Because you mean it.

[engagemeant]

Why It’s Time to Make Deliberative Engagement a Civic Duty

Imagine a community where your voice isn’t just heard—it’s required. Not because you’re protesting. Not because you’re petitioning. But because it’s your civic duty, just like showing up to serve on a jury when called.

We trust ordinary citizens—builders, bakers, teachers, teenagers, retirees—to sit in judgment on life-altering criminal cases. We summon them at random, pay them modestly, and ask them to spend days or even weeks absorbing evidence, discussing carefully, and making decisions that carry the full weight of the law.

And we do this because we believe in something profound:

That everyday people, when given the time, the information, and the space, can make wise, fair, and democratic decisions.

So here’s the question:

If we trust citizens to judge murder cases, why don’t we trust them to shape the future of their own communities?

Reimagining Democracy: Mandatory Deliberative Engagement

Let’s take a leap. Let’s treat deliberative engagement—such as citizens’ juries and community assemblies—with the same seriousness as the judicial jury system.

That means:

• Random selection from the community (a civic lottery)

• Mandatory participation (with opt-outs for hardship, conflicts of interest, or reasonable exemptions)

• Support structures: payment for time, childcare, accessible venues, and facilitation

• Clear purpose: focus on real, pressing local issues—planning, infrastructure, budgets, climate action, housing, and more

It’s not about everyone turning into political experts. It’s about everyday people, deliberating with dignity on decisions that affect them and their neighbours.

Why It Matters Now

We live in a time of political fatigue. Social division. Mistrust in leadership.

And councils are stuck between compliance and crisis.

Consultation has become transactional.

Surveys skim the surface.

Anger rises.

Hope thins.

But deliberative processes, when done well, rebuild trust.

They create moments of surprising wisdom, deep connection, and shared ownership of complex issues.

They model what democracy was meant to be: not noisy, not performative—but thoughtful, inclusive, and courageous.

A Simple Proposal: One Shire, One Trial

We don’t need sweeping legislation to start. We just need one council brave enough to pilot the model.

Let’s begin with a small rural shire or local council.

Test a 12-month mandatory deliberation program:

• Each citizen called up once every 3–5 years

• Citizens’ assemblies held quarterly on key issues

• Flexible scheduling and exemption processes

• Transparent tracking of outcomes and policy influence

Let’s study the impact. Measure the trust. Share the lessons.

Let it ripple.

What We’d Be Saying to the Community

We’d be saying:

“You matter. You’re not a passive voter or a customer.

You’re a co-author of this place.

Your wisdom is not optional. It’s needed.

And we’ll meet you halfway—with structure, support, and respect.”

From Civic Duty to Civic Renewal

We already know that good engagement can change minds.

Now it’s time to let it change systems.

Let’s move beyond the question of whether communities should be engaged—and start acting like it’s a core pillar of democracy, as essential as roads, waste collection, and justice.

Because when every voice is part of the process, every outcome feels more like home.

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Rules to engaging children and young people in government decision-making:

(Determined by children and young people)

Provide us with the opportunity lead

Show us respect

Listen to us, don’t talk at us

Don’t assume you know what we want

Show us you’ve heard us

Engage us, don’t bore us

Use social media to build connection

Meet with us in person

Give us time to have a fair, considered say

Be clear and specific about what we’re trying to achieve

[engagemeant]

From Consultation to Collaboration: How Communities Can Power a Movement for Meaningful Engagement

If we want stronger democracies, we don’t just need more engagement—we need better engagement.

And not just better in process, but better in purpose.

Not just one-off surveys or community forums, but meaningful, ongoing deliberation—where diverse people come together, consider evidence and perspectives, and help shape what happens next.

The good news? This kind of engagement doesn’t have to be rare.

It doesn’t have to be elite. Nor expensive.

And it doesn’t have to live inside government buildings.

When local governments team up with community groups and trusted local voices, deliberative engagement can grow into something much bigger: a living, breathing movement.

Here’s why working with communities isn’t just a strategy—it’s the key to building a culture of participation that actually sticks.

Trust Lives in the Community

Let’s face it: governments often struggle to reach people who feel left out or let down. But community groups—faith centres, youth programs, neighbourhood houses, cultural collectives—have already built relationships of trust.

By working with these groups, governments can piggyback on that trust.

Deliberation becomes something that happens with people, not to them.

When a message comes from your local sports club, your school council, your auntie’s knitting group—it lands differently. It feels like it belongs to you.

Real Inclusion Needs Real Connectors

Meaningful engagement isn’t just about casting a wide net—it’s about knowing where to cast it, and who’s missing from the water.

Community groups act as cultural and relational bridges. They speak the languages (literally and figuratively) that help draw in:

• Young people

• Migrants and refugees

• First Nations people

• Renters, carers, people with disability

Without these connections, deliberation risks becoming a room full of the usual suspects. With them, it becomes a space of genuine diversity.

Local Wisdom Makes Engagement Matter

Many people don’t engage with government because it feels abstract, complex, or irrelevant.

But when issues are brought into familiar, community-grounded settings, people begin to see: “Oh—this is about my street, my story, my kid’s future.”

Community partners help translate big issues into lived experience.

They make civic engagement feel like something worth thinking about—because it’s already part of life.

Shared Ownership Creates Long-Term Energy

When community partners help design, host, or facilitate engagement activities, something powerful happens: they take ownership.

They become not just participants, but co-stewards of democracy.

And when they share the success, they keep the momentum going—long after a government term ends or a project wraps.

Movements aren’t built on one-off events. They’re built on shared energy and shared purpose.

Movements Need Many Messengers

Government can issue a media release.

A community group can spark a dozen conversations over a week.

To grow a movement of deliberative engagement, you need the choir—not just the soloist.

Artists, elders, youth leaders, school captains, café owners—many messengers, many formats, many voices.

Deliberation becomes ambient. Expected. Normal. Something you bump into at the library, the soccer club, the school assembly.

The Bigger Picture

If we’re serious about empowering communities to shape their own futures, we have to let go of the idea that government should do it all.

Instead, let’s build a civic partnership model, where community groups and local governments work side-by-side to:

• Design inclusive engagement activities

• Host deliberative spaces

• Recruit and support diverse voices

• Feed back real outcomes to the community

This isn’t just better engagement.

It’s shared democratic life.

And it’s how we turn good ideas into a lasting movement—one trusted conversation at a time.

