Community engagement for inclusive rural transformation and gender equality
Community engagement is now recognized as a critical component of international development practice and humanitarian assistance. It facilitates agency and the empowerment of all social groups in rural communities, enhances local participation, sustainability and ownership, and builds upon local resources and capacities, thereby leaving no one behind.
Recognizing the importance of community engagement as a key factor in achieving a world free from hunger and poverty, and as a prerequisite for community-led collective action, FAO organized a series of five webinars between 2020 and 2021 titled ‘Community Engagement Days.’[1] This created a space for academics, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), development and humanitarian agencies and field development practitioners to come together to explore the concept of community engagement, exchange experiences and good practices as well as challenges and opportunities to bring these approaches at scale.
The webinars provided an opportunity to share research and field experiences across five interlinked themes (gender, resilience, peace, evidence, and collective action), encouraging reflection and dialogue on community engagement strategies, practices and approaches. Nearly 1,000 participants from NGOs, governments, the United Nations (UN), international development organizations, civil society, the private sector, and academia joined the series.
Based on these conversations it became clear that while multiple definitions of community engagement exist – and there is no “one size fits all” – these definitions do share common approaches (community-led, rights-based, gender-responsive/gender-transformative); principles (inclusive, participatory and people-centered, conflict-sensitive) and characteristics (contextual and adaptive, and empowering). The key outcomes of the webinars highlighted the importance of recognizing and challenging power dynamics, integrating reflexivity in research and implementation, prioritizing gender equality, fostering resilience and peace, and supporting collective action. Furthermore, the need for systematic knowledge sharing and creating spaces for ongoing dialogue and peer-to peer learning was emphasized to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of community-driven initiatives.
The Community Engagement Days webinar series was not a standalone initiative but a platform for discussion aimed at exchanging experiences, forging innovative alliances and partnerships to highlight the value of community engagement in both development and humanitarian contexts.
Given the scope of the series, the shared experiences were just a snapshot of existing approaches and practices. To provide an opportunity to expand the audience and hear voices from a variety of actors, the Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division of FAO (ESP) initiated this call for submissions and invites stakeholders to share their experiences, good practices and views on community engagement for inclusive rural transformation and gender equality.[2]
This call for submissions is open to individuals and organizations from both the development and humanitarian sectors who have experience implementing community engagement strategies, interventions, approaches/methodologies, or innovations. It also welcomes contributions from a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, education, health, sanitation, civic engagement and others critical to inclusive rural development.
Through this initiative, FAO is eager to hear more, learn, and exchange insights both internally and externally on what interventions and practices have worked and what can be improved in community engagement and community-led collective action to achieve inclusive rural transformation and gender equality. By capturing a diverse range of contributions, FAO aims to promote the adoption and scaling-up of community engagement approaches, address barriers to their implementation and refine these practices to make them more inclusive, effective, and sustainable.
| Please use the submission template in any of the three languages (English, French or Spanish). The background document can serve as a reference for completing the template for submissions. |
The submissions will be publicly available on this webpage and featured in the proceedings report of this call, enhancing the visibility of participants' work and fostering learning, inspiration, and networking among a broader audience. Depending on the relevance and content, FAO may also include contributions in knowledge products such as case studies, compendiums, and reports, and use them to inform its work on community engagement and collective action, with due acknowledgment of the contributions. Beyond this call, the initiative offers participants the potential for continued engagement and collaboration, laying the groundwork for further learning, networking, and community-building.
Criteria for submissions
We are looking for ‘good practices’—tested methods that have proven successful in multiple settings and can be widely adopted. We also consider ‘promising practices’—innovative approaches that have shown success in a specific context and have the potential for broader application but may need more evidence or replication. Both types contribute valuable insights for continuous learning and improvement.
