following the contract award process, the project is introduced to the local communities during which an effective community consultation and mobilisation is vital to generate community buy-in to the project. However, community engagement is a continuous practice during project implementation where various categories of project staff including social, technical and safeguards personnel are involved with the local communities. In order to monitor and provide oversight of project activities, the engagement of local communities can be vital in information gathering and the assessing of project deliverables. During the project close down phase, relevant project assets and ownership may be handed over to the local communities where planning for future operation and maintenance activities should be decided in close consultation with the relevant population.
Stakeholder Analysis (Power Analysis)
Stakeholders refer to the individuals, groups and organisations that a project may directly or indirectly affect or be affected by. In order to ensure that a socially inclusive engagement process, appropriate to the needs and interests of all stakeholders in a community, is developed, a stakeholder analysis (power analysis) is necessary. This would be conducted as part of the projects’ FCAS Assessment (see FCAS Assessment guideline) and would enable the community engagement process to adopt different engagement approaches appropriate for each stakeholder.
31750248920INFORM CONSULT INVOLVE COLLABORATE EMPOWER
00INFORM CONSULT INVOLVE COLLABORATE EMPOWER
The stakeholders’ analysis need to be context specific for each project and to be conducted in a conflict sensitive way to effectively guide community engagement processes. In order to effectively analyse the powers of various stakeholders and to engage them in a conflict sensitive manner it is important to consider the following:
Who is dependent on who?
Who has control over resources and information?
What threats are linked to the inclusion or exclusion of different stakeholders?
-63500580390For instance…
The presence of a local warlord in the project area requires careful consideration to ensure the project develops an appropriate conflict sensitive approach. Their exclusion may bring certain threats to the project and to other stakeholders, however their engagement may threaten the needs and interests of the wider community and especially those who are socially excluded and vulnerable. Therefore, adopting a balanced approach is necessary to reduce the short terms risk for the project (e.g. obstruction if excluded from the project) and longer-term risks for the community (e.g. the entrenching of negative power dynamics through their inclusion). The FCAS Assessment is critical in generating detailed information about such power dynamics, and the FCAS Action Plan sets out the conflict sensitivity strategy for the project.
00For instance…
The presence of a local warlord in the project area requires careful consideration to ensure the project develops an appropriate conflict sensitive approach. Their exclusion may bring certain threats to the project and to other stakeholders, however their engagement may threaten the needs and interests of the wider community and especially those who are socially excluded and vulnerable. Therefore, adopting a balanced approach is necessary to reduce the short terms risk for the project (e.g. obstruction if excluded from the project) and longer-term risks for the community (e.g. the entrenching of negative power dynamics through their inclusion). The FCAS Assessment is critical in generating detailed information about such power dynamics, and the FCAS Action Plan sets out the conflict sensitivity strategy for the project.
Which stakeholders’ needs, interests and expectations should be given priority under the project?
Entry point identification
In order to successfully engage with communities during project processing and implementation entry points enabling access to communities need to be identified. The identification of appropriate entry points supports our activities in engaging in a more context specific manner and minimizing problems during the engagement process. The FCAS Assessment is important in providing information relating to the various stakeholders through which we can successfully engage with the community (See FCAS Assessment guideline). For instance, to engage women in the project in a conflict sensitive way, it is necessary to identify whom to work with and what mechanisms will be acceptable for the local community. Some of these entry points are following.
CDCs are ready available structures at the local level and involved in community-based activities
Local government institutions have close relation with the communities through which we can engage with a community
Women CDCs could enable access for working with the women groups in the project area
Local CBOs and CSOs have good knowledge and awareness of local cultures and are involved in development and engaged with the local communities
Religious elders hold influence in local communities and can assist in communicating project messages to inform and consult local communities or to raise awareness.
Building Community Coalitions
Community coalitions can be defined as a group of individuals and community-based organisations come together to pursue the goal of common purpose of bettering the community. These coalitions are typically created when there is need for a collective response to a community concern. Community coalitions enhance the credibility of our work and provide great networking opportunities with new ideas and energy to the existing work. They provide good sources of information and feedback, and help us in publicity of the project. Moreover, a community coalition can help the project overcome problems arising during implementation.