[engagemeant]

IAP2: An Alternative Spectrum

Due to the broad lack of understanding from government and corporates about what it means to ‘engage with communities’ – what ‘engage’ means and how it might or could be achieved – many private companies, government agencies, Local Government Authorities and State Government Departments quite rightly utilise the IAP2 spectrum to guide their engagement practice. Many Community Engagement Practitioners also use this spectrum as a way of being consistent with their engagement across multiple consultations, using a tried and tested (and well-researched) tool designed specifically for the sector, which justifies a clear and trusted methodology for their ‘engagement’.

They ask themselves: ‘are we informing, consulting, involving, collaborating or empowering’ and to what extent? They pick one and thrust forth to tick the engagement box, often feeling dissatisfied with the outcome as it’s always questionable as to the level to which people feel part of such a process and satisfied as to the outcome.

Those who practice engagement in this way are missing the point. Who cares?! The outcome is not as relevant as practitioners sometimes believe it to be.

So, what is relevant?

The only thing that actually matters when we’re engaging or consulting anyone is the relationship between ‘us’ (the company or government agency or department) and the person or people we’re consulting. The sense of ownership over the process and outcome, the feeling like they’re part of it, they’re included and government cares and is really listening and responding.

I’d like to propose that relationships are more important than the outcome. Yes, people may want to ‘complete the jigsaw puzzle’ as a clear outcome that we can all be proud of, but how do we get there? I’d like to suggest it’s the journey and not the destination that matters. How do people feel whilst they’re completing the puzzle, what are the fears and frustrations, the moments of conflict or connection, the choices and challenges? And how is everyone coping with all of it? Did we complete the puzzle as friends? Or as distant acquaintances that will never speak again – well, until the next puzzle, until the next consultation.

What if we saw consultation or engaging our communities as a relationship spectrum, where our relationship with a community had to be stronger as our interest in making a decision together with that community increased?

Let’s say a new community hall. We want to build one. We know some of the community wants it. We could go ahead and build it, maybe even do a survey so we get some idea of what some people want, but without systematic and sustained relationship building the project is at best increasing the ambivalence of our community and at worse, heading for disaster and increased community tensions.

How much do we want to make the decision of the hall with our community? Not at all? That’s easy, let’s do a survey, build the hall and be done with it. Do we want to make the decision as friends? Let’s do what we do with all relationships, whenever we want to make friends with someone: let’s get to know them, ask their name, let’s meet and chat about it, break bread together, get to know each other’s friends a little, understand each other’s perspectives. Yes, it’s time consuming, yes, it’s laborious, so is building any relationship – it takes time and effort. Who wins from this process? We all do. We know each other, we have a relationship, we feel heard and connected.

If you’re making a bigger decision with community, you make more effort, you spend more time and resources to make the relationship work. You want to share the decision-making process or empower a group to decide something for others? You’ll need to develop a significant relationship with this group, almost like you’re ‘living together’ – you may decide some things together, and some areas you may hand over entirely for them to decide on behalf of everyone. But you’re in this for the long haul. This is not a three-month commitment. You can’t just walk away. You have to trust them. Like in any serious relationship.

I’d be open to hearing your views. Am I way off the mark here?

Look at the ‘Relationship Spectrum’ (above), see if you can apply it. I’d be keen to hear your examples and thoughts. This is the direction I think government needs to be moving in. Towards establishing and building and growing relationships for the long term. It’s hard but it’s rewarding and will provide everyone with an increased sense of inclusion and ownership over the place they live. Isn’t that worth it?

[engagemeant]

Scaling deliberative engagement

The Citizen Constellation: A New Framework for Growing Deliberative Democracy

What if deliberative engagement wasn’t just a workshop or a one-off citizens’ jury, but a living part of community culture—curious, creative, and irresistible? Ongoing, inclusive, embracing all voices of the community and making the whole community feel like it’s their process.

Too often, deliberative democracy is treated like a rare, precious mineral—extracted for special moments, guarded by experts, expert agencies and practitioners and sadly experienced by only a few. But in a world facing complex challenges—from climate to housing to belonging—we don’t need less deliberation. We need more. And we need it everywhere.

So how do we get more people—more kinds of people—involved in reflective, purposeful, evidence-informed conversations about the things that affect their lives?

It starts by reimagining how we engage. Not just scaling what’s been done before, but weaving a new civic rhythm that starts with curiosity and grows into real community power.

We could call this new long-term model The Citizen Constellation—a four-phase journey to grow participation, deepen civic thinking, and build a shared culture of democratic meaning.

Phase 1: Seeding – The Spark of Civic Curiosity

The first phase is about first contact—creating surprising, playful, and low-pressure invitations into civic life. We meet people where they are: scrolling, walking, waiting, listening, or hanging with friends. The aim here is to make people stumble into democracy in a way that feels fresh and fun. Bring democracy to the people rather than making them come to us.

Imagine walking past a public garden and hearing real community voices through sound domes. Or receiving a mysterious “Democracy Drop” on your doorstep—a creative package inviting you to weigh in on a local issue with your family, then pass it on. Or playing a fast-paced game called “Democracy Roulette” at a market, where you spin a wheel to explore local dilemmas and hear diverse perspectives.

These aren’t gimmicks—they’re gateways. Small moments of reflection that plant seeds of civic possibility and warmly invite all residents into the conversation.

Phase 2: Germinating – Deeper Thought and Human Connection

Once curiosity is sparked, the next phase invites people to reflect more deeply. Here, we create spaces of empathy, slowness, and co-creation.

A pop-up “People’s Living Room” in a neighbourhood park might host drop-in conversations over tea and artefacts. Or citizens might be paired with strangers in “Secret Deliberator” experiences—anonymously matched to consider a civic dilemma together and submit a shared recommendation.

Other experiences might blur the line between art and policy. In the “Theatre of Decision,” audience members become the ones to decide how a play ends—and why. In the “Museum of Civic Futures,” community members create and vote on imagined visions of their town decades from now, unlocking public deliberations not around fear—but hope.

This is where community members begin to see themselves not just as opinion holders—but as co-thinkers, co-designers, and co-storytellers of their shared world.

Phase 3: Branching – Real Deliberation, Shared Decision-Making

Now that trust, creativity, and confidence have been built, more citizens are ready to go deeper—into processes where real decisions are shaped.

This is where we scale up participation meaningfully—through tiered levels of engagement. Citizens can choose how involved they want to be: from a 30-minute online group, to a half-day citizen panel, to a full assembly process. Each level matters.

We bring in portable deliberation kits for kitchen-table conversations. We establish regular “Thinking Circles” in community spaces. We invite students into school-based citizen juries to bring youth voices into public life from the beginning.

