The importance of community engagement is emphasised everywhere – it is set out in policy, law and a range of best practice guidance is available.

This guide aims to bring this information together in a user-friendly format as well as direct readers to further sources of information should they need it.

Focused on the Scottish context but containing information of use more widely, this guide is aimed at a wide range of readers from communities themselves to practitioners, community advisors and community planning partners. It sets out user-friendly guidance on the theory and practice of community engagement with a focus on practical advice and examples.

This document provides a practical, user-friendly guide to community engagement looking at its meaning and importance as well as giving advice around techniques for engaging with communities (including a specific section on engaging with minority ethnic communities and other equalities groups).

These are complemented by case studies highlighting the work others have done to engage communities and lessons learned from these activities. Readers are also directed to further information via the list of useful publications dealing with community engagement and numerous hotlinks throughout the document.

It is hoped that this guide will be of practical use in informing readers of the background to community engagement as well as offering guidance and examples of how it can be done in practice. It is intended as something that readers can dip into and skip to the portions which are of particular interest or relevance to them.

Communities, practitioners, community advisers and community planning partners.

Scottish Centre for Regeneration
scr@communitiesscotland.gsi.gov.uk

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case

Urban Policy > Social inclusion & integration > Community development

Capacity building