Reinventing the Way Local Councils & NGOs Engage with their Communities
Dec 31, 2015
Reinventing the Way Local Councils & NGOs Engage with their Communities
TYPE OFENGAGEMENT
GOVERNMENT’S ROLE CITIZEN’SROLE
Customer Service
Provide services Ratepayer/Client
Citizen Participation
Engage people in government’s priorities through its processes and programs
Advisor/Volunteer
Community Empowerment
Support community to work on its own priorities through its own associations
Producer
KEYS TO GENUINECOMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
Move beyond siloed thinking
to focusing on whole places
Move beyond starting with needs
to starting with strengths
Move beyond top-down
to community-driven
STEPS AGENCIES CAN TAKETO BE BETTER PARTNERS
Do No Harm:• Don’t distract the community from its own
priorities.
• Don’t force the community into the bureaucracy’s silos.
• Don’t take people’s time without showing results.
• Never do for people what they can do for themselves.
• Don’t treat NGOs as the surrogate for community.
Remove Agency Barriers:• Centralized decision making• Cookie cutter programs and
regulations• Inaccessibility (location, language,
hours, runaround)• Know-it-all attitude• Obsession with measuring• Bureaucratic red tape
Palmerston North, New Zealand
Build Community Capacity:• Offer leadership training
• Assist with outreach tools like translation
• Work with associations of all types
• Provide forums for networking
• Offer non-meeting options for engagement
• Highlight community strengths
• Share stories of successful communities
• Move beyond client services and citizen participation to community empowerment