These processes remain deeply human—but increasingly structured to feed directly into local policy. Community recommendations get published. Responses from decision-makers are clear. Trust builds. The tree grows.

Phase 4: Orbiting – A Culture of Civic Belonging

The final phase is when deliberation becomes not just an activity, but a norm. A living part of how the community understands itself.

We mark civic seasons on the calendar: an “Autumn of Climate Ideas” or a “Winter of Belonging.” We introduce “Civic Credits”—non-monetary recognitions or rewards for participation, like early access to council initiatives or public shout-outs. We support a network of community hosts trained in deliberative facilitation. We document civic stories and ideas in a digital public record that evolves over time.

Here, people no longer ask: “What’s the point of being involved?”

Instead, they ask: “What kind of community are we becoming—and how can I shape it?”

———————————————————————————

The Citizen Constellation isn’t just a strategy. It’s an invitation—to build a future where civic engagement is woven into the rhythm of daily life. Where creativity meets reflection, and reflection leads to power.

It doesn’t start with an expert. It starts with a question.

It doesn’t rely on a single big moment. It builds over time.

And it doesn’t just scale process. It grows culture.

The future of democracy doesn’t look like more shouting. It looks like more listening. More imagination. More co-authorship. More integrated into public life.

And more citizens—of all backgrounds, ages, and ways of thinking—rising together to shape a better tomorrow.

[engagemeant]

The Hepburn Shire is hosting a TEDx Youth event elevating the voices of young people in the region!

Local government working collaboratively with community groups to host locally based TEDx events could become powerful breeding grounds for innovation, inclusion, and transformation—creating spaces where everyday citizens become changemakers and ideas are the currency of community growth. Here’s why:

1. Incubators for Local Innovation

TEDx events give local thinkers, makers, students, and doers a platform to share bold ideas that often fly under the radar of traditional civic processes. These events surface grassroots solutions to hyperlocal challenges—whether it’s climate resilience, youth mental health, housing, or cultural preservation.

Local government working collaboratively with community groups to host such events brings institutional credibility and practical follow-through—ensuring ideas aren’t just heard, but considered for real-world impact.

2. Amplifying Diverse and Hidden Voices

A TEDx stage run by councils and community can spotlight voices too often left out of community conversations—First Nations leaders, young people, migrants, people with disabilities, artists, elders, carers, and workers with lived experience.

This rebalances the narrative of who holds wisdom in a community and signals that every story matters in shaping the local future.

3. Creating a Cycle of Inspiration and Action

TEDx events are not just about ideas—they spark energy, build momentum, and often catalyse local action, volunteering, or collaboration. When people see peers step up and speak out, it fosters a culture of participation. A powerful talk can turn listeners into doers—launching local projects, advocacy campaigns, or community networks that continue long after the event ends.

4. Deepening a Sense of Belonging

When a community gathers to listen, reflect, and imagine together, it strengthens social fabric and civic pride. TEDx events hosted by councils create an opportunity for residents to connect across difference, find shared values, and build trust in each other—and in the local systems that govern them.

5. Seeding Transformative Thinking in Council Culture

Not only do the speakers benefit—but council staff, councillors, and community leaders who attend are exposed to fresh, lateral thinking that challenges assumptions. This can shift policy mindsets, refresh strategic priorities, and humanise community data through storytelling. TEDx becomes a feedback loop of inspiration that renews how local government engages, listens, and leads.

6. Placing the Local on the Global Stage

Every TEDx talk is shareable globally—putting local brilliance on the world map. A rural teen with a vision for climate repair, a migrant who redefines inclusion, a teacher changing how science is taught—these stories can influence far beyond municipal borders, while making the community proud.

In essence, locally hosted TEDx events by councils collaborating with community are engines of innovation and civic imagination—platforms that honour local knowledge, invite collaborative dreaming, and inspire real action.

They don’t just strengthen democracy—they reignite it from the ground up.

[engagemeant]

A Festival of Democracy: “The People’s Party”

Where democracy takes centre stage—and everyone’s invited.

In a time of disillusionment and division, this festival reclaims democracy as a living, evolving, joyful practice, not a dry institution. It helps people feel that democracy isn’t just something done for them or to them—it’s something they own, shape, and grow together.

This is a one-day, interactive celebration that transforms civic engagement into a shared, joyful, and accessible experience. Held centrally in town, it is a platform for ALL VOICES - big and small, loud and hidden, in all languages. The event mixes the vibe of a music festival, the insight of a TED conference, the inclusion of a cultural fair, and the practicality of a democracy workshop—all to celebrate, reimagine, and strengthen democracy in our region, from the ground up.

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE

Main Stage: Democracy Live

Citizen Soapbox Sessions – Residents (young and old) get 3 mins on stage to pitch a democratic idea or tell a story of change.

Mayors in the Hot Seat – Local leaders take live Q&As from the crowd in a high-energy, respectful format hosted by a local teen.

Youth Parliament in Action – Students debate ideas they’ve created for improving democracy (audience votes with paddles!).

Civic Skills Lab

Hands-on workshops and mini-trainings on:

How to write to your MP and actually get a response.

Running your own community campaign.

How to read a budget (and spot the fluff).

Misinformation mythbusting: Spot the fake, find the fact.

Conflict resolution circles.

Participants get a “Democracy Licence” after completing 3+ sessions.

Democracy Arcade

Games and activities that turn complex ideas into fun challenges:

Ballot Box Bingo – Learn how voting systems work while winning prizes.

Constitution Jigsaw – Help build a giant puzzle of our founding principles.

Bias Busters – A laser-tag-style maze where you dodge misinformation beams.

Election Obstacle Course – Race through barriers to voting (long lines, lost ID, fake news), with each challenge representing real issues people face.

People’s Place (Community Campfire Tent)

First Nations yarning circles.

Storytelling hour with migrants on what democracy means to them.

“Democracy Diaries” booth where attendees record or write their own reflections on how we can improve our system.

The Future of Democracy Tent

Interactive exhibits co-designed with young people and creatives.

AI Town Hall Simulator – Step into a VR or screen-based experience where you solve future local dilemmas as a council.

“Design a Better Democracy” table – co-creation station where people sketch or build new tools/systems for better decision-making.

AND A FEW INCREDIBLE HIGHLIGHTS

Cake & Constitution

A giant democracy-themed cake unveiled at 3pm—each layer representing a pillar (justice, voice, accountability, etc.). Free slices for anyone who makes a pledge to take civic action in their community.

