However, It is important to us that we have better conversations with people who live in our communities about the things that matter and then help make what they care about a reality.
Sometimes we will not be able to deliver everything we want to provide with the resources we have, but that doesn’t mean we won’t keep working hard to listen to what people need or keep improving what we can offer.
We know it is important to be clear with people about and the range of opportunities available to them the type of participation on offer to help people make an informed choice about how and when they choose to work alongside us.
We follow the Scottish Government Planning with people guidance that defines community engagement as:
A purposeful process that develops a working relationship between communities, community organisations and public and private bodies to help them to identify and act on community needs and ambitions. It involves respectful dialogue between everyone involved, aimed at improving understanding between them, and taking joint action to achieve positive change.
People need to be confident that their engagement will make a difference and that they are genuine partners.
We also use resources like International Association of Public Participation - Spectrum of public participation to help inform our approach to participation and how to ensure we are informing, consulting, involving, collaborating with, and empowering people.
In Fife community engagement is a way to build and sustain relationships between public services and community groups, helping them both to understand and take action on the needs or issues that communities experience. For us the term Participation is not about ‘taking part’ or ‘being present’ but having influence over decisions and actions.
