How can you include marginalized stakeholders in your engagement efforts?

To effectively engage marginalized stakeholders, start by identifying and prioritizing them: Stakeholder Mapping: Use stakeholder mapping to identify marginalized groups. Consider factors like socio-economic status, ethnicity, disability, gender, or age. Power Analysis: Conduct a power analysis to understand the dynamics influencing these stakeholders' marginalization. Participatory Methods: Utilize participatory methods to actively involve marginalized stakeholders in identifying their needs and challenges. Prioritization: Prioritize based on factors such as the level of marginalization, urgency of their needs, and potential impact of their inclusion.

Including marginalized stakeholders in your engagement efforts is crucial for ensuring diverse perspectives and equitable decision-making. It is crucial to first identify and understand these groups' unique needs and perspectives. Build inclusive communication channels, cultivate partnerships with community organizations, and promote inclusivity in decision-making. Facilitate accessible meetings and events, implement feedback mechanisms, and monitor inclusivity through regular evaluation.

Nothing about me without me! We are good at considering colleagues in the next team or internal areas affected by projects and changes to ensure adoption and realise benefits, but it's too hard or risky to engage with external stakeholders and intended beneficiaries? Even when we know who, we still avoid their direct input, feedback, or shared decision-making that we know would improve delivery and impact. Prioritise derisking and making it easier to involve those most affected, inviting their voice in decisions about them. Map complex systems of stakeholders, actors, their relationships, reinforcing loops to make it easier for everyone to see. Often we find non-obvious or unanticipated stakeholders and leverage points to prioritise.

To include marginalized stakeholders in engagement efforts, it's crucial to build trust through transparent and culturally competent communication. Establishing safe spaces, involving community leaders, and providing resources such as translation services or accommodations are essential. Use flexible engagement methods, recognize intersectionality, and offer training to empower participation. Implementing feedback loops and demonstrating a commitment to adapt and iterate based on community input ensures ongoing inclusivity. Ultimately, a thoughtful, context-aware approach that respects diversity and addresses historical context is key to meaningful involvement of marginalized groups.

To identify marginalized stakeholders one should map the stakeholders as per their needs, intervention and challenges. Social mapping is one the tools where you know define them. Now after identification engage them through a dialogue or speak to them at grassroot level where you can reach to them and hear their voice. Provide intervention as the per need and vulnerability of the stakeholders. Support them through your actions which help them to become the key stakeholders for the process.

Understand that the people closest to the problems are closest to the solutions. Lead with transparency and authenticity to build trust. Create mechanisms for ongoing engagement such as hire people with lived experience on your staff, fund grassroots organizers, create community advisory councils and show up where people are at community convenings. Listen deeply and leverage their expertise to create solutions together.

It is crucial to involve the marginalized stakeholders in very early stages when everything is still being shaped. Co-creation is a very affective way of including diverse perspectives and making sure that these aspects are incorpoated.

Identify, as early as possible, stakeholders who may emerge as leaders and seek their advice on building authentic relationships and trust with other stakeholders. Early on, look for opportunities to act upon stakeholder input.

Any work involving under-represented should have individuals with that lived experience at the table, developing the programs. In the disability community, we say "Nothing about us, without us" and it's an approach that carries well in other areas of work. It reduces assumptions, bias, and ensures the sustainability of your programs.

Trust is constructed in the long term by coherence among speech and actions. It is not only necessary to listen stakeholders but also make them be part of decisions and create joint solutions to any power imbalance or conflict. Nevertheless this process should be part of your core strategy in order to create a lasting relationship with your different communities.

Getting everyone in the mix ain't easy, but I've found that the key is adapting and diversifying the way we engage. Based on my own journey, I've learned that including marginalized folks means going the extra mile, tapping into unique perspectives, and making sure everyone's voice is not just heard but truly valued in the conversation. It's all about weaving a tapestry of inclusion, one personal experience at a time.

- Survey First: Launch with a survey to shape your engagement approach.Think of it as your roadmap. - Inclusive Discussions: Host group chats (online or on-site) that cater to both the talkative and the quiet participants. Create space for everyone through intentional facilitation. - Post-Event Recap: Share a summary to show stakeholders they have been heard. Missed something? Encourage feedback. - Flex and Adapt: Consistency is key, but it is important to be open to tweaking your methods based on feedback. - Tailor for Impact: Customize engagement for diverse stakeholders, considering cultural, language, and other differences. Use various formats – online, offline, group, or individual.