The World’s Smallest Voting Booth

A humorous, photo-worthy activation where you step into a phone booth-sized ballot box to vote on “fun democracy dilemmas” (e.g. Should cats be allowed to vote? Should we lower the voting age to 12? Should we all get a day off after elections?).

“Dear Future Voter” Booth

Kids write letters or draw pictures to themselves about what kind of country they want to vote in someday. These are mailed back to them when they turn 18.

Finale Parade: March for the People

The festival ends with a musical, colourful parade through the streets, led by community leaders, drummers, school groups, and local causes—symbolising collective action, voice, and joy in democratic life.

[engagemeant]

Every Voice in the Village

How Citizen Assemblies can help all of us feel like we belong

Reimagining citizen assemblies or juries to go beyond being a consultation exercise and imbue all members in our community and country with a sense of belonging and shared responsibility is a deeply powerful intention and requires structural, cultural and community-centred design shifts.

This is about seeing the bigger picture: focusing less on a Citizen Assembly being used as an engagement tool for a decision to be made and more on encouraging greater community participation in government decision-making and ensuring all community members feel heard when they share their voice on matters which affect them.

Here are a few ideas (posed as “what if” questions) for positive change:

From Decision-Making to Place-Making - what if we co-located citizen assemblies in public spaces (e.g. libraries, sports clubs, community gardens) — not in sterile civic buildings — and embedded local identity into the process? Make the engagement visible and integrated with the community itself? It would ground our decisions in place, not policy. The process would feel transparent and show that government is working with community, not merely consulting community at arm’s length. What if each Citizen Assembly or Jury ‘left something behind’ as part of the experience - a mural, a shared meal, a time capsule, or a public letter.

Civic Circles, Not Just Civic Panels - what if citizens were recruited in small local circles (like neighbourhood pods or postcode groups), and have them meet regularly over months, not just one-off events? The long-term, small-group familiarity would foster trust, build communities within the broader community, and create a sense of “we”.

Intergenerational & Intercultural Pairing - what if we designed Citizen Assemblies that require cross-generational and cross-cultural pairs or triads to work together — e.g. a teenager, a senior, and a recent migrant? This would model a community social contract in miniature, building empathy and deepen understanding of different lived experiences.

Participatory Budgets With a Twist: “Legacy Pools” - what if Citizens’ Juries allocated small budgets specifically for projects led by the community that benefit future residents? This idea shifts thinking from consumption to stewardship and creates a culture of long-term, shared responsibility.

Civic Theatre: Embodied Assemblies - what if techniques from theatre and roleplay were used to deepen the engagement - like “legislative theatre” or scenario dramatisations — to let participants act out different futures before deciding? This makes complex decisions feel more human. Reduces alienation, especially for people less confident in formal debate.

Belonging Charters – Co-Written, Co-Held - what if we begin each Citizens’ Jury not with rules but with a co-created “Belonging Charter” — a living document that outlines what this community values, welcomes, and protects to help more people feel part of the process and outcome? It would reframe the process from “how do we decide?” to “who are we, together?”

Global-Local Exchange Panels - what if we create occasional mixed assemblies with participants from other cities or countries doing similar work — via video link or exchange — to compare ideas? It would bulld solidarity and shared responsibility beyond borders. “We’re not the only ones trying or doing this.”

Civic Apprenticeships - what if we invited residents to apply for longer-term “apprentice” roles in local governance — rotating through assemblies, local government teams, and community groups, helping to run the assemblies (not just participate in them)? This would deepen skill-building, connection, and long-term engagement beyond a single jury. Think: “resident leaders-in-training.”

The Story Bench - what if we included a “story bench” or audio storytelling space at every Citizen Assembly where residents share brief personal experiences related to the issue at hand, in addition to the facts, documents and reference material participants use to inform their discussion and decision? This humanises issues, reveals emotional stakes, and builds narrative connection between participants.

“Civic Gifts” at the End of Every Assembly - what if each assembly ends with participants offering a small public “gift” — not physical, but symbolic. A pledge, a piece of writing, a policy suggestion, a poem, a performance? This would reinforce the idea that everyone brings something valuable to the community. Fosters pride, identity, and co-ownership.

What do you think?

[engagemeant]

THINK COMMUNITY

I had a difficult time as a teenager and even into my twenties: emotionally immature, mixed up priorities, lack of empathy, short sighted, no understanding of the big picture, no sense of connection or community.

I was looking for something but didn’t know what it was or where to look. And if I’m honest with myself now, even if I had found it I wouldn’t have recognised it.

Thirty years later and things make sense. I’m living in my own golden age: a time of connection, community, control, recognition, personal and professional satisfaction, achievement, sense of pride and progress.

But I wonder if any of it would have happened, and I’d feel the same sense of fulfilment, had I not taken several specific steps along the way.

At the age of 15, I thought about community: largely that I didn’t have one but wanted one. I couldn’t articulate it well but I pursued ideas, groups, people and projects which I thought at the time would lead me to friendship and belonging. I failed a few times.

At the age of 20, I thought about community: and went to live in a small commune overseas, part of an in-built yearning to find my tribe. I packed my guitar and blank exercise books to write about my experience. I learned a lot, felt scared, failed a lot, and ultimately ran away. It wasn’t for me, but I learned a lot. Or learned a little.

For when I was in my mid-20s, I thought about community and that I didn’t have one. I felt a strong pull towards further isolation and disconnection. I felt unloved, like nothing mattered, like no one cared, and I was invincible because my actions had no consequences (or no consequences I considered meant a lot). But I was wrong. I hit a low point. And thought about community.

People popped their heads up - my family and a few new friends, who showed care and showed me that my actions do have consequences, a ripple effect, impacting those I know and love and even those around me in my broader orbit, who I don’t know.

At the age of 30, I thought about my community and started to build one around me: a creative community and an outlet for telling and sharing stories about the way I saw the world and how things could change for the better. I started to imagine a community, a world to improve connection between people, between others and myself. I started to visualise a positive future. The more I thought about it, the more I could see it, the more I craved it, the more I pursued it. It manifested by me writing about it. I wrote - plays, stories, skits, songs, television and films. It was an outlet to explore ideas, make meaningful connections and build a more positive life. I felt a significant shift towards a positive future and the feeling of spiralling out of control, towards deep isolation and discontentment started to fade.

