Community Engagement
About Community Engagement
It is a continuous and ongoing process aimed at engaging all components of society in contributing to community development. It involves engaging stakeholders in the stages of planning, design, and implementation, and empowering individuals by creating opportunities for them to participate in decision-making. This is achieved through various activities at multiple levels that address the goals and needs of the community in line with the state’s vision, with the aim of enhancing cooperation and communication to meet community needs and achieve sustainable development.
Community engagement is one of the key enablers for achieving sustainable institutional impact, especially within entities with a developmental and societal dimension. For this engagement to move from being scattered initiatives to becoming an organized and influential system.
Community Engagement and the Ambitious Vision
The value of community engagement is reflected as one of the fundamental goals of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and a key supporter of its plans. As stated in the Vision documents: we will strengthen communication channels between government entities on the one hand, and citizens and the private sector on the other. We will facilitate interaction through smart means, listen to everyone’s opinions, encourage government entities to meet the needs of every citizen, and enhance the quality of the services they provide. We want everyone to engage and take initiative by sharing opinions and suggestions, while our entities work to fulfill aspirations and ambitions. Therefore, community engagement is considered one of the essential tools for reinforcing integration among the core pillars of Vision 2030, linking community needs with relevant entities in line with ambitious aspirations, to be one community and one nation working together toward achieving our Vision.
Desk studies indicate that more than 85% of government entities have established specialized programs for community engagement.
Community engagement is initiated as a strategic and empowering pathway aimed at motivating society, including its individuals and institutions, to adopt societal issues. This is achieved through the development of an organized and strategically guided institutional interaction. The goal is realized through a gradual model of community engagement known as the "Community Empowerment Ladder," which provides a framework outlining possible levels of participation and allows their activation according to the nature of each initiative or issue:
Levels of community participation
communication
Providing sufficient information to help community members understand problems and solutions.
Consultation
Obtaining community feedback on analyzing challenges and proposing alternatives and solutions
Sharing
Engaging the community in a mutual dialogue about challenges, alternatives, and solutions
cooperation
Community members are present and involved in every step of the challenge analysis, identifying preferred solutions, and decision-making.
Empowerment
Community ownership of community initiatives and decisions, with community institutions leading the way in support and assistance. Obtaining community feedback on analyzing challenges and proposing alternatives and solutions.
