working together for effective education engagement

Stakeholder and Community Engagement

Marketing for Education and CAG have formed a partnership to connect with education management providers nationwide in the successful delivery of stakeholder and community education engagement programmes. Our offer allies CAGs in depth experience of regeneration and planning based consultation with Marketing for Educations understanding of the needs of schools and academies to engage with their stakeholders at times of transition.

Involvement Methods
We strongly believe that processes should be designed to meet the needs of specific situations, and offer a tailored approach, rather than "off the peg" tools or techniques, although we have extensive experience of a broad range of different techniques and participation tools that we can draw on. As most of our community and stakeholder engagement processes are designed for the specific needs of local areas, we have adapted or designed afresh methodologies that meet these needs. Examples of methodologies we have designed include; Traditional methods; Community based methods; and Electronic methods.

Traditional methods Interviews

Working with the client to develop an appropriate interview proforma we will interview a sample of stakeholders. This method allows for large amounts of detailed and comparable information to be gathered.

Questionnaires
Through close discussions with the client we will develop appropriately tailored questionnaires. These can be used with a carefully sampled proportion of stakeholders and can be delivered either face to face, electronically or through the post.

Workshops and focus groups

We have developed effective workshop, discussion group and focus group techniques for us in consultation processes. Such groups work well with small groups of stakeholders to elicit detailed information or promote discussion. We have adapted this method to take the consultation to groups who are often excluded.

Consensus building or dialogue

We have developed methods that are innovative in planning to support a consensus building approach to decision making. This method involves working with all stakeholders to seek out and develop joint solutions.

Vox Pops
Using a videoed on the street micro interviews a large number of walking stakeholders can be reached and high quantities of quick win information can be collated.

Community based methods

We are very employment us that not participation ownership. committed to providing training opportunities, skills development and routes to for local people in the communities where we work. Our experience has shown only can individuals benefit from such inclusive methods, but by increasing in the delivery of consultation, the overall programme benefits in terms of local

Peer interviewing
Local people are facilitated to design and deliver a questionnaire based on collective identification of need. This method is highly participative and focuses on local people truly owning and be responsible for the consultation activities.

Local interviewers
During this process local people are recruited and trained to deliver a pre determined questionnaire. This process allows for greater rigour in terms of research and still achieves high levels of buy in.

Community Reflectors or Networkers

In this case we train and employ local people to act as conduits for information into and from a larger programme through using their own informal networks. This process allows for greater levels of flexibility while still leaving participants with a legacy of employability skills.

Field Feedback
Again this process exploits the local networks and contacts made by people in the community (this can include grass roots workers). Through their own day to day contact people are asked a general problem and solution type question. We find this produces invaluable information for large scale planning processes and is especially good in contacting hard to reach groups.

Electronic methods Web sites and web based consultation

We have developed web sites to provide support information and resources to consultation and engagement processes, and web based consultations including web based questionnaires and registrations. These have been accompanied by e newsletters and other communications for consultees.

Web Forums
We have developed methods to set up on line discussion forums as a consultation tool or as part of other consultation activities, for open debate or for specified consultees

Social Networking
We have found innovative ways top use on line social networking sites and opportunities to reach out to specific population groups and involve them in consultation activities.

Stakeholder Management
In addition to these consultation activities and services we also provide a comprehensive stakeholder management service which can be used to manage and target stakeholder communications more securely and more effectively. The service can include; stakeholder database building; Stakeholder searches and mapping; community network mapping; database cleaning; database categorising; stakeholder registration; stakeholder searching by interest, category or other theme; participation tracking; new stakeholder identification; and generate all stakeholder communications.

Support on organising exhibitions

We can provide four key elements to support consultation exhibitions. These are; staffing; administration and set up; equipment; and materials

Staffing
We have access to a number of experienced consultation specialists and community facilitators, who can staff exhibitions and engage with members of the public to seek out their views.

Administration and set up

We can provide a service that will co-ordiante a series of exhibitions across the City, for example, at key community or commercial centres. This service can be provided to ensue that a seamless system is in place from venue booking to timetabling.

Equipment
We can supply bespoke display equipment to support exhibitions for planning consultations, including printed banner and pop up display stands as well as add ons such as lighting and literature stands.

Materials
To support exhibitions we can supply the full range of design and print services for consultation activities including, for example, consultation questionnaires, leaflets and posters as well as promotional products.

Other support on publicity activities

In consultations we are able to deliver a full range of publicity activities including for example; Liaison with and development of information for the press and other media media; Development of electronic publicity such as web sites, e newsletters and email advertising; Community publicity including; generating community noise, door knocking, harnessing community newsletters, etc Design and print of a full range publicity material such as booklets and reports, banners, participant files, posters, leaflets, badges, balloons and stickers; Translation of materials into community languages; and Setting up direct marketing through phone calls, letters and electronic communications.

And Finally
To compliment our direct delivery services we also provide; Stakeholder and involvement policy and strategy development

Skills auditing, assessment and training; and

Programme evaluation.