Citizen-Led Impact (CLI) represents a transformative approach to community engagement, where individuals actively participate in the policy-making process. Unlike traditional methods, CLI places citizens at the core of decision-making, leveraging their unique insights to shape policies that directly affect their lives.
Community-Driven Decision Making empowers communities by placing them at the center of policy design and implementation, ensuring that decisions reflect their true needs and aspirations.
This is a long term inclusive and equitable approach, since Citizen Led Impact actively involves a diverse range of voices, including marginalized and underrepresented groups, fostering a sense of ownership and inclusivity in community development.
Here we share 5 Key Differences Between CLI and Traditional Community Engagement Approaches:
Empowerment and Ownership
Traditional Approaches: Often led by external experts or organizations who dictate the agenda and make key decisions without deep community involvement.
CLI: Empowers local community members to take on the role of researchers and policy designers, providing them with training and tools to contribute effectively. This shift ensures that the initiatives are genuinely reflective of the community's needs and aspirations.
Methodology and Tools
Traditional Approaches: Typically rely on surveys, town hall meetings, or focus groups led by professionals where community input may be limited or structured by predefined frameworks.
CLI: Uses innovative methodologies like Photo Elicitation Interviews (PEI) and walking ethnography, where community members capture and discuss visual data, leading to richer and more personal insights. This method encourages creative expression and a deeper exploration of issues.
Collaborative Data Analysis
Traditional Approaches: Data analysis is usually performed by experts or external consultants, with little to no involvement from the community.
CLI: Involves community members in the data analysis process, ensuring their perspectives and insights directly influence the findings and conclusions. This collaboration fosters a greater understanding of the data and its implications.
Policy Design and Implementation
Traditional Approaches: Policies are often designed by policymakers or consultants who may not fully understand the local context or the nuanced impacts of decisions.
CLI: Community members actively participate in designing policies based on their lived experiences and the data they helped analyze. This leads to more relevant and effective policies that are better received by the community.
Sustainability and Long-term Engagement
Traditional Approaches: Engagement tends to be project-specific and may not result in sustained changes or ongoing community involvement.
CLI: Focuses on building long-term relationships and continuous engagement, creating lasting channels for community voice and influence beyond a single project.
In summary, Citizen-Led Impact (CLI) is distinct due to its commitment to deep engagement, community empowerment, transparent feedback, impact measurement, ethics, and inclusivity. By fostering sustainable and representative community development, CLI moves beyond traditional approaches to create a truly participatory and effective process for community involvement in policy-making.
We invite you to read our impact cases and blog post on why Citizen Led Impact is needed for policy making.
To find out more about our three CLI trainings, click here.
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