7 Ways of engaging the community

Key steps to identifying existing groups are:

If an existing support group is lacking, you require a specific and targeted group, or you wish to access a loose community demographic (eg home owners), you may consider establishing a group or network for your needs. One advantage of this is that the resulting group is usually highly focused and effective recovery outcomes are more likely.

Note, if developing a network rather than a group, some of the steps below may not be appropriate. It is likely that community input to management will be less. As a result you may need funding for the first few years, partnership support or considerable input of your own time, and you should consider the long-term management of the network before its establishment.

In building a group or network:

Most threatened species are found on privately owned or managed land rather than in national parks and on other public lands. To this end, threatened species managers need to work with individual landholders to promote conservation. Often this can be achieved by working through established local groups or networks, but such groups do not always exist and not all landholders are affiliated in such a way. This is particularly true inland in areas where property sizes are greater and connections between regional landowners are fewer.

As with any engagement effort, the response and interest of landholders varies greatly depending on the nature of the individual and the industry in which they work. As a generalisation, for family-run or personally owned properties, landholders are often more open to discussing changes to sustainable farming and conservation activities. Larger company-run properties will have different triggers for engagement and action, particularly increased economic cost and benefit.

Following are notes on contacting individual landholders:

• avoid contacting cold turkey If directly approaching landholders, it is often best to involve a known and trusted contact. This involvement should preferably be through personal introduction, but can be through a verbal reference.
• understand the local social climate In certain areas, a deep-seated distrust may exist towards certain groups (eg particular government agencies or conservation groups). If this is the case, it is often best to develop partnerships with a range of stakeholders before approaching landholders, including groups that are held in high esteem in the region. It is also then worth considering who should make the initial contact.
• understand social motivators Discover the prevailing interests and attitudes of a region to help understand what will be effective motivators for change. If hoping to directly approach specific landholders, first learn what you can about them and their interests.
• understand economic and legislative motivators Listen to the landholder and learn about their interests and motivations before promoting your cause.

Sometimes a simple meeting and information session is enough to motivate a group into action, or a face-to-face visit is enough to begin developing a relationship with a landholder. However, in situations dealing with more complex social issues or interactions, or where commitment is not likely to be so forthcoming, it can be useful to use another community engagement method.

There are numerous toolkits or guides containing different community consultation and engagement techniques. These discuss the various strengths and weaknesses of each technique and can be useful in identifying which method of community engagement or consultation is most appropriate to satisfy the objectives of your project.

Before approaching an interest group to develop partnerships, consider the type of information the group will need from your organisation. This could be information on:

• the species or ecological community involved
• the threats facing the species or ecological community
• types of actions and activities the community could be involved in 
• types of skills and knowledge that would be useful
• the number of people required to implement actions (eg fox baiting across a region versus surveys at a single site)
• funding requirements and potential sources
• support available from you or other potential partners
• the duration and degree of commitment required.

It may be useful to show the group maps of the area under discussion.

Remember, however, that this information should be treated as a guide, and should be flexible to fit into the group's own ideas, needs and interests.

In developing partnerships or projects, it is vital to ensure that:

• expectations are clear, including project outcomes, contributions required from the group and available support from you or other partners
• the aim of a project is clear
• timelines and commitments are clear
• the needs or interests of the community groups are incorporated when developing the project
• the group understands legal requirements, the processes which you must follow and what your restraints may be
• all insurance and incorporation issues have been considered
• the project includes hands-on activities to maintain community interest
• you consider how the community group can expand its knowledge and skill base and how you can help it to do so wherever possible
• you are flexible in your expectations, timelines and proposals
• you consider the risk of failure and develop the project to minimise barriers to success and have strategies to deal with failures
• a chain of command is determined and adhered to regarding sign-off and responsibilities
• you make every effort to help the group spread the load amongst its members so a single person is not key to the success of a project
• strong management by an organising group or individual is available when multiple land tenures are involved in the project, to improve the communication between and engagement of all parties
• where fundamental changes are required which will affect community members, you avoid introducing them too rapidly or without appropriate consultation
• you build in an exit strategy for either partial or complete withdrawal of your involvement in the community program over time.

Because your behaviour and rapport with the group can make or break any partnership, it is important to:

Communication, like all other good interpersonal skills, is central to any successful community engagement project. Remember to:

• provide all information requested by the group in a timely fashion, and answer all the questions that you can
• maintain ongoing and open communication with the group through the project
• provide regular feedback on project activities
• take as many opportunities as possible to meet with the group face-to-face or talk to members
• listen to the group and its members and really hear what they have to say
• help the group to see connections between its objectives and interests and your own
• speak to the community in a language that they understand - do not dumb down messages but avoid jargon and acronyms and always explain first principles where necessary.