After your funding application leaves your organisation, it is assessed using criteria outlined in the policy. The assessment process may involve Ministerial approval of the project receiving funding.
The final stage of the application process will be when you are notified about whether your application has been successful. Your group should have already considered alternative plans to move the project idea forward if the funding application is not successful or if the funding offer is a variation of your funding application.
Your group may find it useful to consider whether there is ongoing work that can be done during this assessment period.
A well-designed and implemented community-based project builds in factors that can contribute to the ongoing success of your community-building endeavour over time, maintaining engagement with 'community' and building connections amongst and between community members.
During this period you may review how existing capacity within the community can be build on and address any gaps in capacity to enable the project be effectively delivered. This may include:
- Developing opportunities to bring together different sources of expertise. This may include lining up the right people with the required skills and background to work in the project and having a critical mass of staff orvolunteers to call upon if that is needed.
- Activities to develop peoples capacity such as mentoring and training.
- Nurturing and supporting community leaders and champions.
- Building on existing relationships: participate in information sharing collaborative networks with other community organisations and link to relevant activities within the local area or broader region.
- Introducing project management processes or preparing to set up financial system.
- Reviewing the governance structures.
- Reviewing the evidence about good practice informing your project.
- Reviewing the availability of an appropriate place or space for the project to operate from. This may involve setting the project in an accessible and comfortable venue.
- Reviewing how you will complete the project and what will happen next.
The processes outlined in Section 2 of engaging with, deepening an understanding of your 'community' and supporting meaningful participation do not stop with your initial planning and needs assessments. Rather, they are ongoing aspects of the work of co m m unity capacity building. ltis therefo re as necessary to plan fo rthese elements of community capacity building as it is to plan for the project implementation and evaluation. In formulating the project/, you will have undertaken an assessment of needs and fleshed out yo ur project idea. An assessment of the ongo ing engagement and involvement of community in the program is necessary. Be clear about how participation is supported currently within your group and where you would like it to go. Some questions to consider are:
- How does your organisation engage your community?
- How does participation happen within your group?
- What are the structures and organisational commitments and culture in terms of supporting participation and community engagement?
- Who are the current participants?
- Who does not have a voice in your organisation or group?
- How well are the diverse voices heard?
- What are the current limiting factors to participation? (i.e. do community participants have power in decision making within your organisation or will it be token, given the current power structure?)
- What is needed to build the community's trust in the project and its staff?
- What is needed to maintain community engagement, participation and hearing the voices of participants?
This assessment process will give you an indication of where you may put your efforts in developing further opportunities for participation.
In terms of your pro ject idea, there will be structures and processes to support ongoing participation and engagement. Ideally these will reflect your local circumstances and further the realisation of the project/program idea. Think about what will be right for your situation and context. Some questions to think about are:
- What structures will assist you to develop and maintain connections with your local community over the long run?
- How will you support community participation as an integral component of the project?
- How will your project achieve early success to garner support while also tackling the more complex issues that the project seeks to address?
There are many options for how these structures can operate, such as establishing community advisory committees, community-controlled management committees, reference gro ups or consultative co m m ittees. The im portance of building supportive physical spaces where people can join together also needs to be considered:
- Will community people be welcome in your organisation?
- Do you have spaces where they can come and be at ease?
There are Stronger Families and Communities Strategy projects that have been constructed largely around the role and contribution of volunteers, who contribute significantly as members of the reference group, as well as acting as mentors. Others have welcomed community input into the project's physical space, making it welcoming and connected to what local people want. In some cases, the local community members have named the space.
Other mechanisms include encouraging community input into ongoing project development through:
- Feedback systems.
- Having community representatives in your organisation's management structures.
- Communication via newsletters.
- Holding regular open forums or meetings.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. A useful resource to assist you to develop the community participation strategies appropriate for your context is the Guide to Consumer Participation in Health Toolkit. This comprehensive toolkit lists 43 strategies to facilitate community participation. These are linked to a planning and assessment process: http://ctb.lsi.ukans.edu/tools/CW5/coalitionbuilding/creating_coalitions/tips_tools/tool_includingDiverseParticipants.htm
Checklist
- Plan for capacity building.
- Plan for project implementation.
- Undertake assessment in respect to participation.
- Clearly identify participants.
- Describe how participation is currently supported.
- Describe factors limiting participation.
- Plan how you will support participation in the future.
- Plan how you will develop and maintain connections with the local community.
- Constantly evaluate - clarify strategies you will use to do this.
- Remember to stop -look back - notice what you have achieved.
- Re-evaluate -learn from what has happened so far.
- Re-plan for continued success.