Four reasons community engagement matters

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Community engagement matters – it’s a two-way street that can deliver benefits to your organisation, your project and, more importantly, to the community and stakeholders who are directly affected by or interested in your project.

Here’s the top four benefits we see when delivering community engagement:

Community buy-in and ownership of project outcomes

Particularly when Consulting, Involving, Collaborating with and Empowering the community about decisions that directly affect them.p />

Taps into community knowledge

Including historical, existing challenges, local needs and possible solutions.
The community feels seen, heard and understood, and the project benefits from community insights and knowledge leading to better project outcomes.
In our experience the community are willing to share great ideas when given the opportunity.

Builds trust between the community and organisation

Proviso – when done in an engaging and genuine way.
This can also create new communication channels between your organisation and the community that didn’t previously exist.

Community networks

It’s not unusual for community engagement to bring people together for a project and create new connections within the community.
This might be between community groups or even individuals who realise they are working towards a common cause.

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Written by Amanda Newbery
Articulous is led by founder and managing director Amanda Newbery, an award-winning communications and engagement professional. She has made a career of tackling difficult projects across Australia. A passionate and experienced communicator, she has worked with some of the country’s largest organisations and government organisations nationally. She is a sought-after issues and crisis advisor, especially for major corporations.