Item 4 - Appendix 1
West Dunbartonshire Council · 29 August 2022
Back to Community Alliance — 29 August 2022 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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WD Community Empowerment Strategy – Priority Project One Communications and Engagement Plan Outcome: Individuals, communities, council and partnership staff understand what community empowerment means and how it can help individuals and communities. Action: Communications Plan to manage how the Council, Community Planning partners and communities should communicate to turn the Strategy into reality. This work will also address the following action: Action: Revitalise the Community Alliance to lead communication with local communities and represent views to the Council and CPPs on empowerment issues. Considerations: This work will look at communication in both directions, from the Council / Partners to the community and crucially how the community can have their voice heard by the Council/Partners. It will be carried out with the understanding that the majority of local residents may be quite happy not to engage with the Council on the Empowerment Strategy. Also, that according to the regular WDC telephone surveys there is a 75% satisfaction rate with how the Council communicates. In 2013/14 the Community Alliance (CA) was established, this replaced three local area partnerships. As detailed in the Local Outcome Improvement Plan (LOIP) the CA was, ‘a strategic partnership group established to support CPWD in ensuring communities and local organisations within West Dunbartonshire are able to influence and scrutinise the work of CPWD’. While the CA has operated for a number of years it has faced a number of challenges that included a lack of membership, poor community awareness and buy-in. This project will consider literacy rates across Scotland and identify if there are any improvements that could be made to support those who struggle with literacy (24% of people struggle with reading and writing across Scotland). The work to develop a Communications Plan will focus on listening to and understanding how local people want to be communicated with and how they want to communicate and participate with the Council and Partners. It will: • Establish if there are improvements we can make in communicating with communities; • Investigate if there is a preference for a single, authority wide group to represent the community or whether smaller, geographically based groups would work better, if needed at all. • Investigate if people want to be involved and participate in shaping individual projects / work streams, for example Community Budgeting, • Investigate how people want to hear about and support the Community Empowerment work and from other services; • Consider how we can better communicate the benefits of community empowerment; • Understand how people want to have their voice heard; and • Develop a transition from the Community Alliance to a more sustainable community led solution. Appendix 1
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Proposed Approach Task Timescale Lead Update on progress Preparations Review and consider feedback from initial Community Conversations undertaken by Alan Karas, Communities Team Nov/Dec 21 SM/AK/CY Conversations completed. Key findings noted: • The role of the Community Alliance is unclear; • There is more interest in smaller, geographically based groups; • That one group covering the whole authority area cannot represent local issues effectively. Community Alliance meeting – seek approval to proceed. Aug 22 SB/SM/ET This was delayed due to elections/ recess Focus Group - seek community members to join a discussion to consider the approach to engagement, question-set and audience. Utilise existing engagement underway? Utilise survey monkey? Face-to-face? Social Media? Feb 22 CS/CY Completed: Question set and survey monkey utilised to reach 11+years across the authority via partner organisations, WD Education and social media platforms. Develop a plan for carrying out research / ensure we target all ages / minority groups / etc. Feb/Mar 22 CY / focus group Completed: Survey results collated and to be published online and shared with Community Councils and action groups for area specific feedback. Conversation with Corp Communications around showcasing community empowerment / case studies, etc. Feb/Mar 22 LC/CY Completed Stage 1 Early Engagement / User interviews Engage and listen to the community about if / how they want to communicate with the Council and CPP. How can we best represent the views of the community? Mar 22 CY/communit y partners? Completed: Survey results indicate an Online Discussion Forum would be the preferred method for people to communicate with the Council. Publicise the need for community members to partner with us to develop a community voice/or whatever it will be called. How can this feed into the CPWD? Does it need to? Do people want to be part of a formal structure? Mar/Apr 22 – on- going CY/communit y partners / CPP CY/AK/SB to collaborate, share results and target responders to stress the need for people to get involved in a ‘Community Voice’ to develop purposeful conversations and relations with CPWD.
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Identify any community members interested in representing the views of their community. On-going Communities / HSCP/ other services. Has been taken forward as part of CE conversations, work in Faifley, the PB pilot conversations and the SoE work/ Stronger Voices Group. To be further built on. Understand findings of User Interviews in advance of planned session. To be confirmed. CE conversations have taken place. Survey results will be publish and identify representatives to take forward discussions. Dedicated sessions for individuals to discuss the potential of a community voice: • What it needs to achieve; • What form it should take; • Frequency/form of meetings; etc. etc. • Support needed • others Aug-Oct 2022 Community / Communities team/HSCP/ Comms Next stage to take forward following Community Alliance final meeting in August 2022 Stage 2 Acting on Feedback / Developing a Plan (all to be confirmed) Understand and implement any improvements to method of communication. This could be recommendations for all service areas to consider. tbc Communities team/HSCP/ Comms Proving feedback to individuals and wider community of the outcome of the work and any improvements made. tbc Community / Comms / Communities Team Planning sessions with community reps and: • Rona Gold, CPP Manager to develop how the groups might work; • Colin Smith, Communities Team Leader to understand training and support available to each group • Project Workers to develop remit, roles, etc. • As required…. On-going programme of support. tbc Community / CPP Manager / Communities Team Dedicated Communities Team officers to each community area group to support with meetings, reports, action points, training and development, etc. tbc tbc Preparation of Progress/Outcome Report. Communities Team Stage 3: Embedding the Community Voice / Communications Plan
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To be discussed with the community representatives/ Steering group.