Community Cohesion Strategy

A report from The Campaign Company

Summary

The context

2.1 Barking and Dagenham is one of the fastest changing London boroughs in terms of ethnic diversity and economic regeneration. While migration and diversity can bring enormous economic and social benefits, cultural and religious differences can also become a cause of concern.

2.2 As part of the engagement process the council wanted to:

Identify from stakeholder groups what their vision of a strong community and good place to live and whether this is the same as a cohesive community
Understand what the issues are within the borough that can raise tensions between groups in different areas and how these can be overcome
Understand how to best equip stakeholders to tackle community cohesion issues

2.3 The Council appointed The Campaign Company to conduct the public engagement strand of this process. The Campaign Company is a communications consultancy with a track record of successful engagement with communities in deprived areas.

2.4 While the objective was to conduct a public consultation that was representative of the profile of the borough, the particular challenge through this project was to engage with groups of people who do not normally engage in consultation exercises.

2.5 This report outlines the approach and engagement strategy The Campaign Company developed and implemented in the 6-week timescale between 6 February 2007 and 10 March 2007.