At the age of 40, I thought about community: and moved from a full time writing phase into a community building phase, using my work and professional environments to build communities around me: poetry, music, storytelling, community partnerships, creative projects such as creating opportunities for poets to write poems on pillows for major hotels, producing a community festival in shops on Acland Street, St Kilda, creating a phone app to promote Australian poets and poetry, running national arts festivals, creating a peer-led youth group which built cubbies with men’s sheds, facilitated kids undertaking their own personal ‘Happiness Projects’, and 10 year olds speaking at major professional community building conferences. And then there was that time I commissioned Tex Perkins to write an Ode for Tasmania. I thought this was success. But, in hindsight, although I was building pockets of communities, I was personally at arms-length from all of them. I wasn’t directly involved in or strongly personally connected with any of them. And when I went to sleep at night, they were gone. They only existed between 9-5pm when I was on the computer or phone making them happen. And they didn’t exist for me. Only others. Sometimes I wasn’t even present. It was my job, not my tribe.

At the age of 50, I think about community quite differently. I guess coinciding with having two beautiful children, seeking friends and community for them, whilst also seeking and finding some sense of financial and geographical stability for myself and family, things have started to gel.

All the learnings and passion and yearning I’ve had all these years, to find and be able to contribute to community, likeminded people who want the same things: nice place to live, fun things to do, a passion to pursue, feelings of belonging and connection, friendships, fun, laughter, joy, happiness.

This is a golden age for me. I’m sure on my death bed I’ll look back at this time in my life and believe it was a wonderful era of my existence. I have arrived at a time and in a place where I love my community and feel sure about how to contribute to it in a positive way, to embed myself in a place and environment where I can add value to it, not to my own detriment or because it’s my job or to avoid other aspects of my life or to prove anything, but because I want to, because I can, because I know how important it is to feel welcomed, to feel like I have a place where I feel I belong and I am desperate to help others feel that too.

People say I’m so busy, with all the projects and things I do in the community, and I am. But isn’t that everything? To live in a place where we can give as much as we take? Where we can contribute towards making a place better for people, step by step, one small action at a time? They add up. One action is good. The aggregate of many actions can make a huge impact.

Life is short. We don’t have long on this earth. I am desperate to contribute to and help build the kind of community I’ve always thought about and desired, for myself and my family, a community that is here with me along for the ride, a community that acknowledges people including myself, helps me to feel visible and welcome, and where I can help others to feel safe, welcome, visible, heard, connected and recognised. In the ways they want to be heard and seen.

When I was young, I thought about community. I still think about it. Every day. How can I help you?

[engagemeant]

What do you believe?

What does your organisation believe and why does it matter?

Simon Sinek, author, thought leader, TED speaker, argues that “as individuals, colleagues and companies, everything that we say and do is a symbol of who we are. Trust emerges when you are surrounded by people who believe in what you believe, when we - as a group, a country, a company - share a common set of values and beliefs. Say what you believe and you will attract the people who believe what you believe. Forget about team workshops and company focus groups and “Who should we be?”- questions. It is only when we know what we believe and communicate our beliefs authentically that we can attract others to our cause, customers to our brand and form the bonds that will empower us to achieve truly great things.”

Sharing what you believe with others is communicating a promise. Example: “we believe that people are more than just a function of their job”. This tells others that your team or branch or company sees people as more than their jobs. The actions of that same team, branch or company then reveal the commitment to that promise. Is it genuine or an empty promise? Does the company really believe that or are they just saying it? It becomes a test and customers, colleagues and communities will judge your success.

Stating your beliefs forces some degree of accountability and the judge of an organisation’s or company’s success to commit to its beliefs is the customer, client or community who you share your beliefs with. They will tell you if they believe something different or if your beliefs are not aligned with your actions - often by not buying your product, distancing themselves or by declining to engage with you at all. If a not for profit organisation states that it believes everyone has the right to be heard and there are things we can all do to give more people a voice in the community, this belief might resonate with some and not others. If we believe it, if we feel it and connect with it, and see the actions of the organisation align with this belief, then we might engage with the idea and with the organisation. If a government department believes all people matter, it’s actions align with the belief, and we believe in the same idea, we might engage with the department inspired by this simple belief and how they commit to it.

Stating what you believe, and taking action which aligns with your belief, includes all those who believe it too. It’s outward facing. Beliefs are about connecting with and including others in an idea. Building a community of likeminded people. Whereas questions like “who do we want to be?” or “what do we want to be known for?” are inward facing, they’re about us, what WE want or think about ourselves and how we want to be seen.

So why does it matter?

Because business is about people. All organisations want to connect with people, with customers and clients, communities and colleagues. And we can achieve this through stating our beliefs, beliefs aligned with our actions, beliefs that inspire others to act and connect, beliefs that raise the bar, helping us all to rise and be part of something bigger, something better, something meaningful, something critical, something we want to be part of.

And it matters to me personally because I believe in a better, more inclusive world. I want the organisation I work for to state a big, bold, positive belief about what our organisation stands for and to take action to commit to it. And I want to attract others who believe what I believe.

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Government has an obligation under the universal declaration of human rights to ensure all people can participate fully and inclusively in decision making processes on matters which affect them.

What does this mean for community engagement and public participation?

It means not doing the bare minimum. It means genuinely including all people to have a say on decisions they want to have a say about, regardless of the limited time and resources available to a public authority (or an engagement practitioner acting on behalf of a public authority) to undertake public engagement.

The ‘public’ is made up of individuals who all matter. The universal declaration of human rights was created because all people matter.

If we were to treat the public as a group of individuals who all matter, each and every person, who all have the basic human right to be included, have a say and participate in government decision making processes on matters which affect them personally…

Then…

how would or should government or any public authority (or engagement practitioners who work for government) engage the public (ie. individuals who all matter) differently?

What is government doing wrong? What could it do better?

[engagemeant]

Meaningful engagement

“Meaningful” is often a word associated with better practice community engagement. Companies and governments use community engagement to better understand the views of their stakeholders, but rather than the process being purely transactional, companies and governments attempt to make the process ‘meaningful’, as any and all communication with stakeholders doubles as a relationship building exercise and better relationships hopefully lead to better outcomes for everyone. 

But what does it mean for engagement to be meaningful and how do you do it? 

Ultimately, for community engagement to be meaningful it should be transformative both for participants and the practitioners and decision-makers involved. That is, the experience of engagement should transform ALL people involved in the process. 

Community engagement starts with a decision to be made, which affects and impacts a specific or broad community. The engagement process tries to hear and gain an understanding of the views of a community so the decision-makers can make an informed decision and determine an outcome which has considered and incorporated community views.  