Invite. Talk. Discuss. People want to come to the table. However, they have to know they are welcome. They have to know that their opinion matters. They have to know you will value their contribution. Don't just invite the leaders of the community organizations; invite people who live, work, and breathe in the community. Get the perspective of folks who are on the ground in the community on a daily basis. They have answers. They have ideas. You just have to be kind, considerate, and ask them to come to the table. You have to listen. Again: Invite. Talk. Discuss.

Including the underheard folks in our engagement gig? Well, let me spill the beans! It's all about making them feel like they own the stage. I've been there, done that – empowering and supporting marginalized voices in my past projects. It's like giving them the mic, letting them drop the wisdom bombs, you know? It ain't just about talk, it's about action, lifting them up so they shine. My personal experience? Seeing someone who felt sidelined stepping into the spotlight – now that's the real deal, my friend!

One-on-one mentorship programs, especially when tailored for marginalized groups, can be more effective by providing participants with personalized support and guidance. These programs can support both personal and professional development, leading to increased interaction and leadership opportunities within the group. Additionally, it is recommended to match individuals and create coaching groups. Group coaching, when combined with individual mentorship, offers a more comprehensive support system. This approach, bringing together diverse skills and perspectives, contributes to the empowerment of marginalized groups.

It's important to circle back to your stakeholders and update them on the progress made. It's completely fine if the progress isn't monumental. The key is maintaining open lines of communication, since this fosters trust and transparency.

When possible and practical, find opportunities for stakeholders to participate in key roles in the project and engage in decision-making activities.

Technology can be a strong ally in learning and improvement in including marginalized stakeholders in our engagement efforts. The concept of "CRM," or Customer Relationship Manager, can be applied here. Condense feedback, qualitative and quantitative, in specific databases. Cross data to understand turn points, for instance: how many projects are necessary to create a solid and long-term positive impact in someone's life? What are the adjacent causes that might have positively impacted this result? In my experience, I found it helpful to see an entire "story" of someone in my social impact project, from when they started to when they finished the direct relationship with us.

It's crucial to focus on inclusivity and privacy. Developing user-friendly, accessible platforms for self-identification that accommodate various technological proficiencies is key. Incorporating feedback mechanisms to understand users' experiences and challenges can lead to continuous improvements. Emphasizing privacy, possibly through technologies like zero-knowledge proofs, can increase trust and participation. Regularly analyzing population data to validate and refine the process ensures that the mechanism remains relevant and effective. Collaborative efforts with local communities and experts in technology and human rights can provide valuable insights and foster a more holistic and effective approach.

Continuous learning and improvement in engaging marginalized stakeholders in social impact: 1. Gather insights through ongoing reflection, evaluation, and feedback mechanisms. 2. Embrace a culture of learning, acknowledging that understanding evolves over time. 3. Adapt strategies based on lessons learned from successes and challenges. 4. Foster a collaborative learning environment, promoting knowledge exchange with stakeholders. 5. Stay informed about evolving social, cultural, and economic dynamics affecting the community. 6. Iterate on engagement approaches, incorporating evolving best practices and insights. 7. Demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement by adjusting actions in response to changing needs and circumstances.

Inputs from community, their milestones and in general any social or environmental advance should be clearly recognized and celebrated, this is why a good communications strategy will create positive differences. Coherence between actions and speech are the base of long lasting relationships that at the end are the trust base

Create regular touchpoints, including workshops and continuous learning programs. Also, remember to invite key stakeholders to your fundraising events or special commemorations. Make them feel and truly be part of your social impact initiative. Share meals and moments beyond the project.

Create a reward system that recognizes and values both participation and results. Tokenize the engagement by offering incentives for substantial and practical contributions. Employ a multi-level token system, where higher rewards are given for contributions that show real impact or creativity. To ensure the integrity of this system, integrate mechanisms like peer reviews or expert evaluations to verify the value of contributions. Regularly refine the reward criteria, taking into account feedback and actual outcomes, to keep the system current and effective. This method encourages genuine engagement while avoiding counterproductive incentives, promoting a constructive and community-focused environment.

First step: How about we as practitioners take an asset based approach to stakeholders and rethink words like marginalized or vulnerable....to whom, to where, how come? Did these same groups identify themselves as said? Second step: Engage community champions. Third step: Follow through. Be the three course meal for change.

Start by identifying and understanding these groups, recognizing their unique challenges and perspectives. Create inclusive communication strategies that cater to diverse needs, considering language, cultural sensitivities, and accessibility. Engage directly with community leaders or representatives who can provide insights and build bridges with wider communities. Tailor your outreach methods to be more accessible, utilizing various channels like community meetings, social media, and local partnerships. Implement feedback mechanisms that allow marginalized voices to be heard and acted upon. Provide education and resources to empower these stakeholders to participate effectively.