Community engagement

1. Community engagement Implementing NICE guidance 2008 NICE public health guidance 9

2. What this presentation covers • Recommendations • Costs and savings • Discussion • Where to find out more

3. Prerequisites:policy development • Plan, design and coordinate activities that incorporate a community involvement component • Take account of existing community activities, past experiences and issues raised by the communities

4. Prerequisites: long-term investment • Agree aims and state the intended outcomes of community engagement activities • Set realistic timescales • Identify funding and plan activities accordingly • Build on past experiences • Ensure evaluation mechanisms are in place

5. Prerequisites: organisational and cultural change • Identify how the culture of public sector organisations supports or prevents community engagement • Use the skills and knowledge of community members • Manage conflicts between communities and the agencies that serve them • Encourage communities to express their views • Give weight (and respond) to those views

6. Prerequisites: levels of engagement and power • Make everyone aware of the benefits of community involvement • Let community members decide how willing and able they are to participate • Negotiate and agree how power will be distributed • Recognise local diversity • Jointly agree ways of working

7. Prerequisites: mutual trust and respect • Assess the broad and specific health needs of the community • Tailor the approach used • Negotiate and agree how much control and influence community members will have and the commitment required • Keep communities updated on progress

8. Infrastructure: training and resources • Develop and build on the local community’s strengths and assets • Provide training for those working with communities • Provide accessible meeting spaces and equipment • Provide opportunities and resources for networking • Train individuals from the community to act as mentors

9. Infrastructure: partnership working • Develop statements of partnership working for all those involved in activities to improve health or to address the social determinants of health.

10. Infrastructure: area-based initiatives • Give community groups the power to influence decisions. Provide the necessary resources.

11. Approaches: community members as agents of change • Recruit local individuals and groups (or use existing groups) to plan, design and deliver activities to improve health • Use mechanisms such as tenant-controlled organisations, estate housing associations, housing boards and committees, as well as working with neighbourhood managers and renewal advisers to ensure the community’s views are heard

12. Approaches: community workshops • Run community workshops (co-managed by professionals and community members in local venues) to: • identify local needs • maintain a high level of local participation in health promotion activities

13. Approaches: resident consultancy • Draw on the skills and experience of individuals and groups with previous experience of regeneration activities

14. Evaluation • Identify and agree the aims of evaluation with members of the target community • Involve them in the planning, design and, where appropriate, implementation of an evaluation framework

15. Costs and savings • The guidance is unlikely to result in a significant shift in the use of NHS resources. However, recommendations on the following may result in additional costs: • training and development • employing agents of change, either paid or voluntary • evaluation of community engagement activities

16. Discussion • How can we integrate community engagement into policy? • How can we met the prerequisites for effective community engagement and do we have the infrastructure in place? • What funding is needed? • What training and development is needed?

17. Find out more • Visit www.nice.org.uk/ph009 for: • Other guidance formats • Costing statement • Implementation support tools