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Apart from your agency's own actions and processes, wider whole-of-government policies and practices will impact on your relationships with community organisations and citizens.

Government agencies must take action both at the planning level and in their day-to-day activities to involve community members in policy-making and service delivery. This action must occur within individual agencies and across government.

Reports such as Good Intentions and From Talk to Action highlight challenging issues, identify the need for high-level commitments to strengthening relationships and improving engagement processes, and recommend ways the public service could improve consultation processes and create a more respectful and collaborative culture of engagement.

This section looks at the many benefits effective community engagement provides for both government and communities.

The degree of public participation in government decision-making depends on what you're trying to achieve. This section explores the range of participatory approaches, from simply providing information or formal consultation, through to  collaboration or community decision-making.

This section will help you reach target groups when your agency needs input from particular communities such as Māori, Pasifika peoples, ethnic communities or specific areas of interest.

Choosing appropriate tools and processes that match your community engagement aims is vital to your success. The interactive People & Participation Process Planner can help you plan community engagement for your project.

If you need to research or evaluate a community engagement project, a great first step is to find out what information already exists  and then identify what additional measures you'll need.

Every activity carries risk, and working with the public by its very nature is unpredictable. Adequate resources and awareness of risk  are needed when government agencies involve communities in decision-making.