To ensure that relevant experiences are captured, we are looking for practices with the following criteria:
| 1. | Engagement of the community: Interventions should deliberately and actively strive to engage a wide range of segments and groups within the community to ensure inclusivity and broad-based participation, fostering a sense of ownership and collective empowerment among all community members, this should in turn strengthen community-led collective action. This means that they should go beyond merely targeting specific groups or formal structures, such as community-based organizations (farmer organizations, cooperatives, and self-help groups) as entry points. Instead, they should engage diverse groups within the community, fostering inclusivity, collective participation and shared benefits. These interventions promote a collective added value where everyone at the community level, regardless of their direct involvement, can benefit. Ideally, the community itself should be the primary entry point for the intervention, though approaches that indirectly impact the wider community are also welcome if they emphasize community value. Additionally, community-wide interventions do emphasize the participation of groups that are typically left behind. While these interventions are designed to be open to everyone, they are strategically inclusive by deliberately creating spaces and opportunities for marginalized or underserved groups to participate. |
| 2. | Inclusive and gender-responsive/transformative: The intervention should prioritize inclusivity, ensuring active engagement from all segments of the community, regardless of age, ethnicity, disability, gender identity/expression, etc. These efforts acknowledge that gender intersects with various social dimensions and identities, including age, ethnicity, indigeneity, health, psychological resilience, disability, socioeconomic and political status or other characteristics. This intersectionality creates compound inequalities and layers of disadvantage and privilege that the interventions aim to address, promoting greater inclusivity, equality, gender transformative change and positive masculinities.[3] This also involves challenging discriminatory gender social norms and unequal power dynamics and fostering attitudes and behaviors that support gender equality and women’s empowerment. |
| 3. | Rights-based and empowering: The intervention should aim for a process of change over an extended period, rather than relying on short-term or one-off activities such as workshops, trainings or consultations. It should adopt a rights-based approach[4], grounded in the principles of participation, inclusion, accountability, non-discrimination, transparency, human dignity, empowerment and agency. The intervention should position itself at the highest levels of participation (see Figure 1 below), promoting tailored and sustained engagement to achieve long-term impact. By enabling marginalized groups to influence decision-making and enhancing the capacity of individuals as rights holders to know and claim their rights, as well as ensuring that states and public authorities, as duty bearers, fulfill their obligations, accountability, impact, and sustainability can be strengthened. By recognizing and redressing structural inequalities, and by fostering the exchange and development of skills, knowledge, and confidence, community engagement enhances both practical abilities and inner resilience, ultimately contributing to sustainable development. |
| 4. | Self-facilitation and/or participatory facilitation: As a continuous and participatory process the intervention/experience can be self-facilitated by local actors from the outset, embodying bottom-up leadership, or it can be guided by an external facilitator who works closely with the community. The facilitation is focused on enhancing local stakeholders’ empowerment and ensuring their ownership and agency throughout the intervention and beyond (post-project), adopting a forward-looking approach. If the intervention is externally facilitated, facilitators should guide a participatory process that promotes community ownership and autonomy, allowing the intervention to be sustained independently after the project's conclusion. The most effective intervention facilitates the empowerment of the community to take full control, delegating authority, ensuring long-term impact. |
| 5. | Proven implementation: The intervention should either have been implemented or still be ongoing, and should incorporate learning processes throughout its execution. This includes lessons learned and results that can be shared or documented through this call. This knowledge can be generated in various ways, including local and generational knowledge, storytelling, and formal studies or evaluations. The intervention should showcase positive outcomes and lessons learned as well as challenges identified through both traditional and participatory methods. |
While FAO is particularly interested in approaches that specifically meet these criteria, we also recognize the value of methods used at specific phases of an intervention to ensure community engagement. This includes approaches for design and delivery processes or tools used for monitoring, evaluation and learning. Although the call acknowledges that meaningful engagement requires a participatory lens embedded throughout the entire planning and project cycle for higher outcomes and ownership, it is open to learning about tools and methods that support these goals at specific stages of an intervention/project.
Figure 1 Adapted from Pretty (1995), Arnstein (1969), International Association for Public Participation (IAP2), and White (1996). Figure 1 depicts various types of community participation, reflecting different levels of engagement in development interventions at community level. The progression goes from lower to higher levels of community engagement, but it does not prescribe a linear or hierarchical path. Instead, the figure offers a range of possible approaches to facilitate participation, tailored to the specific context and objectives of the intervention. As engagement deepens—from simply providing information to transferring decision-making power to the community— the community’s sense of empowerment and ownership over the process grows. Greater levels of engagement foster collective action, enhance accountability, and enable the community to take the lead in shaping their own development.