In order to build community coalitions, we need to focus on different categories of people including those most affected by the project, individuals/organisation providing relevant services, community opinion leaders, public officials and youths. The following steps are useful in building a community coalition:
Analyse the context
Brainstorm about potential participants and strategies
Invite people to join
Clarify expectations
Do not assume everyone understand the project/intervention
Develop a mission statement
Define goal and objectives
General Considerations
Community expectation management
Expectation management represents a significant challenge for ADB and is key for a successful conflict sensitivity approach. Expectations may be raised during the FFM as communities anticipate future development projects. When expectations are unmet – e.g. through a changed alignment – this can cause conflict within and between communities, and between the project and communities. Community engagement is crucial to successfully managing expectation. The following checklist sets out a number of steps to enable processing and implementation teams to successfully manage community expectations during project processing and implementation:
The needs and interests of stakeholders must be analysed so that projects can identify what potential expectations and concerns may exist
Planning for the community engagement process should include discussion with national staff and government counterparts to identify potential issues
During community consultations, project staff must be clear and concise about the project aims and deliverables, especially when the project is in proposal stage. In particular, the timeline from project processing to approval, contract award and eventual project initiation should be made explicit
Do not make any pledges/commitments especially when you are not authorised to do so. Introduce the community/applicants to the person who has the authority to make a commitment on behalf of the organisation.
When commitments are made by the project they must be honoured, and in a timely fashion. This should be tracked through some form of ‘commitment register’
Regularly share and update information with communities so they are made aware of progress
Key stakeholders should be regularly briefed on the project and tasked with communicating this with the rest of their community members.
Strategies for expectation management should be integrated into the Project Social Contract with mechanisms for redress where necessary (see Project Social Contract guide)
Socially Inclusive Community Engagement
An effective community engagement strategy makes specific social inclusion considerations, that is, it reflects on how to ensure those without voice are included within engagement activities. In order to empower socially vulnerable groups, as well as to mitigate against the negative risks associated with exclusion (entrenched power, project obstruction etc.), in it necessary to take deliberate steps to engage them in the decision-making processes that effect their lives. An inclusive community engagement is vital to a long term social integrity and to avoid the generation of feelings of injustice. Moreover, it improves the contribution ADB-supported projects can make to positive peace impacts at the community level through increasing access to resources for all community members and eliminating discrimination. It values diversity and enables a timely response to incidents of social discrimination.
Groups that need to be actively included during the engagement process may include the following:
Women groups (female headed households) Economically vulnerable families
Youths (orphans & at-risk) Ethnic and religious minorities
IDPs and refugees Elderly
Persons with disabilities CBOs and CSOs
The involvement of some of these groups may be difficult due to cultural and religious sensitivities where different approaches may need to be adopted. For example, working with local government and women Community Development Councils (where available) to include women in project is an effective approach of ANR sector. In areas where there are no Community Development Council, the hiring of female community/social mobiliser is another approach to engage women in the decision-making process. Acceptable approaches to involve these groups may differ across the country necessitating the identification of context specific approaches. For instance, the involvement of women in Hazara populated areas easier as compared to Pashtun populated areas. In some cases, we would need to identify women opinion leaders who can represent other women of their ethnic/tribal group.
Building Credibility and Trust Among Local Communities
For various developmental programs it is necessary to establish trust and credibility with the local communities. Community engagement processes are an ideal way of doing this however, various considerations need to be made:
Begin community engagement by first consulting with the relevant gatekeepers (these could be local elder, the district governor or other). This demonstrates respect and facilitates access into the local community.
Be visible and active among the communities
Support the activities of other stakeholders where possible
Make efforts to adapt to the local context (language, culture, traditions, etc.)
Encourage diversity in terms of contact with stakeholders in the community
Identify, support and promote local leaders because their active role and participation are vital for an effective community engagement
Regularly share important information and updates about the project
Visit people at their home and meet their families if possible because this is an effective way of building trust
Non-corruption
Ensure all community engagement complies with ADB’s Anticorruption Policy
Community Consultation Guideline
Overview of community consultation approach
Community consultation is the process through which communities participate in decision-making and problem-solving over issues that affect them and is a core component of community engagement and one of the basic principles for ensuring conflict sensitive project implementation. Moreover, community consultation helps to inform project staff about existing and emerging ground level realities and that of the context. This can highlight the various sources of tensions and local sensitivities in a project area and help in the development of appropriate approaches for the managing of those tensions.
