Community EngagementEffective, open and honest communication with the community is fundamental to any strategy, management plan or consultation process.This is communication beyond the press release and the direct mail flyer; it is two-way proactive engagement – The three Ls: Listening, Learning and Liaising… Listening, learning and liaising to assess community needs and wants will help you understand with greater more clearly those issues that are important to people and organisations and which will make a difference in creating quality public spaces. Do you know who the opinion formers in your area are? They may be local business owners, teachers, influential people or members of a parent/teacher association. Form a consultation group with them and give them responsibilities to communicate back to people in their organisations and area. Engaging with the community should inform the direction of any initiative being planned and help people and organisations understand the reason for actions and the associated benefits. The public is more likely see the benefits and share a Local Authority’s vision if they’re consulted, see a response to concerns, are taken seriously and are continually being updated on developments. Consultation will empower the community and contribute to creating a culture of knowledge and opinion sharing – the fabric of democracy. Quite often a council or Local Authority will implement a new scheme and the community will fail to take advantage of it. In this situation the questions must be asked – 'Was the community consulted?' 'Have you effectively promoted the initiative?' Did you talk to the early adopters? 'Did you conduct research?' Remember… A failure is not always a failure if we learn from our mistakes and put what we have learnt into action. Jargon Busters – Deciphering Liveability SpeakIt is important that all your written and spoken communications are in plain English. Too often the public don’t understand good intentions because they are weighed down with government jargon, acronyms and technical language which will only be understood by people who work in the sector. Your audience is intelligent people, who are capable of understanding concepts and ideas; don’t assume that a low level of knowledge means a low level of intelligence. They will understand if you use every day normal language. Things to check:
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