The call for submissions is open until 13 December 2024.
We thank participants in advance and look forward to learning from you!
Conveners:
- Lauren Phillips, Deputy Director, FAO - Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division (ESP)
- Adriano Campolina, Senior Policy Officer, FAO - Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division (ESP)
Co-facilitators:
- Christiane Monsieur, Project Coordinator, FAO - Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division (ESP)
- Andrea Sánchez Enciso, Gender and Community Engagement Specialist, FAO - Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division (ESP)
How to take part in this call for submissions:
To take part in this Call for submissions, please register to the FSN Forum, if you are not yet a member, or “sign in” to your account. Please review the topic note to understand the criteria we are considering for this call. If you wish to learn more about community engagement, you may refer to the background document. Once you have completed the submission template, upload it in the box “Post your contribution” on the call webpage, or, alternatively, send it to [email protected].
Please keep the length of submissions limited to 1,500 words and feel also free to attach relevant supporting materials.
[1] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2021, March 3). Tapping into community engagement for empowerment. FAO Flexible Multi-Partner Mechanism. https://www.fao.org/flexible-multipartner-mechanism/news/news-detail/en/c/1378190
[2] The call for submissions is directly aligned with the thematic components of collective action within FAO's Programme Priority Areas (PPAs), specifically Better Life 1 (Gender Equality and Rural Women’s Empowerment), Better Life 2 (Inclusive Rural Transformation) and Better Life 3 (Agriculture and Food Emergencies).
[3] A gender-transformative approach “seeks to actively examine, challenge and transform the underlying causes of gender inequalities rooted in discriminatory social institutions. As such, a gender transformative approach aims to address the unequal gendered power relations and discriminatory gender norms, attitudes, behaviours and practices, as well as discriminatory or gender-blind policies and laws, that create and perpetuate gender inequalities.” FAO, IFAD, WFP & CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform. 2023. Guidelines for measuring gender transformative change in the context of food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture. Rome, FAO, IFAD, WFP and CGIAR. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc7940en
[4] A rights-based approach to community engagement emphasizes the fundamental human rights of all individuals, ensuring equal opportunities for everyone to claim and enjoy their human rights. Central to this is agency, the ability of individuals to define their own goals and act upon them. By promoting meaningful participation, accountability, non-discrimination, transparency, human dignity, empowerment and rule of law (‘PANTHER’ principles) this approach not only addresses power imbalances and systemic barriers but also fosters individual and collective agency.
Please read the article of FAO publications on this topic here.
专题
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Dear FSN Moderator,
I am pleased to share on behalf of the local government of Tanzania and FAO the submission of a good practice we believe in: "Co-creation at the community level with public and private livestock actors as part of the progressive management pathway for terrestrial animal biosecurity (PMP-TAB).
Please find attached a review of how we used the Women's Empowerment Summit model to reach over 300 nomadic heard women in Mongolia to promote economic empowerment and reduce rates of domestic violence.
女士 Heleen Claringbould
Dear FSN moderator,
I am pleased to share the start of the inclusive approach of the PHITO EU project,
all the best, Heleen
Dear FSN Moderator,
We have the pleasure of sharing our promising practice, the Gender and WASH Monitoring Tool; developed and implemented by Plan International.
Thank you,
Mia McKenzie
Dear all,
We are very pleased to share our submission on behalf of the International Atomic Energy Agency's Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture division.
Best,
Natali
Queridos colegas,
desde Fundación Crear Vale la Pena en Argentina queremos presentarles un idea innovadora para constituir bienes públicos, les presentamos "El Escuchadero" un programa de gestión social del territorio y transformación cultural que conjuga una una producción de arte contemporáneo con los programas de gobierno para abordar temas de violencia de género, consumo problemático y prevención del suicidio en la provincia de Jujuy-Argentina. El modelo fue tomado de Medellín donde operó para prevenir la ola de suicidios en pandemia. En Argentina sumó dos componentes: actividades creativas y expresivas en la forma de una feria popular de encuentro ciudadano y una oferta de acceso a servicios públicos en la misma feria como acción de descentralización con la modalidad “el estado llega a tu barrio”.