As well as community consultation being an integral aspect of a projects conflict sensitivity approach (e.g. as a way of addressing emerging problems or conflicts associated with the project), the way in which such consultation is conducted is also critical. To ensure ensuring consultation is conducted in a conflict sensitive way, it is vital that an adequate understanding of the context is generated. This must include an assessment of the goals, interests, capacities and relationships of various stakeholders among local communities. For example, the exclusion of certain actors in the consultation process, or giving too much importance to others, can lead to skewed perspectives and increased tensions.
8858250The AFRM FCAS Conflict Sensitivity Needs Assessment found that: Community consultation as vital to ensure community ownership and buy-in to projects. Inadequate community consultation undermines the principle of participatory approaches and limits the ability of project teams to overcome implementation issues, such as resettlement, land acquisition, environmental impacts; and, weakens community trust in ADB and Government
00The AFRM FCAS Conflict Sensitivity Needs Assessment found that: Community consultation as vital to ensure community ownership and buy-in to projects. Inadequate community consultation undermines the principle of participatory approaches and limits the ability of project teams to overcome implementation issues, such as resettlement, land acquisition, environmental impacts; and, weakens community trust in ADB and Government
Community Consultation methodology (Key steps for a consultation process)
2797175299720Think carefully about who might be affected by or interested in your consultation by considering:
• Who is directly affected by the intervention?
• Who is indirectly affected by the intervention?
• Who is potentially affected by the intervention?
• Whose help is needed to make the decision work?
• Who knows about the subject?
• Who will have an interest in your consultation?
• Who has been involved in any previous consultations?
00Think carefully about who might be affected by or interested in your consultation by considering:
• Who is directly affected by the intervention?
• Who is indirectly affected by the intervention?
• Who is potentially affected by the intervention?
• Whose help is needed to make the decision work?
• Who knows about the subject?
• Who will have an interest in your consultation?
• Who has been involved in any previous consultations?
Plan ahead
Prior to conducting a community consultation, it is vital to think about who should be consulted (and who should not), over what topics and for which purpose. Getting clear answers for these questions saves time and efforts and helps us to better manage expectations. The stakeholder analysis section of the FCAS Assessment will provide the majority of this information, and the FCAS Action Plan will detail the projects stakeholder engagement strategy (see FCAS Assessment Guidelines and FCAS Action Plan Guideline)
right8255Consultation best practice guide and checklist:
Targeted
Early
Informed
Meaningful
Two-way
Socially inclusive
Localized
Free from manipulation or coercion
Documented
Reported back
Ongoing
00Consultation best practice guide and checklist:
Targeted
Early
Informed
Meaningful
Two-way
Socially inclusive
Localized
Free from manipulation or coercion
Documented
Reported back
Ongoing
Context specific but based on best practice
There is no one right way of undertaking a community consultation and therefore the process will always need to be context specific. This means that approaches, methods and techniques are to be adapted to the local situation and to the various types of stakeholders being consulted. However, key aspects of the process should be considered to ensure it is conflict sensitive.
Be collaborative
The purpose of a community consultation is to arrive at decision or address a specific problem in a way that is acceptable to all stakeholders involved to the degree that progress has been made; this requires the creation on an environment that promotes collaborative problem-solving. When issues are particularly contentious this is even more important. With this in mind it is important to consider the following when facilitating a consultation process:
31305510858500
55816561595Communication skills (listening, speaking, summarizing)
Relationship building skills (empathy, patience, cooperation, tolerance)
Appropriate Assertiveness (maintain key objectives, do not be bullied but do not be over-assertive)
Managing Emotions (control anger, focus on solutions, think before speaking, maintain a ‘can-do’ attitude)
Creativity (developing options, identifying solutions, thinking outside the box)
Negotiation Principles (hard on the problem, soft on the person, focus on needs, not positions, understand the differences but emphasise common ground, be inventive about options, make clear agreements, pursue feasible solutions, be proactive not reactive, willingness to resolve conflict)
Mediation Principles (Be objective, be supportive, be non-judging, steer the process not the content, clarify key issues/solutions identified, seek win/win outcomes).
