Developing your strategy
External review: your communities
Community characteristics
In addition to thinking about what your organisation is or could be doing, you need to have a rich understanding of the people it wants to do it with! By breaking down the different elements of your community you can begin to understand the 'profile' or characteristics of the community as a whole and different sections of it. There are some software packages which allow for sophisticated analysis of different communities, and detailed mapping of the characteristics of particular areas and residents. You can find out more about the different tools and techniques in the Community Profiling section. This section simply serves as an introduction to some basic categorisations of communities and individuals. You will probably want to develop them further to reflect the particular nature of people in your area.
Once you have identified the different kinds of communities and population groups within your area, you can then make an accurate assessment of which groups you are reaching or could reach. This analysis can then feed into the next stage of the process, where gaps are identified and future plans developed.
Communities and population groups can be classified under the following headings:
Geographically based communities
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Demographic communities
- Young people
- Older people
- Parents
- Specific age groups
Interest groups
- Parents
- Young people
- Older people
- Members of pressure/campaign groups
- Victims of crime/ anti-social behaviour
- Volunteers with the police
Communities of interest/with similar characteristics
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Stakeholder groups
- Business
- Segmentations of businesses - e.g. late night traders, market stall holders, licensees
- Local councillors
- Members of community/voluntary groups
- Statutory partner organisations
Each of the groups above can be reached at an individual, group or population level; and membership of different populations will intersect. For example an officer on their beat may meet a resident of High Street, Walford and chat with them. The officer meets this resident again at a meeting about anti social behaviour in Albert Square Park. The resident may be a market trader, and chair of the traders' association, therefore representing a wider group.
Community needs and expectations
A successful community engagement initiative is one that matches the needs and expectations of your community. Too many organisations think they are engaging well with communities if they are running a good involvement process, rather than considering whether the subject of the process is relevant to people. Before you plan any engagement activity with communities, consider undertaking a review of stakeholder expectations of your organisation.
Different stakeholders will have different perspectives and differing expectations. You need to ensure you are capturing this diversity. You may find that the needs or expectations of different communities/ groups seem to be in conflict. It is likely to be very beneficial to both your organisation and the wider community if these different groups can come together to discuss their views and wishes. This kind of exercise, if well-handled, can help to increase community cohesion, understanding and to clarify a set of realistic expectations for the organisation to work to.
- What do members of local groups and communities say they want? Draw evidence from past consultations, research exercises from your organisation and others'
- Does this match your experience of what they really want? Involve front line staff in these discussions. This will help you ask the right questions in any engagement exercises
- What are your expectations of your stakeholders? Are they aware of these?
- How do you respond to each other's expectations? And what does this say about the present state of your relationship? Can this relationship be improved through the community engagement process?
One of the aims of a community engagement project is to successfully manage expectations so that they are met through involvement in a constructive, mutually beneficial process.
Warwickshire Police text initiativeWhat is it? Warwickshire Police were keen to increase the number of ways in which the public – particularly harder to reach groups - could access its services. It carried out consultation work to feed into its Public Contact Strategy, and found out that text messaging was the preferred communication tool for young people. The Force decided to offer this service to young people, to encourage them to report anti-social behaviour, bullying and racially motivated incidents. Each text received is responded to either by the police or a partner agency, as appropriate. Who is involved? The new service is delivered through partnership. A central characteristic of the project has been excellent partnership working. Warwickshire Education Authority, Positive About Young People, Connexions, RELOG and the Teaching Unions are working with the Force to refine and implement the scheme. Other organisations have provided support in other ways. For example, buses across Warwickshire will be carrying adverts for the scheme at no cost for two years. This has increased awareness of the service and enhanced the image of the Force. How is it funded? Warwickshire Police accessed funds for the programme through the Police Reform Delivery Programme, which have supported a dedicated Project Manager for the scheme. What progress has been made? After piloting the scheme in three schools, it was rolled out across the county. The initiative has been very well received by young people, and take up rates are high. What challenges were faced or lessons learned? A lack of understanding of the available technology led to a lengthy and unnecessary tendering process. If doing the project again, the team would have done more research into the technology and involved the Teaching Unions at an earlier stage. Contact: Gary Hollis, Warwickshire Police Headquarters; tel: 01926 415200; email: gary.hollis@warwickshire.pnn.police.uk |
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