Public Value and Participation: A Literature Review for the Scottish Government

CHAPTER FIVE ENGAGING 'HARD TO REACH' GROUPS

5.1 In this section we examine what more can be done to extend the reach of participation to embrace the whole population. Excluded groups, including those on low incomes, members of black and ethnic minority groups, disabled people, young people, homeless people, and members of faith communities, tend to be under-represented in participatory activities (Mackinnon et al, 2006). Other groups that are regularly overlooked include rural communities and people in full time employment, who are often unable to attend meetings (Morris 2006).

5.2 The following principles provide a useful rule of thumb for public managers to follow as they try and apply a deliberative governance model to the most disadvantaged:

• Equality issues should be considered from the very beginning of any process;
• The inclusion or exclusion of groups should not be based on the number of individuals involved;
• Lack of resources can alienate people from participatory processes, necessitating the provision of support and / or incentives to ensure that the most disadvantaged are able to participate;
• Building on long-term relationships between public or third sector organisations and disadvantaged groups can make it easier to organise and run participatory processes;
• Provide accessible information in an inclusive language, where appropriate;
• While public participation should be open and transparent, there are good reasons why confidentiality on certain issues might be required, and this should be respected.

(Reid-Howie Associates, 2002)

5.3 There are numerous practical guidelines which give more detailed recommendations for how to go about engaging all members of the community in participatory activities. These include: Involve (2005) People and Participation: How to put citizens at the heart of decision-making, London: Involve, Reid-Howie Associates (2002) Good Practice Guidance: Consultation with Equalities Groups, Edinburgh: Scottish Executive and, for those working with young people, Tam Hendry's (2007) Working with Hard to Reach Young People - A Practical Guide, Edinburgh: Scottish Government. The following section looks at the issue of innovation in engaging the hard to reach, with examples being put into practice in the UK.

Innovative practices

5.4 New participatory processes are constantly being developed and applied to public spaces, where the majority of citizens spend much of their everyday lives. Innovation can involve thinking up new methods for reaching people, making adaptations to the way existing services operate, as well as the use of new technologies. All of these factors contribute to a move away from the traditional 'meeting culture', which generally suits those who already have voice (Bound et al. 2005).

5.5 West Lothian Social Inclusion Project is one organisation that has devoted extra resources to enabling effective engagement work with the most excluded parents and young people, who were less likely to participate in traditional forms of community engagement. The work, combining service delivery and personal development, was able to encourage groups to express their views and priorities (Mackinnon et al, 2006). The use of techniques such as Participatory Rural Appraisals ( PRAs) ¹⁶ for poverty or wellbeing assessments is another way of taking the consultation process to citizens in their own spaces. Boxes 5.1 and 5.2 provide some further examples of participatory processes designed to enable young people to represent themselves and get involved in issues that matter to them, and to improve the delivery of health care.

5.6 For a more comprehensive list of organisations working to include hard to reach groups, and specifically young people, in participatory activities in Scotland, see Annex B of the Scottish Executive's Engaging Children and Young People in Community Planning: Community Planning Advice Note (2006).

5.7 The approach taken by some health living centres exemplifies how innovative approaches to engaging the 'hard to reach' often involve experimentation with how services are delivered or simply adopting a more 'user-focused' approach. Another example of this kind of innovation within existing structures comes from East Renfrewshire. Here Dialogue Youth is represented on the Children and Young People's Health Improvement group, which is linked directly to the health theme of the Community Plan, the Joint Health Improvement Plan and the Children's Services Plan. Using the overarching aim of these plans as a starting point, workers from the Local Health Board, Social Work, Youth Services Team and Community Schools formed a Dialogue Youth Health network to actively encourage and support youth involvement in a variety of settings. The network commissioned a Health Needs Assessment that was carried out in all secondary schools using the local Dialogue Youth website. The Dialogue Youth Health network also commissioned external consultants to carry out a Patient Focus Public Involvement workshop which 70 young people participated in. This forum provided a place where young people had the opportunity to prioritise their health needs and highlight other issues in relation to access to health services, information and advice (Scottish Executive, 2006). This is another example of where hard to reach groups are being actively involved in activities that have not previously sought to actively involve them.

5.8 Initiatives, no matter how innovative, must be appropriate to their context and target the right mix of groups in society. Perhaps the most important point is that changes have to be directed towards a clear purpose: it cannot be an end in itself. What is needed more than anything else is an evaluation of these instruments. We need to know what works, where it works, how it works and why it works. There is no substitute for a proper review process combined with a continuing willingness to experiment. Engaging those groups which are normally the hardest to reach is as much part of this process as engaging anyone else.

Summary

• Re-interpreting traditional methods of engagement (such as holding meetings in places and times convenient to participants) is a simple way of accommodating the view-point and needs of those who are hardest to reach in society.
• Many more innovative methods have also been developed to seek their views. Whilst much has been made of the emergence of new technologies which allow for greater ease of communication between organisations and members of the public (particularly the potential of the internet to allow people to make themselves heard), some of the most innovative and effective ways of reaching the hard to reach have been demonstrated by organisations building engagement processes into how they operate.
• Initiatives, no matter how innovative, must be appropriate to their context and strive to target all socio-economic groups in society.
• This can be done through full consideration of all issues relating to equality, the use of appropriate resources and support and transparency about the participatory processes.