Community Engagement Challenges: Purpose, Goals, and Outsiders

Introduction to Community Engagement Approaches

Effective community engagement requires thoughtful decisions about how goals are set and who is involved in setting them. Two questions are central to this discussion: first, whether engagement purposes and goals should be established in advance by a project team or developed collaboratively with community members; and second, whether someone who is not a member of a community can still engage with that community in a meaningful way. Both questions have significant implications for the quality and ethical integrity of any engagement effort.

Predetermined Goals vs. Collaborative Goal Development

From one perspective, it would be a waste of scarce resources to venture into a new engagement effort without first identifying an overarching purpose and developing some general goals. Without an initial focus on what needs to be accomplished, engagement efforts will invariably fail to achieve optimal outcomes. Furthermore, some degree of flexibility in formulating goals is described in Chapter 2's first principle of community engagement, wherein the point is made: "Ask community members to specify their health-related concerns, identify areas that need action, and become involved in planning, designing, implementing and evaluating appropriate programs" (p. 47). Nevertheless, this type of after-the-fact approach to developing engagement goals is flawed for a number of reasons. Developing a clear purpose and goals from the outset represents a top-down, prescriptive approach that may overlook or otherwise fail to identify the most pressing issues facing a community, or engender resentment at the engagement team's implicit assumption that they know what is best for the community without really knowing much about it at all.

Conversely, developing a community engagement initiative in collaboration with community members — as advocated by the instructor — provides the stakeholders who have the most at stake with the opportunity to share their unique insights about their circumstances and needs. In addition, this approach helps to forge the partnerships and networks that are needed to move a project forward. This open-ended strategy can also promote the levels of trust that are necessary to encourage greater participation by all community members. Notwithstanding these advantages, however, this approach also has its downsides, most especially an overall lack of initial focus on which communities should be involved, the initial purpose of the engagement, and a general idea about what needs to be accomplished.

Balancing Structure and Flexibility in Engagement

The respective advantages and disadvantages of both approaches suggest that an efficient, focused, and effective community engagement project will identify the community of interest, the purpose of the initiative, and a general sense of what goals need to be achieved from the outset. Research also shows, however, that it is equally essential to ensure that community members have the opportunity to voice their opinions and share what they regard as the most pressing problems facing their community. In sum, flexibility is key to successful community engagement efforts.

Engaging Meaningfully as an Outsider

The idea that "anything is possible" certainly has its limits when it comes to engaging meaningfully with a community of which a researcher is not a member. Despite the challenges involved, meaningful engagement by an outsider is possible. According to the instructor, it is possible to learn about the local customs of a community by forging partnerships with community members — including those not specifically involved with a given engagement project — and to learn as much as possible by listening and observing rather than making assumptions about the community's problems and how best to address them. In fact, outsiders may easily misinterpret activities and behaviors of local community members without first developing a complete understanding of what is taking place (Dhillon & Thomas, 2019). The instructor also recommends developing networks with community members who are in a position to provide timely guidance concerning local priorities and practices.

Understanding insider-outsider dynamics in research is particularly important when navigating communities whose norms, values, and lived experiences differ substantially from those of the engagement team. Active listening, cultural curiosity, and a willingness to revise initial assumptions are all essential tools for the outsider seeking genuine connection with a community.