00Communication skills (listening, speaking, summarizing)
Relationship building skills (empathy, patience, cooperation, tolerance)
Appropriate Assertiveness (maintain key objectives, do not be bullied but do not be over-assertive)
Managing Emotions (control anger, focus on solutions, think before speaking, maintain a ‘can-do’ attitude)
Creativity (developing options, identifying solutions, thinking outside the box)
Negotiation Principles (hard on the problem, soft on the person, focus on needs, not positions, understand the differences but emphasise common ground, be inventive about options, make clear agreements, pursue feasible solutions, be proactive not reactive, willingness to resolve conflict)
Mediation Principles (Be objective, be supportive, be non-judging, steer the process not the content, clarify key issues/solutions identified, seek win/win outcomes).
Incorporate feedback
Consulting local communities entails an implicit promise that at the very least their views will be considered during the decision-making process. While this does not mean that their every wish will be satisfied, it is important to be open about which aspects of the project are still open to modification based on their inputs and which are not and why – this will facilitate effective expectation management. Feedback received during the consultation process must be seriously taken into account through changes in project design, proposed mitigation measures and problem-solving during implementation where possible. When it is not possible to incorporate feedback (fully or partially) on some matters, this should be fully discussed during the consultation to ensure the community is clear as to why certain decisions are made and are happy with this. As a result, this will contribute to a sense of good will toward the project.
Document the process and results of consultation:
Documenting the community consultation process (planning and implementation) and outcomes is critical to the development of productive relationships between the project and the community. Not only does this fulfil organisational requirements (monitoring and reporting), such transparency demonstrates the commitment of the project to the community.
Information to be incorporated may include:
Consultation meeting details – Where? When? Etc
Consultation stakeholders – Who has been consulted? How where they selected? Have any key stakeholder been excluded? If so, why?
Consultation topics – What topics where addressed during the consultation? Where any topics ‘parked’ for future consultation? If so, what is being done to ensure these are planned for in future consultation?
Consultation outcomes – What were the decisions made as a result of the consultation? What are the action points that resulted from the consultation and who is responsible for them? What are the next steps to be taken?
Report back
Sometimes it may be frustrating for local communities when they are consulted by an organisation but do not hear back from them regarding the results of the consultation and next steps. In order to ensure a two-way process of consultation it is necessary to follow up with stakeholders consulted, to inform them of what has happened and what the next process would be. Follow up with the communities also provides an opportunity for cross-checking information and testing or refining the proposed approaches and mitigation measures before their implementation. The process of reporting back also enables projects to explain why specific suggestions may not have been taken on board which will help to establish credibility, manage expectations and reduce consultation fatigue, all of which are important for a sustainable and conflict sensitive stakeholder engagement process throughout the life of the project
Community Consultation checklist:
Consultation process was informed by the FCAS Assessment?
Staff involved in the consultation process had a good understanding of the context?
Diversity of stakeholders was considered during the consultation process?
Consultation was conducted in a socially inclusive manner?
The views of all stakeholders were represented and recorded?
Various consultation events were properly documented and validated?
Feedback from the consultation was incorporated into the project design?
Communities were informed of the result of the consultation and next steps?
Community Mobilisation Guideline
Overview of the community mobilisation approach
Community mobilisation is the process of bringing people from different sectors of a community together to create partnerships to identify and addressing common issues of concerns through creating a sense of unity and ownership. It brings various stakeholders of a community (such as local government, CBOs/CSOs, local elders, CDCs and individual community members) together to decide on what is best (necessary) for their community, and to plan and carry out some form of action/project in their community to facilitate change in sustained and participatory way. This may include issue identification, mobilisation of (local) resources, dissemination of information, and the fostering of cooperation and development. For ADB-supported programming, community mobilisation is particularly relevant to the Community Development Component (see Community Development Component guideline) but may also be applicable to the development of the Project Social Contract (see Project Social Contract guideline) and community monitoring.
532130141605Community mobilisation…
supports community-based ownership and sustainability of the project
helps to achieve long term commitment for a community change
enhances chances for participatory decision-making processes
empowers socially inclusive community engagement
strengthens community relationships with the government and ADB
00Community mobilisation…
supports community-based ownership and sustainability of the project
helps to achieve long term commitment for a community change
enhances chances for participatory decision-making processes
empowers socially inclusive community engagement
strengthens community relationships with the government and ADB
While community mobilisation has great potential to benefit local communities, if done badly it could result in exacerbating existing tensions or creating new ones. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the context is vital, and any community mobilisation process initiated by the project should be informed by the FCAS Assessment (see FCAS Assessment guideline). The Community Development Component provides more detailed information on the community mobilisation aspects of setting up this component, while this part of the guideline provides instructions on how a conflict sensitive community mobilisation could be done.
