Community engagement

This article is about non-governmental community benefit efforts. For governmental community benefit efforts, see Public engagement.

Community engagement is involvement and participation in an organization for the welfare of the community.

Defining characteristics

Volunteering, which involves giving personal time to projects in humanitarian NGOs or religious groups, are forms of community involvement.^[1] The engagement is generally motivated by values and ideals of social justice^[2] Community engagement can be volunteering at food banks, homeless shelters, emergency assistance programs, neighborhood cleanup programs, etc.^[3][4][5]

It is also defined as "a dynamic relational process that facilitates communication, interaction, involvement, and exchange between an organization and a community for a range of social and organizational outcomes".^[6] As a concept, engagement features attributes of connection, interaction, participation, and involvement, designed to achieve or elicit an outcome at individual, organization, or social levels.^[7] Current research acknowledges engagement's socially-situated nature. Community engagement therefore offers an ethical, reflexive, and socially responsive approach to community-organizational relationships with engagement practices that aim to both understand and be responsive to community needs, views, and expectations.^[8][9] For academic research to have impact, community engagement is essential, especially for the research around population health and wellness issues.^[10][11] It is imperative that the researchers employ community-engaged approaches where community members^[12] and organizations^[13] and researchers work hand-in-hand to identify the problems, co-develop solutions and recommend policy changes.

Community engagement is a community-centered orientation based in dialogue.^[14] Community engagement enables a more contextualized understanding of community members’ perceptions of the topics and contexts, and facilitates stronger relationships among and between community members.^[15][16] The outcome of community engagement is ultimately social capital and stronger relational networks.^[17] While community organizing involves the process of building a grassroots movement involving communities, community engagement primarily deals with the practice of moving communities toward change, usually from a stalled or similarly suspended position.

See also

• List of community topics
• Community development
• Community building
• Community economic development
• Community emergency response team
• Community practice
• Community service
• Communities That Care

References

1. Marie Weil, Michael S. Reisch, Mary L. Ohmer, The Handbook of Community Practice, SAGE Publications, USA, 2012, p. 169
2. Nichole Georgeou, Neoliberalism, Development, and Aid Volunteering, Routledge, Abingdon-on-Thames, 2012, p. 103-105
3. Cathryn Crosby, Frederick Brockmeier, Student Experiences and Educational Outcomes in Community Engagement for the 21st Century, IGI Global, USA, 2016, p. 45
4. Paul A. Gaist, Igniting the Power of Community: The Role of CBOs and NGOs in Global Public Health, Springer, USA, 2009, p. 239
5. Yves Beigbeder, The Role and Statuts of International Humanitarian Volunteers and Organizations: The Right and Duty to Humanitarian Assistance, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Belgium, 1991, p. 83
6. Johnston, K. A. (2018). Toward a theory of social engagement. In K. A. Johnston & M. Taylor (Eds.), The Handbook of Communication Engagement (pp. 19-32). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
7. Johnston, Kim A. (2010-03-17). "Community Engagement: Exploring a Relational Approach to Consultation and Collaborative Practice in Australia" (PDF). Journal of Promotion Management. 16 (1–2): 217–234. doi:10.1080/10496490903578550. ISSN 1049-6491. S2CID 167693206.
8. Johnston, K. A. (2018). Engagement. In R. L. Heath (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Strategic Communication: Wiley
9. Dada, Sara; McKay, Gillian; Mateus, Ana; Lees, Shelley (2019-12-11). "Lessons learned from engaging communities for Ebola vaccine trials in Sierra Leone: reciprocity, relatability, relationships and respect (the four R's)". BMC Public Health. 19 (1): 1665. doi:10.1186/s12889-019-7978-4. ISSN 1471-2458. PMC 6907283. PMID 31829223.
10. Turin, Tanvir Chowdhury; Chowdhury, Nashit; Haque, Sarika; Rumana, Nahid; Rahman, Nafiza; Lasker, Mohammad A A (August 2021). "Meaningful and deep community engagement efforts for pragmatic research and beyond: engaging with an immigrant/racialised community on equitable access to care". BMJ Global Health. 6 (8): e006370. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2021-006370. ISSN 2059-7908. PMC 8383879. PMID 34426405.
11. Dada, Sara; Cocoman, Olive; Portela, Anayda; Brún, Aoife De; Bhattacharyya, Sanghita; Tunçalp, Özge; Jackson, Debra; Gilmore, Brynne (2023-02-01). "What's in a name? Unpacking 'Community Blank' terminology in reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health: a scoping review". BMJ Global Health. 8 (2): e009423. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2022-009423. ISSN 2059-7908. PMC 9906186. PMID 36750272.
12. Turin, Tanvir Chowdhury; Chowdhury, Nashit; Haque, Sarika; Rumana, Nahid; Rahman, Nafiza; Lasker, Mohammad A A (December 2021). "Involving im/migrant community members for knowledge co-creation: the greater the desired involvement, the greater the need for capacity building". BMJ Global Health. 6 (12): e007602. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007602. ISSN 2059-7908. PMC 8718487. PMID 34969687.
13. Turin, Tanvir Chowdhury; Chowdhury, Nashit; Rumana, Nahid; Lasker, Mohammad A. A.; Qasqas, Mahdi (March 2022). "Partnering with organisations beyond academia through strategic collaboration for research and mobilisation in immigrant/ethnic-minority communities". BMJ Global Health. 7 (3): e008201. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2021-008201. ISSN 2059-7908. PMC 8948381. PMID 35332054.
14. Taylor, Maureen; Kent, Michael L. (2014-10-20). "Dialogic Engagement: Clarifying Foundational Concepts". Journal of Public Relations Research. 26 (5): 384–398. doi:10.1080/1062726x.2014.956106. ISSN 1062-726X. S2CID 143995731.
15. Johnston, K. A., & Lane, A. (2018). Building relational capital: The contribution of episodic and relational community engagement. Public Relation Review. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2018.10.006
16. Dada, Sara; De Brún, Aoife; Banda, Esther Namwaba; Bhattacharya, Sanghita; Mutunga, Zaccheous; Gilmore, Brynne (2022-09-12). "A realist review protocol on communications for community engagement in maternal and newborn health programmes in low- and middle-income countries". Systematic Reviews. 11 (1): 201. doi:10.1186/s13643-022-02061-9. ISSN 2046-4053. PMC 9465973. PMID 36096841.
17. Johnston, K. A., & Lane, A. (2018). Building relational capital: The contribution of episodic and relational community engagement. Public Relation Review. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2018.10.006