Community engagement and policy making

Objectives

The objective of the module is for the learner:
to understand
The steps of the public policy-making process
General guidelines and prerequisites of a successful
policy making process.

• How to choose successful tactics in the policy-making
  process (including political engagement and community
  engagement) as a social entrepreneur.
• Why community-engagement is a prerequisite of the
  policy-making process
• How to use community-engagement as an instrument
• The do’s and don’ts of community-engagement.

The objective of the module is for the learner to execute:

• An analysis of best practices in Europe.
• A plan of action for community-engagement.

Module summary

Social enterprises are developing all around the world in increasing numbers.

They are proven to play an important role in addressing social, economic and environmental challenges, fostering inclusive growth, increasing social cohesion, nurturing local social capital, supporting democratic participation and delivering good quality services .

Public policies supporting social enterprises allow governments to meet employment and other challenges in a more effective and efficient way, while at the same time improving the quality spending of public money. It is important to adopt a holistic approach to support social enterprises and that an internal coherence is pursued among the different components within the enabling environment.

Adopting a coherent and holistic framework to support the emergence and the
consolidation of social enterprises is essential to maximise their social and economic impact. The policies in themselves are very important; however the policy processes are just as important. This is because they are more effective if they are built through horizontal co-creation with all stakeholders, including the community. When this happens, the final result is greater coherence and greater effectiveness.

To establishing useful policies to enable social enterprises policy makers should adopt a systemic vision of social entrepreneurship and the contribution that it can make to the improvement of economic and social wellbeing. This way the policie would suit social enterprises’ needs and created in such a way as to optimise their impact.

Across Europe, social enterprises face a number of important barriers related to legal and regulatory frameworks, financial resources, access to markets, business support and development structures, training, and workforce development. Public policies should create an enabling eco-system to developing social businesses and facilitating, among others, access to funding.

Community engagement In the policy making process is key. Simply put, the better
and more accurately informed and involved the community is, the more likely they are to trust the institution or organisation engaging them. You will get better results if you ask your community to engage from an early stage of the project. The community can build understanding and help avoid political landmines at the end of the process that delays the results. The community will be more satisfied with the if they are engaged.

Consensus is a very rare thing in community engagement. If decisions are based on a robust community engagement process, then it’s more likely that people will
understand and accept decisions. The policymaking process will be less susceptible to legal challenge, to being reversed or revised at the final approval stage, or to being repealed as soon as new elected representatives take office.

Materials

Powerpoint
Factsheet with do’s and dont’s
Examples of best practices around europe
Inspirational best practice:

Tedtalk:

(what should a community do with its unused land? Plant food, of course.

With energy and humor, Pam Warhurst tells at the TEDSalon the story of how she and a growing team of volunteers came together to turn plots of unused land into communal vegetable gardens, and to change the narrative of food in their community).

It is possible to use the business canvas model from the Entercom practise guide to
execute the exercises.