• Community engagement in context
  • Community engagement - an overview
  • Community engagement in a representative democracy
  • Key challenges for the public sector
  • Implications for public sector managers
  • The context for engagement
  • Clues to good community engagement
• Planning CE
  • Community engagement and the policy/planning cycle
  • Project goals
  • When is engagement necessary?
  • Community engagement objectives
  • Community research
    • Media research
    • Community profiling
    • Community segmentation
    • Community and issues analysis
  • Key communication messages
  • Selection of engagement techniques
  • Managing risk
  • Evaluation planning
  • Planning transition and exit strategies
• Implementing CE
  • Working with communities
  • Organisational culture
  • Resourcing
  • Structures and processes
  • Continuity and follow up
  • Representation and control
  • Coordination
  • Other issues
  • Embedding good practice
• Methods
  • Overview of methods
  • Methods of information-sharing
  • Methods for consultation and deliberation
  • Methods for active participation
  • Advanced participative methodologies
  • Choosing an engagement method
• Event management
  • Event engagement processes
  • Choosing a facilitator
  • Structuring the event
• Evaluating CE
  • Introduction to evaluation
  • Principles of evaluation
  • Identifying outputs and outcomes
  • Purpose and approach to evaluation
  • Evaluation criteria and indicators
  • Methods of measuring community engagement
  • Steps in evaluating community engagement
• Risk management
  • Identifying risks
  • Assessing risk
  • Managing external risks
  • Managing internal risks
  • Risk assessment and management plan
• Skills
  • Community engagement skills profile
  • Options for skills development
  • Building the skills of your team

Community engagement in a representative democracy

Community engagement is central to our system of representative democracy. Connections between governments and their communities are enhanced by ongoing relationships built on engagement principles. A strong level of engagement is crucial to the legitimacy and responsiveness of government, the quality of public policies and programs and ensuring the effectiveness of services.

“In a modern democracy, there is an expectation that public officials will facilitate the contribution of citizens and communities in government planning and decision-making processes. There is also an expectation that government agencies will report on the results of their engagement with citizens and communities.” Engaging Queenslanders: An introduction to community engagement, Department of Communities, 2003, p.3)

This is a trend for communities and citizens, both in Australia and internationally.

Therefore, in a representative democracy, it is essential that there is a continuous flow of engagement between government to support informed decisions, planning, policy and service delivery. The following diagram indicates the connection between the three key areas of government operation and ways in which engagement flows:

• Legislative – the making of laws as exercised by parliament
• Executive – the administration and enforcement of the law, which is carried out by ministers and the administrative agencies of government, such as departments and statutory authorities
• Judiciary – the application and interpretation of the law by the courts