There is a large amount of experience and literature around this. Some general principles are

- be explicit about why you want to engage

- be explicit about why and also what the limitations are e.g. what can the local community influence and what are the limits of that influence

- be clear about who within the local community you want to engage and how you will reach hard to reach groups

- having decided the "exam question" the medium can then be chosen that suits the situation. e.g. you can't engage people who are digitally excluded via social media, or people with mobility issues in events unless they are accessible

- have a simple communications strategy to get the message out (whether it is fill in our survey, come to our meeting, whatever)

- be clear about how people will get feedback afterwards on outcomes

- engage local leaders and opinion formers across different sectors (e.g. faiths, youth, retailers etc etc)

- chose some fitting partners that can really add value

- do it in a spirit of openness, really listening to what people say

- capture it in a short report/comms messages etc that reflects community views

Of course, you can go further than conversations and consultation right up to full co-production. No stage on the ladder of engagement is intrinsically wrong. But be explicit about where you sit on this. Don't badge consultation as co-production. if you are doing co-production make sure the health sector is genuinely interested in equal partnership with the community.

Phew - so much I could say. There is plenty out there- try the NHS Improvement, Healthwatch England, Health Foundation and King's Fund websites for starters.

There is a large amount of experience and literature around this. Some general principles are

- be explicit about why you want to engage

- be explicit about why and also what the limitations are e.g. what can the local community influence and what are the limits of that influence

- be clear about who within the local community you want to engage and how you will reach hard to reach groups

- having decided the "exam question" the medium can then be chosen that suits the situation. e.g. you can't engage people who are digitally excluded via social media, or people with mobility issues in events unless they are accessible

- have a simple communications strategy to get the message out (whether it is fill in our survey, come to our meeting, whatever)

- be clear about how people will get feedback afterwards on outcomes

- engage local leaders and opinion formers across different sectors (e.g. faiths, youth, retailers etc etc)

- chose some fitting partners that can really add value

- do it in a spirit of openness, really listening to what people say

- capture it in a short report/comms messages etc that reflects community views

Of course, you can go further than conversations and consultation right up to full co-production. No stage on the ladder of engagement is intrinsically wrong. But be explicit about where you sit on this. Don't badge consultation as co-production. if you are doing co-production make sure the health sector is genuinely interested in equal partnership with the community.

Phew - so much I could say. There is plenty out there- try the NHS Improvement, Healthwatch England, Health Foundation and King's Fund websites for starters.

If you are thinking for National level then you should have team for community process which deals with all the aspects given by Andrew william sir.

These team may be headed by one executive director who works with advisor, consultant, interns and research fellows who gather evidences and help in operationalization of all the aspects of community engagement.

@ Ground level you should have some kind of unit preferabaly women who works as health messengers to her community.

After having some structure at ground and National level...you can move forward with your respective local health issues or social determinants of health.

Your team can take help from NGOs working at community level...engage them and implement same practices to other site.

Community engagement, community involvement , community participation are the different terms commonly used in public health. meaning of these terms are although different but it has connection with one and other. Community engagement will follow only after their involvement or participation. most important for this is their demand for the health not necessary what you provide. community engagement is complex issue looking in to the background of the community's culture, socio demographic , behavior, financial support, distance from urban area and other facilities available. For the success the health sector the priorities of the services differs based on the existing health situation of the community.

According to my experience, the following principles should be considered for a better community engagement in health sector:

1. Making sure that our health programs (specially at the level of primary health care) are implemented by a health care providers with good communication skills & connections with the community.

2. Frequent satisfaction surveys are essential for the feed back of the community about the quality of health care programs in the area.

3. Ensure that members from the community are actively involved in the health care decision making process.

4. Frequent acknowledgement of the feed back that we have from engaging the community.. so that to create a trust environment with them.

I hope this would help you with your question !!

Through Needs assessment surveys and prioritizing community immediate needs and instant work to provide solutions for community immediate needs will be one of the good step in better community engagement; how can we engage community, unless we don't know what are their immediate concerns. All answers are helping in community engagement process,.... while we make things simple, it is always better to start with....

K N Prassad makes an important observation – that what a community might want or need could be at odds with what the public health professional thinks could be the case.

Community engagement is therefore not so such about getting community members onboard with your predetermined project. Rather you, as the public health professional, need to be with and in communities, spending more time listening to what the community says they need rather then telling them. After all they live there whereas you probably don’t so their experience exceeds yours.

An understanding the social determinants of health is critical, especially those that particularly relevant in the community. Once you have built trust and realistic understanding of what is needed then you are in a strong position to create an improvement in health in partnership with community members.

Our experience based on a field programme utilizing community volunteers to undertake cancer prevention activities in the state of Kerala in India is attached for your reference