Para mas información pueden contactarme [email protected]
Cordialmente,
Patricia Taboada
Hello,
We are delighted to share our submission for community engagement for inclusive rural transformation and gender equality highlighting CRS Ethiopia's community conversations approach within resilience and food security activities.
Thank you,
Jimi
Catholic Relief Services' Experience with Community Conversations in Resilience and Food Security Activities in Ethiopia
We are delighted to share our submission for the FSN Forum’s call for submission on community engagement for inclusive rural transformation and gender equality.
All the Best,
Jimi Hummer
CRS Gender Technical Advisor
Dear FSN Moderator,
Thank you for inviting me to participate in the call. Please find attached my contribution in the complete form attached.
I look forward to your feedback and further discussions.
Best regards,
Dr. Nepal C. Dey
Resilient Food System Research, Research and Entrepreneurship Development (RED), Dhaka, Bangladesh
1. Introduction
Community engagement is a powerful tool for fostering inclusive rural transformation and promoting gender inequality in Bangladesh. It involves actively involving local communities, including marginalized and vulnerable groups, in decision-making, planning, and implementing programs that impact their lives and livelihoods. This approach not only strengthens social cohesion but also builds resilience and empowers individuals, particularly women, to participate equally in rural development processes (Kibria, 2017). Here’s how community engagement supports these goals:
2. Promoting Gender Equality
2.1. Participatory Decision-Making
Community engagement often uses participatory approaches that give women a voice in decisions about resource allocation, agricultural practices, and community projects (Wei et al., 2021). This involvement enhances their status within households and communities, leading to greater equality.
2.2. Skill Development and Livelihood Opportunities
Engaging women in community activities often includes skill-building initiatives, which provide them with the knowledge and tools needed to pursue sustainable livelihoods. In Bangladesh, this can mean training women in sustainable agricultural techniques, handicrafts, or entrepreneurship (Emon and Nipa, 2024).
2.3. Leadership Development
Community engagement projects often establish women’s groups, cooperatives, and other forums that encourage female leadership. Such platforms build confidence and allow women to take on decision-making roles traditionally reserved for men (Islam, Wahab, and Benson, 2020).
3. Reducing Poverty and Enhancing Livelihoods
3.1. Inclusive Economic Opportunities
Rural transformation requires expanding economic opportunities for marginalized groups (Trivelli and Morel, 2021). Community engagement initiatives, such as village savings and loan associations, provide accessible financial support that enables poor households to invest in small businesses or agricultural activities.
3.2. Resource Management
Inclusive rural development engages communities in managing resources (Ryan et al., 2020) like water, forests, and grazing lands. Such programs encourage sustainable resource use, reduce conflicts, and ensure that benefits are shared equitably across the community, including with women and low-income families.
4. Building Resilience to Climate Change
4.1. Climate-Adaptive Agriculture
Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to climate change, especially in rural areas. Community engagement in climate-adaptive practices (Shapna et al., 2024), such as water-saving irrigation techniques, crop diversification, and climate-resilient crops, builds resilience among smallholder farmers, who are often the most affected by climate change.
4.2. Disaster Preparedness and Risk Reduction
Many community programs focus on preparing for and responding to natural disasters like floods and cyclones (Seddiky, Giggins, and Gajendran, 2020). Women and marginalized communities are actively involved in disaster risk reduction activities, which ensures that all members of the community benefit from preparedness efforts and are better equipped to recover.
5. Social Equity and Inclusion
5.1. Engaging Marginalized Communities
In Bangladesh, community engagement initiatives (Masud-All-Kamal and Nursey-Bray, 2021) often focus on reaching groups marginalized by social, economic, or geographic factors. By involving diverse groups in the planning and implementation phases of development projects, these initiatives can ensure that everyone benefits, leading to more equitable development outcomes.
