How we engage with the community

We know our community is passionate about having their say. We regularly conduct community engagement to better understand our community’s needs, seek out new ideas, and strengthen relationships between Council and our community.

We champion open and transparent community engagement that informs and educates our community. We give them the opportunity to have their say and be heard. It’s an important process for the development of robust fit-for-purpose plans, projects and strategies.

Community engagement also supports Council to make informed decisions, continually improve local services, places and environments, and respond to diverse community needs.

Our Community Engagement Framework

Our Community Engagement Framework underpins our commitment to providing opportunities for open, transparent relationships and conversations between Council and our community. By engaging our community when we make decisions, we aren’t just fulfilling our legislative requirements and embracing sound governance. We’re also building Council’s profile and protecting our trusted brand.

The Community Engagement Framework supports Council to deliver its Community Engagement Policy, outlining how
we will achieve the policy principles and commitments.

Framework at a glance

Engagement principles

Our engagement principles guide how we plan, deliver and close the loop on our engagement efforts. The four principles are:

• Timely — The community is engaged early so they can genuinely influence decision-making about the things that interest and impact them.
• Accessible — We provide convenient and easy engagement options for people of all ages and abilities.
• Inclusive — We empower a diverse range of people by taking a more inclusive and targeted approach that is relevant to the audiences.
• Transparent — We proactively and transparently deliver engagement programs, and publicly and impartially report on their outcomes. We clearly explain what the community can influence.

Our approach

Our approach to engagement follows a ‘Design, Plan, Do, Review’ methodology to ensure consistency and good practice.

• Design — We identify opportunities to engage and understand the context where engagement could occur. This process is best conducted very early in the life of a project to determine how the community can influence decision-making. The purpose for engagement is clarified, as well as how results will be used and who might need to be involved.
• Plan — We commence detailed planning for community engagement. This includes the details of who we need to engage (stakeholder analysis), what methods we will use, where and when we will engage, who will conduct the engagement, how we will report back to the community and how we will evaluate the engagement process. This stage ensures the engagement process is comprehensive and efficient, and allows Council to allocate the right timeframe and resources.
• Do — We implement the community engagement plan. This involves engaging with key stakeholders and community through a variety of methods to collect feedback, which can be used to inform decision-making. We actively listen to and record what has been provided during the engagement process. Council then reports back to the community the results and outcomes of the engagement and how decisions were influenced. This stage provides us with the information required to inform decisions and provides an opportunity to engage with and learn from our community.
• Review — We review the engagement process and record the lessons learnt during the process. This provides Council with an opportunity to increase the level of understanding of our community and build skills and knowledge to improve future engagement processes. Continuous improvement through monitoring, evaluation and learning is an integral part of our approach.

IAP2 engagement

Community engagement at Glen Eira City Council also aligns to the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) Public Participation Spectrum. The IAP2 Spectrum below helps us select the right level of participation for a given program.

• Inform — We will keep you informed.
• Consult — We will keep you informed, listen to and acknowledge concerns and aspirations, and provide feedback on how public input influenced the decision.
• Involve — We will work with you to ensure that your concerns and aspirations are directly reflected in the alternatives developed, and provide feedback on how public input influenced the decision.
• Collaborate — We will look to you for advice and innovation in formulating solutions and incorporate your advice and recommendations into the decisions to the maximum extent possible.
• Empower* — We will implement what you decide.

* Council cannot ‘Empower’ where it cannot delegate decisions.

Community Engagement e-newsletter

Our Community Engagement e-newsletter keeps you informed about our community engagement.

It provides information about:

• when and where engagement is happening
• how you can participate
• outcomes of completed engagement processes.