6.5 Methods of community engagement
There are many different methods of community engagement. Table 6.2 gives some examples. Some are only suitable for one level of engagement and others can be used more widely.
| Level and type of engagement | Methods of engagement | |
| 1 | Sharing information | Face-to-face meetings Newsletters, posters in public places, letters and flyers Press releases for local radio and television Advertisements, notifications or articles in local newspaper Website |
| 2 | Consultation | Stakeholder meetings, interviews Public meetings and forums Surveys, questionnaires Focus group discussions Distribution of documents |
| 3 and 4 | Planning together and acting together | Stakeholder meetings Workshops, discussions, action planning meetings In-depth interviews and discussions Participatory stakeholder mapping Participatory planning and implementation Advisory committees, area councils or steering committees Taskforces, planning groups, strategic alliances and formal agreements |
| 5 | Community directed | Community development Participatory planning, implementation, expenditure tracking and performance monitoring, with public authority support |
A high level of community engagement, such as collaborating to develop partnerships and provide recommendations at the project design stage, will help to sustain a project, empowering the community to make decisions and to implement and manage change.
It may be impossible to fully engage the community at every stage and you should consider the most appropriate level of engagement and participation for each particular situation. Most WASH programmes claim to have high community engagement, but may actually provide very little opportunity for the community to participate in the project implementation, so a key message is to avoid promising a level of participation that cannot actually be achieved. But the more you engage the community in decision making, the higher the level of ownership of the decisions made and consequently, the greater the likelihood of success.
6.4 Levels of community engagement