5.2. Addressing Cultural and Social Norms
In many rural areas, cultural norms may limit women’s mobility or restrict their participation in community activities. Community engagement can address these barriers by fostering dialogues and awareness campaigns (Khatibi et al., 2021) that encourage shared values of inclusion and respect for all.
6. Supporting Local Governance and Policy Development
6.1. Strengthening Local Institutions
Community engagement often includes capacity-building for local institutions, such as village councils or community-based organizations, which become key advocates for gender equality and rural development. By strengthening local governance, communities can better advocate for policies that support equitable resource distribution, access to services, and sustainable economic growth (Uddin, 2019).
6.2. Policy Advocacy
Engaging communities can amplify their voices in advocating for policies that prioritize gender equality, poverty reduction, and rural transformation. Community organizations often partner with NGOs and government bodies to push for policy changes that address local needs and align with national development goals (Islam, 2024).
7. Key Examples in Bangladesh
Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh (CCDB) developed a Comprehensive Poverty Reduction Program (CPRP) using a sustainable livelihood approach, which integrated service delivery and rights-based development approaches to address poverty comprehensively through community engagement. The key thematic areas of the program include strengthening community-based organizations (CBO) through livelihood and food security, health and water, sanitation and hygiene, education and culture, societal peace, local-level advocacy, gender justice, and pro-poor market development (Dey et al. 2023). Programs like the Village Development Program by the Government of Bangladesh and PKSF’s Gender Action Plan have shown success by integrating community engagement, emphasizing gender equality, and focusing on sustainable livelihood improvements (PKSF, 2023). The Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee also runs extensive development programs as well as social enterprises that help to address gender disparities, promote women’s empowerment, and foster community-led development across rural areas (BRAC 2023). Furthermore, the community-led Village WASH Committee (VWC), consisting of 11 members with a gender-balanced representation of six women and five men, has played a crucial role in facilitating rural transformation by shifting sanitation behaviors from unhygienic practices to hygienic ones at the household level, while also promoting gender equality in the implementation of WASH programs (Dey and Akhter, 2013). A study by Dey et al. (2019) demonstrated that community-based Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) programs effectively reduce the prevalence of diarrhea in children by improving the monitoring of hygiene behaviors and maintaining toilet cleanliness at the rural household level; periodic monitoring from the community as well as programme level to ensure proper sanitation and child waste management at the rural household is crucial for sustainability of services.
8. Conclusion
Community engagement serves as a cornerstone for achieving inclusive rural transformation and addressing gender inequality in Bangladesh. By actively involving marginalized groups, particularly women, in decision-making, skill development, and leadership initiatives, it empowers individuals to contribute meaningfully to their communities and fosters equitable development. The integration of sustainable livelihood strategies, climate resilience measures, and social equity initiatives ensures that these efforts are comprehensive and impactful.
Successful examples from organizations like CCDB, BRAC, PKSF, and government programs highlight the transformative potential of community engagement in addressing structural inequalities and building a more inclusive society. These initiatives not only enhance economic opportunities but also challenge cultural norms and strengthen local governance, paving the way for sustainable development. Moving forward, scaling up such programs and integrating their best practices into national policies can further accelerate progress toward gender equality and rural transformation in Bangladesh.
References
1. Kibria, G., Haroon, A. Y., & Nugegoda, D. (2017). An innovative model for engagement of rural citizens/community of Bangladesh with climate Change. Journal of Climate Change, 3(2), 73-80.
2. Emon, M. H., & Nipa, M. N. (2024). Exploring the Gender Dimension in Entrepreneurship Development: A Systematic Literature Review in the Context of Bangladesh. Westcliff International Journal of Applied Research, 8(1), 34-49.
3. Islam, E., Abd Wahab, H., & Benson, O. G. (2020). Structural and operational factors as determinant of meaningful community participation in sustainable disaster recovery programs: The case of Bangladesh. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 50, 101710.
4. Wei, W., Sarker, T., Żukiewicz-Sobczak, W., Roy, R., Alam, G. M., Rabbany, M. G., ... & Aziz, N. (2021). The influence of women’s empowerment on poverty reduction in the rural areas of Bangladesh: Focus on health, education and living standard. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(13), 6909.
