Better practice guide for inclusive engagement

This guide can help you engage with community in a more inclusive way. You can use it before, during and after your engagement.

It has information about how to engage with communities in Victoria. This includes:

• First Nations people
• LGBTIQA+ people
• multicultural communities
• people with disability
• older people
• young people.

Why we created this guide

There are many reasons why sometimes we cannot engage with communities. But a fear of doing it wrong should not be one of them.

Avoiding engagement for this reason can make it difficult to build and maintain trust with the community. The annual Edelman Trust Barometer shows that most Australians have declining trust in institutions.

One important way we can build trust is by understanding community needs and aspirations. We can also provide spaces for community to share their voice.

Often, we are content experts on our work. Communities are context experts. We need to understand both perspectives to do effective work. And above all, we need to be inclusive.

Inclusive engagement means we can:

• create better policy
• improve service delivery
• find practical solutions to problems
• gain and grow trust
• improve quality of life for Victorians.

At its highest level, engagement can lead to greater community leadership and ownership. A resilient community can respond to and manage social harms, shock and stress.

We hope this guide gives you the confidence to engage – and keep engaging – with all members of the community.

Who this guide is for

This guide is for anyone who engages with the community. This includes people who work in:

• local council
• state and federal government
• not-for-profit
• communications, campaigns and advertising agencies.

How to use this guide

This guide can help you:

• engage better with communities
• strengthen existing good practice in your organisation
• co-design or co-create with communities
• learn more about priority communities in Victoria
• monitor and evaluate your projects.

To plan and develop your engagement, you can use our templates.

Acknowledgements

This guide was written by the Public Engagement branch in the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing. We thank all the specialists across the Victorian Public Service who contributed their expertise.

Artwork

This artwork celebrates diversity, equality, and cultural inclusion. It was designed by Ahmed Shaie of Shaie Designs.

Ahmed wanted the artwork to portray people from a range of backgrounds, highlighting the importance of acceptance, unity, and respect within our community. It serves as a reminder that despite our differences, we all share a common humanity.