The process of making the decision obliges a transformation to occur. From the point at which we identify a decision to be made, to the point where the final decision is determined, a transformation has taken place. We started with a question: what will the community think about this and how will it impact the outcome? We ended with the answer: we know what community thinks and it has led to this particular outcome.  

The project itself undergoes a transformation: from starting as a problem to be solved, leading to theoretical options either directly or indirectly being communicated to a community for input, to the problem being solved and some path forward being designed and created based on the outcome of the engagement process. 

So to, should people involved in an engagement process be transformed for the process to be meaningful for them. The starting point for people most interested and impacted by a decision to be made is hearing about the opportunity to influence the decision and being invited to participate in the engagement process. The natural transformation is that by the end of the process they feel like they had a say and their input influenced the outcome. They know this because of how the result has been reported back to them. They have a feeling of transformation, a sense of ownership over their community and general sense of belonging. They feel satisfied with the process, regardless of the result.  

Without participants feeling changed, like they’ve been heard or like they made a difference, the sense of belonging, ownership and being part of something meaningful is reduced. People are left with a feeling that the process was meaningless. Community engagement practitioners know all too well that this occurs and builds increased distrust between community and decision-makers. 

So if we agree that transformation for those involved in an engagement process (participants feeling changed for the better) is a key indicator of meaningful engagement, then the question becomes: how do we plant the seed in an engagement process to achieve it? 

1. Transformation through story. 

The story is important: what the decision is, why we need to make it, how history has brought us to having to make this decision, who is best placed to make it, if there’s research, evidence or knowledge required to make an informed decision, if the decision can be divided up into a series of smaller decisions and what that might look like, what the future or various possible scenarios could be and what happens once a decision is made. The details of the story are important, some people want the big arcs of the story, some want the nuances. What are the major plot points, the twists, turns, climaxes and possible endings to the story? Is there a physical or visual metaphor for the engagement which you can use to express and tell the story? What does the metaphor actually look or feel like? A cemetery or a playground? Building blocks or scattered sticks? People building a bridge, a highway heading towards a sea of diversity, a blank canvas or an empty fridge? The story of the project and the engagement process is a transformation in itself. Participants need to hear it, understand it and be part of it, so they can feel connected to the journey. Knowing and being clear about the story, ONE story which includes all its facets, angles and tangents, and is clearly told, builds trust with participants and makes the engagement process more meaningful.   

2. Transformation through people and personas

People are important: who is making the decision, who is responsible for delivering the outcome, who reports back to community, what are their names? What are their roles? What is their responsibility, level of accountability and professional trajectory? Will they still be there in a year’s time when the decision has been made? It matters. Participants want to know. People want people to rely on. Participants rely on decision-makers to be transparent, present and accountable. Presence is paramount - present in the room during a discussion, present in being aware of where participants are at, where the decision is at, what’s flexible or negotiable and what’s not, what participants want to talk about, what matters to them, what they want to do or change or build. Practitioners and decision-makers need to be present around the issues being discussed and new ones arising. Presence means being open and adaptive to change because no two moments in time are exactly the same. People change jobs, paths, agendas, interests and their minds; they learn, grow, develop ideas and connections and transform throughout a given time period, project and process. Participants want to know and be part of this change and journey. Being transparent about the ‘characters in the story’ and their stories, being present, human and honest about the changes which naturally occur as a project develops is critical for trust, relationship building and meaningful community engagement. 

3. Transformation through words and language

Language defines a project and engagement process: what’s said or written about it and what others say or write about it. Is it inclusive or exclusive language? Is it accessible and easy to understand or full of acronyms and hard to share with others? Are there groups of people or communities alienated by the language used in the engagement process - either written or verbal? Language, like the story and the people involved, changes and transforms throughout the life of a project and process. Words can change, and always have impact: either to exclude or include people in the subject matter. Language might change to better express an idea, change the scope, clarify a concept, raise a new option, discuss a next step, build trust or mitigate risk. As the language evolves within the development of a project or community engagement process, participants must be kept in the loop and be part of this transformation, be kept up to date with the (sometimes perceived as) ‘secret’ or ‘coded language’, or what the words actually mean, so that they feel included, feel like they belong and are part of the process and the journey and feel that the engagement is meaningful.      

4. Transformation through theme

The story of a project or engagement process is about what we see, hear and know: the plot points, what actually happens, the deadlines, milestones, key dates, events and activities. The theme is about the sub-text: what the story is really about, what the project and process ultimately means for community. Not the jargon of a more vibrant community but what it really means. This is where that metaphor again becomes very handy. Showing what we’re all striving for through an image or diagram. Children sitting on a shooting star, a skyscraper under a dream catcher, communities putting their cards on a large dinner table, farmers jumping over a moon, organic sustainable wind-run service stations... what’s it all about? How can you sum up the purpose of the project in a picture? How do we communicate it to communities in one clear image? Knowing this and clarifying this is key for meaningful engagement. Let’s not be vague: how will the outcome of the decision honestly change us, progress us, help us, meet our needs, defeat our demons and achieve our dreams? What is the future we’re all seeking and how do the steps of engagement and decision-making get us there? The clearer we can be, the more we can involve participants in understanding the context and sub-text, what it all means, what it’s all about, the more meaningful the engagement process will be. But that’s not all. It’s also about articulating the big picture in a way that resonates with the journeys of participants involved. The purpose, theme and subtext of the engagement MUST 100% connect with participants; they must see genuine reason for coming along for the ride; answering the survey or having the discussion; they must see the larger story as urgently relevant to them, right now! A story which is absolutely about them and their life and about the future of their family and community. Suddenly, from something which may have felt distant and tangential, we now have genuine, important, vital and meaningful engagement.  

5. Transformation through rhythm 

The rhythm or flow of a project or engagement process is important: how it starts, develops, climaxes and ends. Clarity builds trust. Participants knowing where they are in the process is critical to build their faith in it. Community engagement practitioners need to be aware of how flow affects participation. A process can start with BANG, or a soft launch - neither is the correct way, but both ways will produce a result and consequence, which better suits your project? How long is the engagement period? Too long will leave people wondering, too short will be seen as unfair. What’s the best time length for the engagement, and what are the rise and fall moments throughout? A survey on its own will be seen as limited engagement, a town hall meeting might be too confrontational or contentious, workshops might be appropriate but with who and for what purpose? The flow and format of the engagement process is critical to including all those impacted by and interested in the conversation to the level they would like to be included. Get it wrong, and the engagement is seen as exclusive and meaningless but get the flow and format right and the process will be seen as relevant and meaningful. 

