Data collection
You can work with communities to identify the most user-friendly, inclusive and meaningful ways to collect data from the project.
This data can be used throughout the project to:
- make sense of what is or is not working
- understand what we are learning along the way
- adjust our approaches or expectations.
For multicultural communities, capturing qualitative data can be more familiar and meaningful. This could look like conversations, case studies or quotes. Use this data to illustrate powerful points of engagement and impact.
When you collect data that is identifiable, it is important to have permission from community.
Reflective practice
Reflective practice is a great way to decide how you will report on your engagement. You can ask yourself or your team:
- How will we know if we’ve been successful? What would this look like?
- How will community know if we’ve been successful? What impact will it have on their lives?
- Can we improve our current relationship with key stakeholders and community leaders?
- What do we know about community? How can we learn more?
- What impact do we want to have on long-term issues?
Measure success
Ideally, community should inform what your success looks like. You might aim to:
- build a stronger relationship with community and stakeholders
- get engagement with your programs, services and awareness raising campaigns
- use community insights for your decision making
- offer paid professional or leadership opportunities
- create better community engagement practices in your organisation for future projects
- share a report with the community of the impact they have had on the project
- hire people with lived experience.
Remember, negative feedback does not mean your community engagement is a failure. Successful engagement is not determined by whether the feedback was positive or not. It should not determine if you report back to community or continue to engage with them.
Find practical solutions
Sometimes, the community is looking for practical solutions. If you involve community early, it can help you to identify what these solutions or suggestions are. You can then build these measurements into your evaluation.
The outcomes you seek for a project may not align with what the community immediately needs. Prioritise community-led outcomes that will make a short-term difference to build trust.
Report back
If a future service, program or initiative is informed by your engagement, consider sharing this with community.
The community can see how their feedback created a tangible impact beyond a report. This can be a powerful way to build trust for future engagement.
Celebrate
Celebration is an important way to close engagement with community. You should recognise and celebrate what you have achieved together. This will continue to build trust and respect.
It is also an important part of closing the loop. You will know how successful you have been if the community wants to celebrate their success.
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