# Engaging with people and communities This practice is about engaging with ecosystem actors to build [relationships](/undp-accelerator-labs/references/glossary.md#relationship) for learning and working together on critical development challenges. At its core, it means recognizing the realities, worldviews and tapping into the knowledge, ingenuity, and perspectives of the people and communities most affected, while also partnering with other stakeholders to create pathways for change. Addressing complex challenges and doing R\&D for sustainable development cannot be done alone – it requires the collective wisdom, resources, and capabilities that emerge when diverse actors work together. Meaningful engagement means recognizing and building on what communities are already doing, moving away from doing R\&D *for* them toward working *with* them to amplify what they're already achieving. In this collaborative approach to engagement, it is important to know when to step in and when to step out. The ways we engage with communities can take many forms – co-creation workshops, learning circles, mapping sessions, community visits, and field experiments – each adapted to the specific context and needs. When engaging with people and communities, we must recognize that engagement itself can be disruptive. Participatory processes take time, and people are often time-poor – every hour in meetings means sacrificing income or other essential activities. We must also acknowledge and address asymmetries in knowledge, expertise, and power. This means creating safe spaces for dialogue, maintaining an empathic mindset, and ensuring that all voices, especially those often marginalized or overlooked, are heard and valued. It requires patience, cultural sensitivity, and a commitment to follow through – communities need to see that their contributions matter and lead to tangible outcomes. ## What we do to make big steps forward ### Meeting people where they are Meeting people where they are means starting from their reality, not our expectations. We focus on understanding their current situation, capabilities, and what matters to them – rather than measuring them against external standards or viewing gaps as problems to fix. This respect extends to engaging with communities in their own environments – markets, community centers, fields, homes, or under a mango tree.[\[1\]](#endnote-1) We adjust our methods, timing, and communication to fit their context. ### Moving at the speed of trust When working with communities and ecosystem actors, we can only move at the speed of trust. Trust begins before we even meet – by managing expectations and agreeing with communities on the process and objectives.[\[2\]](#endnote-2) We practice authenticity – this is especially crucial when working with people who have histories of betrayal or exploitation – we admit when we don't know and invite communities to find answers together. While failures can be learning opportunities, we hold ourselves to a different standard when it comes to communities: we can fail in our experiments, but we cannot fail the people who trusted us with their time, knowledge, and hopes. Trust grows through consistent follow-through and when benefits flow back to those who contributed. ### Engaging with resistance and opposition We actively seek out those who are skeptical or resistant – their perspectives often hold the most valuable insights. Opposition frequently stems from past disappointments, exploitation, or power dynamics we are not aware of. By approaching those who resist with empathy and genuine openness, we uncover critical blind spots and adjust our approach to address the concerns of those who choose not to engage. Often, the most valuable insights come from listening to why someone says "no." ### Working with cultural gatekeepers We cultivate relationships with gatekeepers who bridge different worlds – elders holding traditional knowledge, youth navigating between old and new, women maintaining invisible networks, and community champions who understand both the formal and informal fabric of their neighborhood or community. Working with gatekeepers helps us build inclusive relationships and access a wider range of perspectives and inputs. These gatekeepers play critical roles: navigating power relationships, translating local idioms, interpreting cultural practices, and understanding historical contexts. With their help, we create safe spaces for communities to examine their own practices and lead their own process of change. ### Mobilizing networks for scale When we need to engage communities across entire regions or in remote areas, we mobilize networks of gatekeepers and trained community members who can reach places we cannot access easily or frequently. This creates distributed capabilities for engagement that multiply our reach while maintaining cultural sensitivity and local trust. {% hint style="info" %} #### Reflection questions These reflection questions help us build authentic relationships, navigate community dynamics, and ensure our engagement creates value for those we work with. * What are the living conditions of the communities? Which problems are of concern to them? * Who are the people most affected by this challenge, and how are we creating space for their knowledge, perspectives, and solutions? * Are we starting from people's actual realities and capabilities, or from where we think they should be? * Which past experiences may be shaping how communities engage with us? * Who is resistant or hesitant? Why? What can we learn from them? * Which cultural gatekeepers can help us bridge different worlds, and how do we cultivate these relationships respectfully? * What forms of engagement (workshops, visits, experiments) best fit this community's context, schedule, and communication preferences? * How are we compensating people for their time and contributions, recognizing that participation often means sacrificing income? * How do community members see their futures? Including the impact of the initiative we're involving them in? * How and by whom will the stories of an initiative and its effects be told? {% endhint %} {% hint style="info" %} #### Methods and enabling technologies * [**Stakeholder mapping**](/undp-accelerator-labs/doing-r-and-d/6.-r-and-d-methods-and-enabling-technologies.md#stakeholder-mapping) to identify key community actors, gatekeepers, and relationships for inclusive engagement * [**Community mapping** ](/undp-accelerator-labs/doing-r-and-d/6.-r-and-d-methods-and-enabling-technologies.md#community-mapping)to help communities discover and document their own assets, relationships, and resources together * [**Community walks**](/undp-accelerator-labs/doing-r-and-d/6.-r-and-d-methods-and-enabling-technologies.md#community-walks) to walk through communities with residents, experiencing places firsthand while hearing their stories and perspectives * [**Participatory workshops**](/undp-accelerator-labs/doing-r-and-d/6.-r-and-d-methods-and-enabling-technologies.md#participatory-workshops) to bring diverse voices together and ensure everyone has a say in shaping the process, not just outcomes * [**Ethnographic research**](/undp-accelerator-labs/doing-r-and-d/6.-r-and-d-methods-and-enabling-technologies.md#ethnographic-research) to build trust through immersive listening and to understand people and communities from their perspective * [**Innovation caravans**](/undp-accelerator-labs/doing-r-and-d/6.-r-and-d-methods-and-enabling-technologies.md#innovation-caravans) to engage hard-to-reach communities and learn how they solve problems * [**Art of hosting**](/undp-accelerator-labs/doing-r-and-d/6.-r-and-d-methods-and-enabling-technologies.md#art-of-hosting) to facilitate participatory dialogue that brings out collective wisdom and bridges differences * [**Hackathons**](/undp-accelerator-labs/doing-r-and-d/6.-r-and-d-methods-and-enabling-technologies.md#hackathons) to energize innovation ecosystems and identify potential collaborators for ongoing work * [**Innovation awards**](/undp-accelerator-labs/doing-r-and-d/6.-r-and-d-methods-and-enabling-technologies.md#innovation-awards) to raise awareness of specific development issues while identifying and attracting innovators for potential collaboration * [**Pecha kuchas**](/undp-accelerator-labs/doing-r-and-d/6.-r-and-d-methods-and-enabling-technologies.md#pecha-kuchas) to gather rich, diverse perspectives on specific topics through rapid-fire presentations {% endhint %} *** ## Notes 1. See for example Lamarane Barry's (2021) blog "De l'université à l'ombre d'un manguier". [↑](#endnote-ref-1) 2. See Anibal Cardenas (2024) on using Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) to build trust with indigenous communities in Panama's Darién region. FPIC ensures communities receive complete information about proposed activities and give consent freely before engagement begins. Cardenas shows how taking time for genuine consultation with the Emberá-Wounaan authorities – rather than rushing to "speed up" approval – created trust and revealed deep local knowledge about migration challenges that enriched the initiative. [↑](#endnote-ref-2) --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. 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