6. Transformation through spectacle and surprise 

An unlikely and often underrepresented element in community engagement is the key component of ‘spectacle and surprise’. Engagement always works better when you have something ‘wow’ about it. As a small example, in a conference type engagement session, a microphone that looks like a fluffy ball which you can throw around the room to help people be heard is great fun. Engagement with pictures, metaphors or sounds or objects, a time capsule or using other creative ideas can excite people to participate;and transform them in a small way - from being bored to being keen to engage. The element of ‘spectacle and surprise’ can be used to transform people, attitudes and feelings; it can be used to highlight relevance and purpose. But it can also be large in size, scope and impact. If your project is about the future, getting young people involved in a significant and/or surprising way might serve a dual purpose of being relevant but also being ‘spectacular’ to decision-makers. Youth Citizen Juries often surprise government decision-makers and provide spectacular new insight into age-old issues. Running engagement on forests and decorating the room as a forest can be visually powerful and inclusive. It’s those special, spectacular and surprising moments, smells and sights in our lives which we remember, which make us sit up and listen, or make us different or better or more aware of a situation. It’s those moments which change and transform us, and enrich us as human beings. It’s those types of ‘wow’ moments which inspire us to sign up, play our part, and participate in decisions which are bigger than us as individuals, which is why these moments are so critical to a community engagement process. As community engagement practitioners we need to plan and plant these moments. We need to provide the opportunity for them to happen: the moments that make us sit up and take note, get involved, get excited, get engaged and have a say; and increase the possibility for genuinely meaningful engagement. 

Participants, practitioners and decision-makers feeling a sense of belonging and being part of an inclusive process, feeling like after a long ride that a fair and reasonable decision (that they can live with, even if they don’t like it) has been made and feeling transformed, more stable due to being part of a transparent decision-making process, more powerful due to the genuine opportunity to influence the decision and more connected to each other and their own communities is all the direct result of meaningful community engagement.  

[engagemeant]

There is a movement growing

A movement is growing, not just around climate strikes or LGBTIQ acceptance and understanding, not just in Melbourne or Finland. The Field Trip is part of and reflects a new generation, a new kind of community, or hamula (Arabic for 'extended family'); an approach that not everything is solved, that not all problems have solutions, and that this new kind of movement chooses to maximise the odds for our collective success, embrace the wisdom, pursuits and passions of all its members, leaders, families and broader community, from the past and present, fully inclusive without discrimination. Anyone who wants to contribute and be part of the movement for positive change is welcome.

In your mind, draw the community of your dreams. Parks and trees, affordable housing with white picket fencing. Dab heavily with yellows and oranges of citrus, the purples of sunsets and greens of lush grass. Colour the children participating and influencing their present and future, electric cars and communal dining halls. Don't forget the stunning landscape and sustainable natural environment. Clean water on tap for generations to come. And of course the people, of all ages and backgrounds, from all parts of the world, with all kinds of personalities and perspectives working, living, loving, playing, arguing and crying. People with dreams and daily problems, the disappointed and delighted - like people all over.

How do you draw equality, opportunity and risk, a love for each other and the planet, a commitment to humanity, a shared history full of respect, culture and tradition, now living in a modern technological society?

Some people may have painted a garden of eden, others a prison. The Field Trip and this growing movement for a better world is neither.

This new kind of community is values-driven, a place and an idea or series of ideas. It is not an ideal community, but a community of ideals. It exists in every town and every city, in every nation on the planet, home for millions of people who have voluntarily chosen to stop, stand up and be heard, be vocal, to make a positive difference in the world, for the world. People who are free to leave whenever they like (and many do leave as change is hard and takes effort, not always the easy, romantic path that making a difference may sometimes appear to be).

These new communities, groups of likeminded souls who band together to break new ground, have personalities of their own, personalities that shine brightly because they are in charge of their own destinies, they make their own decisions, have developed their own culture and traditions, and have decided where and when and how often to compromise their ideals because of the human needs of their members.

There may come a time when you will ask yourself quite naturally whether you could be happy in such a group or community - in a small environment, isolated from the mainstream, far from the competitive norms that most of us are used to living by. A question might come up about the relationship between the individual and the community, about the price the individual must pay for the benefits of being part of a local and global movement for positive change. There is no blueprint or ideological constitution that has taught The Field Trip or this new generation of young activists what values to live by. It is learning how to survive, how to influence and how to collectively thrive by trying and doing, by confronting the reality of the situation and environment we live in and then striving for something better, more humane, more just and tolerant, more democratic, more generous and kind. Ordinary young people committed to extraordinary adventures: www.thefieldtrip.co

[engagemeant]

A (developing) Model for Engagement

Okay so how about this?

I’ve been trying to find a clear and consistent rationale for what I believe are crucial elements for effective community engagement. What are these key elements, how do they fit together and what do they mean in practice to ensure engagement is meaningful and actually ‘engaging’?

One thought always leads to another and more recently I’ve been thinking...

What if I drew inspiration from Aristotle’s Poetics as a basis for the various elements required to engage people effectively and profoundly.

Aristotle of course developed six elements of drama as key principles to ‘entertain’ an audience. The word entertain coming from a Latin word meaning ‘to hold’ as in ‘to hold someone’s attention’.

Surely engagement is about holding peoples’ attention in a meaningful way, including and involving people, communicating, collaborating with, inspiring and empowering people.

PURPOSE

Aristotle calls this ‘Theme’: what’s the drama or story really about? Why are we telling this story? What do we want the audience to feel or do? The starting point for all engagement is why: why are we doing it? I love this important element of engagement for many reasons including Simon Sinek’s great TED talk about starting with why.

FLOW OR FORMAT

Aristotle calls this the element of ‘Music’: the rhythm of the drama, how the story moves and stops and ebbs and flows. What is the rhythm of your engagement? It’s important. How does it start? How does it move through the components? How does it build momentum, climax and then end? Surely this must be considered for good community engagement.

SPECTACLE OR SURPRISE

An important element in Ancient Greek (and all) Drama. It was often the role of the deus ex machina to provide the much needed spectacle at the end of a Greek Tragedy but this type of device is not the only way to achieve good engagement. In considering your own engagement needs, it could be as simple as using interesting technology to build conversations or facilitating a session in a surprisingly awesome way, incorporating an unexpected guest speaker or including a surprisingly interactive component to the engagement. Some folks give away ‘incredible incentives’ to try and engage more people but does it work? Often a free holiday or i-Pad is the least spectacular or surprising thing we can do to increase engagement. The idea to surprise or delight is right but certain kinds of incentives (if they’re irrelevant to the purpose) can defeat the purpose.