5. Trivelli, C., & Morel, J. (2021). Rural youth inclusion, empowerment, and participation. The Journal of Development Studies, 57(4), 635-649.
6. Ryan, B., Johnston, K. A., Taylor, M., & McAndrew, R. (2020). Community engagement for disaster preparedness: A systematic literature review. International journal of disaster risk reduction, 49, 101655.
7. Shapna, K. J., Li, J., Kabir, M. H., Salam, M. A., Khandker, S., & Hossain, M. L. (2024). Strengthening adaptation in coastal Bangladesh: community-based approaches for sustainable agriculture and water management. Disaster Prevention and Resilience, 3(2), N-A.
8. Seddiky, M. A., Giggins, H., & Gajendran, T. (2020). International principles of disaster risk reduction informing NGOs strategies for community based DRR mainstreaming: The Bangladesh context. International journal of disaster risk reduction, 48, 101580.
9. Masud-All-Kamal, M., & Nursey-Bray, M. (2021). Socially just community-based climate change adaptation? Insights from Bangladesh. Local Environment, 26(9), 1092-1108.
10. Khatibi, F. S., Dedekorkut-Howes, A., Howes, M., & Torabi, E. (2021). Can public awareness, knowledge and engagement improve climate change adaptation policies?. Discover Sustainability, 2, 1-24.
11. Uddin, N. (2019). Empowerment through participation in local governance: the case of Union Parishad in Bangladesh. Public Administration and Policy, 22(1), 40-54.
12. Islam, S. (2024). Community-based strategies for localising SDG in Bangladesh.
13. Dey, N.C. Rasul, G. M. (2023). Evaluation of Comprehensive Poverty Reduction Program (CPRP) Phase-V, Final Report. Research and Entrepreneurship Development, Dhaka, Bangladesh, www.redint.org
14. BRAC (2023). BRAC SDG Contribution, Voluntary Review-2023. https://www.brac.net/downloads/BRAC-SDG-Contribution-Voluntary-Review-2023_spreads-1.pdf (Entered on 10 Dec 2024).
15. PKSF (2023). Gender -equality (https://pksf.org.bd/gender-equality/; (Entered on 10 December 2024).
16. Dey, N.C. and Akter, T., “Women in water-hygiene and sanitation management at household in rural Bangladesh: changes from baseline to endline survey”, In: Achievement of BRAC-WASH program towards Millennium Development Goal and beyond, 2013, pp. 69-83:BRAC Research Monograph 60.
17. Dey, N.C., Parvez, M., Islam, M.R., Mistry, S.K., Levine, D. (2019). Effectiveness of a community-based water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) intervention in reduction of diarrhoea among under-five children: Evidence from a repeated cross-sectional study (2007–2015) in rural Bangladesh, Intl. J. Hygiene and Environmental Health, 2019, ,222 (8): 1098-1108. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheh.2019.08.006.
In Côte d’Ivoire, especially at the northern border with Burkina Faso, in a region called Bouna, rising cross-border crime and violent extremist groups have worsened security, amplifying gender-related issues, Women and girls face significant challenges, with 36.7% of women aged 15 to 49 experiencing female genital mutilation and 58% of girls under 15 married in some areas. These inequalities, including a literacy rate of only 36.3% for women compared to 53.3% for men, restrict women’s autonomy and economic opportunities. To address these issues, the Resilience for Peace (R4P) program, funded by USAID and implemented by Equal Access International (EAI), is incorporating a gender-sensitive approach to engage community leaders to promote positive masculinity and reduce gender-based violence. By empowering women and fostering gender equality, the program aims to strengthen community resilience and contribute to lasting peace in these vulnerable regions.
In this context, MAGENTA deployed SBC capacity-building efforts among R4P's implementers aimed at promoting Positive Masculinity throughout the northern cross-border region of Bouna. Over 5 months, MAGENTA trained and provided continued coaching to ten program officers, among which three were selected to provide the training to communities by themselves, echoeing MAGENTA's intervention at the local level.
To learn more about this project and its impact, read through the "MAGENTA Promoting Positive Masculinity in Rural Ivory Coast among Populations targetted by Violent Extremism" document linked below.