This section covers the governance arrangements councils can put in place to ensure effective oversight and delivery of community action projects.
The guiding principles are:
- Keep it simple.
- Don't duplicate – align with existing governance arrangements where possible and include community engagement in discussions across all main governance forums.
- Communicate the governance plan to key stakeholders, with clarity about where and how decisions will be made.
- Ensure all key partners are represented, with buy-in from senior management and councillors.
- Provide the necessary resources centrally to deal with potential barriers, particularly in relation to asset transfer projects (contracting and legal issues, health and safety, risk management and planning).
The role of effective governance:
- Support community engagement to become embedded in the culture of the organisation by ensuring it features in key discussions at all levels.
- Identify cross-council opportunities to capitalise on the investment.
- Ensure an emphasis on sustainability and encourage people to explore a range of funding opportunities and the creation of social enterprises.
Questions for effective governance of community action
- What are the terms of reference for the project? Have these been communicated and agreed with the key stakeholders?
- What will the overarching governance structure be?
- How will partners be involved in the governance process?
- How will the target population(s) be represented?
- What sub-groups/working groups will be required?
- How regularly will groups meet and what information will be needed to support these meetings?
- How can community action be embedded in day-to-day council business?
- Is there a need to build governance capability within the target communities?