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This activity is designed to help you think about different ways the community might participate in your area of work. Not every approach is right in every situation – but it’s worth considering all the options in case there is a more ambitious or creative way of supporting the community to participate.
Instructions: Consider the potential community roles and the worked-up example. Try and fill in every row for your own area of work – and then consider whether you can stretch your idea further. At this stage don’t worry about feasibility or logistics. While it is important to return to those as you start planning, you will be more creative at this stage if you pause your thinking about practicalities. You can then test whether your assumptions about feasibility are correct, and whether previous parameters can be changed.
This is a great activity to do together with your team to open up new possibilities for participation. Here is a downloadable Word version of the tool.
Potential community role
Example: Renewal of a public park
Your example
How to stretch it further
Sharing opinions on proposals
Communities are invited to express opinions on 3 potential park renewal projects via an online consultation
Can you seek opinions in the service setting itself with visualisations or interactive walk-throughs so that the options are better understood and more perspectives are gathered?
Informing a policy, plan, scheme, service change or outline business case
Communities are asked to give their opinions about the park’s use and current set-up before the options are planned
Can you invite community members to work alongside you from the start and can you work together to use creative methods to engage a wider audience? e.g. one-to-one conversations, pop-ups, video submissions etc
Understanding what the most important issues or priorities are
Communities are invited to an open discussion about what they most care about when it comes to the renewal of the park
Can you add to the insights from the open discussions by working alongside partner organisations to capture a more diverse range of voices, including those seldom heard?
Directing or prioritising spending
A participatory budgeting process is used so that communities can suggest and vote on specific expenditure relating to the park
Can budgets be transferred to communities to control and have decision making rights over?
Shaping what services are delivered, or how they are delivered
A series of co-creation events for all the different users of the park (families, dog-walkers, sports group) generates new concepts for what the park’s future is and what facilities are included
Can you bring the community into strategic decisions about a whole area of work, on a consistent basis, so that collaboration continues after the initial activity?
Identifying where groups from the community could lead on issues
The council steps back entirely and allows communities to take full ownership of the park management. The budget and day-to-day running of facilities is delegated to a dog-walkers’ group, nursery group etc.
Can you create systems which identify and respond to opportunities for community leadership which don’t fit neatly within existing service areas?
This activity is designed to help you think about different ways the community might participate in your area of work. Not every approach is right in every situation – but it’s worth considering all the options in case there is a more ambitious or creative way of supporting the community to participate.
Instructions: Consider the potential community roles and the worked-up example. Try and fill in every row for your own area of work – and then consider whether you can stretch your idea further. At this stage don’t worry about feasibility or logistics. While it is important to return to those as you start planning, you will be more creative at this stage if you pause your thinking about practicalities. You can then test whether your assumptions about feasibility are correct, and whether previous parameters can be changed.
This is a great activity to do together with your team to open up new possibilities for participation. Here is a downloadable Word version of the tool.
Potential community role
Example: Renewal of a public park
Your example
How to stretch it further
Sharing opinions on proposals
Communities are invited to express opinions on 3 potential park renewal projects via an online consultation
Can you seek opinions in the service setting itself with visualisations or interactive walk-throughs so that the options are better understood and more perspectives are gathered?
Informing a policy, plan, scheme, service change or outline business case
Communities are asked to give their opinions about the park’s use and current set-up before the options are planned
Can you invite community members to work alongside you from the start and can you work together to use creative methods to engage a wider audience? e.g. one-to-one conversations, pop-ups, video submissions etc
Understanding what the most important issues or priorities are
Communities are invited to an open discussion about what they most care about when it comes to the renewal of the park
Can you add to the insights from the open discussions by working alongside partner organisations to capture a more diverse range of voices, including those seldom heard?
Directing or prioritising spending
A participatory budgeting process is used so that communities can suggest and vote on specific expenditure relating to the park
Can budgets be transferred to communities to control and have decision making rights over?
Shaping what services are delivered, or how they are delivered
A series of co-creation events for all the different users of the park (families, dog-walkers, sports group) generates new concepts for what the park’s future is and what facilities are included
Can you bring the community into strategic decisions about a whole area of work, on a consistent basis, so that collaboration continues after the initial activity?
Identifying where groups from the community could lead on issues
The council steps back entirely and allows communities to take full ownership of the park management. The budget and day-to-day running of facilities is delegated to a dog-walkers’ group, nursery group etc.
Can you create systems which identify and respond to opportunities for community leadership which don’t fit neatly within existing service areas?