FULLY INCLUSIVE

Everyone has a role and a part to play. Everyone has the potential to be included so let’s include them. Aristotle calls this element ‘Character’ and believes characters and people can be used to hold peoples’ attention or to entertain or engage others. He was right. In good drama, characters are not treated as homogenous groups (other than a Greek chorus) but each character is intentionally distinctive with his/her own traits and unique voice. What if we treated participants we engage with in this light? Everyone has a voice, everyone has a role to play.

LANGUAGE

Another crucial component of good drama: how language is used. What people say matters, giving people a say matters. How we communicate the engagement, make it accessible and inclusive and invite people into our conversation - all crucial to good engagement. Like in good drama, language, words and clear, accessible, purposeful and relevant communication is vital to improve engagement.

NARRATIVE

Or Plot. An essential part of any drama. What actually happens which sits on top of what the work is actually about (the why or purpose). So what’s the narrative of your engagement? How do the characters transform by the end? How does it connect to your purpose? What’s the learning that takes place and the takeaway message? Because there always is one! How does the narrative and plot points of the engagement process build a journey of trust and connection? What’s the ending? The denouement? The point of the story, journey and engagement? And how has the narrative changed the world of the characters? How has the engagement changed our world? Because it should!

I’m going to try an experiment and include these six elements (inspired by Aristotle’s elements of drama which he developed to hold peoples’ attention) in engagement activities with the hope that using these components improves the quality of the engagement and participants feel more connected to and satisfied with the process and outcome!

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[engagemeant]

Driving Community: Master Class

If you're in India over the summer, please come and do a masterclass on 'Driving Community' - January 2018, register now.... https://www.abcdfestivalgoa.com/masterclasses/

[engagemeant]

Who are you batting for?

As posted on the Engage 2 Act website:

https://www.engage2act.org

I have noticed that when working for government, an organisation, council, agency or other, that some people with the word ‘engagement’ in their title, don’t know who they’re batting for when it comes to providing our communities with the opportunity to influence government decisions.

Are we batting for our employer? Or are we batting for the communities we work with and for?

Should we defend our communities and fight our hierarchy for genuine ethical engagement, or should we agree with and defend our hierarchy, restricting engagement to align with our employer’s timeframes, budget and resources?

Are we batting for the project itself, and completing the project on time and on budget? Or are we batting for our communities to provide them with genuine opportunities to influence the negotiable aspects of the project as a priority?

I ask this because I am genuinely interested in your views.

Recently I have regularly found myself in a situation where the engagement doesn’t feel right. It feels short, or tacked on, or limited, or in favour of the project and employer, sometimes at the expense of the community the engagement is for. And I forget momentarily who I am batting for, and I default to my employer to balance the needs of all stakeholders (and protect my job and professional internal relationships).

But with every nod, or box ticked, or engagement plan signed off, I feel I am betraying the people I know want to have more say, the people who want to feel some sense of ownership over the places they live. I feel I am betraying my sense of purpose and the principles of community engagement which exist for a reason, to give people a say, and an opportunity to influence the places they live.

I feel, at once, like I am doing my job, and a traitor of our practice and purpose.

When you next get told by your supervisor or employer that we can’t engage the way you’re suggesting because of time, history, resources, context, budget or for some other reason, what do you do? How do you respond? How do you balance better practice engagement with the needs of your employer? Who are you batting for?

Let us know. I’m so curious.

[engagemeant]

Community engagement: what’s in it for me?

Community engagement takes, gets and collects information for agencies, organisations and government to build better communities, but what does it give?

"Hi, yes, we're doing a survey on our vision for the municipality, would you like to contribute? What do you love and hope for the community?"

"Hi, it's a survey about a roads upgrade and we'd love to know what you feel the issues are in the area so we can build something relevant for people using the roads."

"Hi, so what do you think are important features of such a facility? What would you use it for?"

All common questions government organisations and agencies ask regarding infrastructure, community and aspirations for the future. Government, in its various forms, asks 'the community' all the time about things the government needs, for its projects, for its purpose and for its own agenda.

A government department or organisation may have the best intentions in the world. It may end up building something that's awesome for the community. it may satisfy 90% of people in the area who wanted the exact thing the government is building or creating for them.

So councils, agencies and government entities ask people what they think to get a general idea of what people want or any issues arising in regard to government planning. They ask people to GET their information, to COLLECT data, which is valuable and 'currency' to the government, in justifying the millions if not billions of dollars spent on community infrastructure and projects. The government TAKES people's information for its own purposes: it's a transaction.

So what does the government give in return?

What if community engagement was about giving and not just taking and collecting data? And I don't mean an iPad or free movie ticket giveaway.

When community engagement occurs, a transaction takes place. Someone pursues something they want in exchange for something the other person wants. A council asks questions in a survey, people respond who want to have a say or felt heard. More people respond if they have the chance to win a prize. But how does (or could) government significantly increase the number of people responding or engaging on a given issue?

What do people want?

Why does anyone complete a survey or contribute at a drop-in session? Because the community is theirs. They are part of it. They care about their community and want to contribute to it. They want to belong and connect. People want to have a say. They want a sense of ownership over where they live. People want to engage but not always in the way that government wants them to. Some people love completing surveys but some people don't. Some people will come to a public meeting but many won't.

Government is very experienced and successful at the 'taking aspect' of the transaction of community engagement. But what can government do to improve what it gives in return?

How does government ensure that if it is collecting information, in the same process, it is giving people a sense of ownership over their community?

There's an expression: 'it's not what you do, it's how you make them feel.' Sometimes people argue about an issue long enough to forget what they're arguing about, but they'll remember how you made them feel for the rest of their lives.

Wouldn't it be amazing if at the end of the community engagement component of a project the overwhelming feeling by a community was 'THANK YOU!' rather than the traditional overwhelming community feeling of 'Doesn't matter what I say, no one listens anyway. They'll just do what they want regardless, and it's not like we'll ever hear back from anyone."

Could government make more people feel better about their communities and more connected to an issue, place or project, regardless of the information being sought?

Could community engagement as a sector (and set of principles) inspire our government to give more to our communities in return for their views and input? Could community engagement leave people feeling heard and supported and part of the solution?

The purpose of this post is to inspire a more giving world; in this case encouraging the government, in all its forms, to consider community engagement as an opportunity to give and grow our communities and not just take.

If you have anecdotes, questions or comments, please share here and with each other!