Community Engagement Playbook: A Guide to Working with Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa

"One major thing that community engagement has brought is building trust even before we go to the field to meet them, for interviews. People are able to trust us with the information they are giving us. - Jenevive Ayila, IDEO.org

Human-centred design (HCD) is an approach to innovation that starts by understanding people's pain-points and aspirations (inspiration) and ends in solutions (implementation) that feel truly resonant to the communities they are meant to serve. Community engagement involves elevating the voices of those people. It involves collaboration, understanding, inclusivity, relationships, and sharing power. This guide from IDEO.org is based on the organization's work to date in practicing HCD across 45 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. It shares the experiences, lessons learned, insights, and takeaways from community engagement work across a variety of projects from the continent.

Sections include:
 

• What is Community Engagement?
• Community Engagement Process
• Community Engagement Principles
• Archetypes of Collaborators
• Community Engagement Examples

The hope is that these learnings will inspire designers and partners in their own community engagement initiatives, leading to more inclusive and sustainable solutions, built alongside those most impacted.