Reaching out to stakeholders and sustaining community relationships

The first phase involves bringing together the stakeholders who will be involved in the engagement process in a manner that removes barriers to participation and considers both deep and wide engagement. This can include mapping stakeholder’s interests, motivations, and concerns as well as looking at inclusion and access. It is important to understand communication preferences and any the context created by any previous engagement efforts.

The second phase involves actively reaching out to stakeholders to build relationships, trust and initiate engagement efforts. As will be shown by examples from CLEVER Cities, this can be done in various manners including both face to face and online approaches. During the engagement process, it is important to actively listen to stakeholders and address their concerns so that a sense of ownership and inclusion is created. There is also a link 12 Points to Building Trust in Communities which can aid in your approach to this.

The third phase is about sustaining these relationships and to helping to build new governance structures that support community-led initiatives. During and after the engagement process, it is important to build strong community relationships that can help stakeholders to understand how their input has and can continue to contribute to decision-making processes.