Community conversations as community engagement: hosts’ reflections

Abstract

This article reviews community conversations as a community engagement tool within the South African context by exploring the perceptions of the conversation hosts. A focus group discussion was held with community conversation hosts to better understand the community conversation process and its community engagement value. Their reflections are reviewed against four principles of community engagement, namely, appreciation, applicability, provocation, and collaboration. According to the hosts, the community conversations seemingly increased community members’ awareness of community resources and allowed for community members to voice their shared concerns and discuss matters that they deem to be most relevant in their community. The conversations were considered to have created a participative environment in which community members and external stakeholders could discuss potential solutions to identified problems, thereby laying a foundation for future action. Additionally, the conversations were interpreted as promotive of relationship-building and collaboration opportunities among community members and between community members and external stakeholders. The article reflects on limitations of the method and recommendations for its future application.