When a community mobilisation process is to be undertaken the logistics of this process will need to be considered. While project staff may be involved in the process, the best community mobilisation efforts are driven by the communities themselves. This may be Shura’s, local elders, community youth groups or others. Where there is a strong internal drive for the process, the project should encourage this and support it where possible (e.g. through funding if related to the broader project). In certain circumstances the project may need to drive the process, but as soon as local commitment is evident project staff should consider transferring leadership of the process to the community.
A conflict sensitive community mobilisation process
Prepare to mobilise
Involve as many stakeholders as possible to identify communities to be directly or indirectly involved in projects
Develop community selection criteria informed by the FCAS Assessment process and in consultation with local stakeholders – this promotes contextual relevance and stakeholder buy-in
Ensure a transparent community selection process, following a pre-determined criteria and principles and sharing the results of the community selection process with various stakeholders including communities which are not selected, in order to reduce future grievances
Relationships with the communities should be built on trust and respect, which starts with the very first meeting in the community. Orient the community on the overall aims of the intervention (at this stage, specific projects are not identified but the aims of the larger project can be provided)
Involve local government institutions and other key stakeholder while introducing the main project to the community to help build relationships and trust
Building relationship and trust
The trust of the community is critical for an effective community mobilisation process. Time should be taken to build rapport with the communities, but expectations also need to be managed at this stage
Discussion over the needs and interests of community members should be open and respectful. While the dialogue can be facilitated by project staff, the topics identified for discussion should be led by the community
Support the community in exploring the causes and impacts of the issues they face, and potential solutions to them – demonstrating authentic empathy will go a long way not only in building trust, but also helping the community arrive at useful solutions
The more successfully local elders are involved, the more successful the community mobilisation process will be
Develop contingencies for managing relationships with the community. Understand what may lead to a breakdown in trust and identify mitigation mechanisms for this
Support the community
To specify issues that genuinely cause or perpetuate local conflict and flag up conflictrelated indicators that community action will need to monitor and evaluate against
To identify opportunities and stakeholders with the potential to support peace directly or indirectly and ways in which community action can support this
To identify those actions engaged in that might contribute to peace or conflict, as well as their positions, their interests, their needs and their strengths and weaknesses
To identify how the motivations of difficult actors may hamper the progress of the community action or lead to conflict, and how to overcome these factors
To understand difficult relationships in advance, as well as the factors that can bring people together and ensure that ‘connectors’ are supported by the community action
To discuss and agree upon community action objectives and prepare a draft agenda that responds to those objectives, in cooperation with project staff and local government
To ensure fair representation and the inclusion of the voices of the marginalised are included. This should not only focus on the leaders or representatives of marginalised groups, but members of the groups also
Encourage community participation
There are many ways to bring communities to work together. Some suggestions are following
Be stakeholder led: Be strategic but opportunistic; find entry points that a community cares about. Use that as an entry point – even if small and not initially high priority for the project – and look for opportunities to broaden out the engagement/build relationships to enable effective partnerships to bring in conflict sensitivity programming
Build on what is there – leverage existing processes, coalitions and linkages that work. Look for opportunities to partner with others on policy reform. Map who is doing what and do joined up development. Engage with existing networks and groups, such as CDCs, religious networks and women’s groups (self-help groups, microfinance institutions)
Identify the risks of engaging certain stakeholders, especially in insecure areas, where sensitivities over stakeholder selection may be critical
Look for people who can play role as change agents and are very active and respected in the community
Be politically savvy – who are the champions? Who are the spoilers? Where are the strong partnerships? Where do partnerships not work effectively?
Utilise local resources, such as holding meetings in the traditional Hujra or CDCs community centre. Conduct meetings at a time and place convenient for community members
Aim for tangible and workable solutions. Best fit is better than best practice
Learn by doing – try things, if they work continue, if they don’t work out why and try something else. Conduct regular monitoring to enable proactive mitigation of negative impacts
Be flexible and adaptive to changes in context, priorities of partners and what is working.
Community Mobilisation checklist:
Community selection criteria informed by the FCAS Assessment?
Information about community selection process were shared with the targeted and neighbouring communities?
Community mobilisation processes socially inclusive; marginalised groups such as women, youth, persons with disabilities, ethnic and religious minorities, IDPs and refuges were included in various mobilisation efforts?
Maximum possible number of stakeholders were identified and involved with the mobilisation process?
Trust and rapport was built with communities prior to the mobilisation process?
Existing community networks and structures were involved in the process?
Change agents were identified and promoted?
Community members views were carefully documented?
Local customs and norms were respected during the mobilisation process?
Contingencies for managing relationships with the community were identified?
Community Outreach Guideline:
Overview of community outreach
Community outreach refers to the efforts made by an organisation to engage and inform the community about the organisation and its goals. Specifically, this will relate to programming that is being planned or implemented in a particular area. Community outreach involves consistent engagement with the community to ensure the successful engagement of the community and the furthering of the organisations objectives within that community.
The process of community outreach is intrinsically linked to conflict sensitivity as it is concerned with building stronger relationships and trust with communities through continued efforts supporting interaction driven by the project. This ongoing process helps projects to gain acceptance in the project area and buy-in to the project which will contribute to government legitimacy. In this sense, all project staff will be engaged in community outreach to some degree. Effective community outreach provides an excellent chance to monitoring both the context and the interaction between the project and the context, develop contextually appropriate mitigation strategies and adjust programming to capitalise on emerging opportunities.
An effective community outreach strategy helps ADB-supported programming to;
Monitor contextual changes and project-community interactions
Better understand the needs of the communities under focus
Build trust and relationships with various stakeholders in community
Ensure that services we provide are accessible by the diverse community
Inform communities of what we are doing in the community and enable communities to inform the project of any matters of concern
Implement a conflict sensitive approach through continued and consistent engagement with the community
Better manage security risks though improved information, stronger relationships and commitment of the community to the project
Steps for effective community outreach:
A good understanding of the community
Effective outreach and communication requires knowledge regarding the community involved. It is vital that outreach is appropriately tailored to a given community based on what unifies the community and what is important to them. Once project staff know what the community finds important, they will be able to communicate how the project aligns with those values and what benefit engagement with the project will bring.
Be proactive
Given the community may question the information the project tries to convey, be proactive in explaining how it will impact on the community. Seize the opportunity to control messages that will make a first impression. If this isn’t done it leaves the door open for those who may be project spoilers to set the agenda. Proactivity is necessary across all channels where conversations in the community are happening. The more information the project provides, the more it empowers the community to be involved in the process.
Community partnerships
Develop creative, mutually beneficial ways to partner with organisations already serving the community you want to connect with. These groups have built trust with their members and those they influence, so a partnership serves as third-party validation of your organisation, the project and its mission.
The best partnerships are with groups whose purpose aligns with the goals of your project. Determine how your project is complementary to their mission because you don’t want to compete for the same attention.
Engage in-person
Ongoing and consistent presence in the community is vital for successful outreach. Regular personal contact with the community should be a priority in the community engagement strategy. This will help build trust, provide regular information to the community (as well as getting regular information from the community) and help address any scepticism towards the project, situating the community as a partner to, rather than a recipient of, the project. Regular personal contact with community members will also help develop community ambassadors for the projects who will support the project in the community.
Be responsive
While a key feature of community outreach is the imparting of information to the community, it is imperative that community inputs are also valued as an important attribute of outreach. Trust in the project will only remain if community members feel they have some level of ownership of the project and are not merely being told what will happen with no opportunity to voice their concerns and opinions. Incorporating emerging community feedback in to project adaptions, where possible, is central to a conflict sensitive project. Project staff must be proactive in accessing these views and then responsive in taking them into account.
Community Outreach checklist:
Community outreach activities were informed by the FCAS Assessment?
Staff involved with community outreach has good understanding of the local communities?
Sufficient and regular information about the intervention were provided to the communities?
Mutual trust and understanding was built with the local communities?
Regular meetings with community members were conducted (formal and informal)?
Community feedback was incorporated into the projects were possible?
