Purpose of the Tool

The purpose of the tool is to evaluate the impact of community engagement on people’s behaviour with regard to sustainable development. The tool has been developed for use by practitioners with two aims in mind:

• To help practitioners evaluate the impact of projects, programmes or interventions for their own use; and

• To gather information to feed into a wider WWF / CAG research programme which will explore the impact of community engagement on sustainable development behaviour.

This research will examine when and in what circumstances, community engagement leads to change, and will be used to inform policy makers and practitioners alike.

Who is it for? The tool is aimed at practitioners working on projects, programmes or interventions which involve community engagement processes, and which in some way aim to influence either consumer behaviour and / or organisational decisions with regards to sustainable development. >>

Adapting the Tool The Community Engagement tool has been developed through piloting with eight different organisations. The tool is therefore flexible, and can be useful in a range of circumstances. However there will always be occasion when it does not quite fit and so it can be adapted to meet your needs. >>

Policy links The tool is aimed at helping to measure and understand the impact of community engagement on sustainable development behaviour and decisions. The UK Sustainable Development Strategy Securing the Future outlined the aim to create sustainable communities in England. >>

I'm In: what the pilot projects said about the CESD Tool
The Community Engagement and Sustainable Development (CESD) tool has been piloted by five local authorities and a community-based organisation. Here we report briefly from a selection of these pilots projects, including Bristol City Council, Durham County Council and Lewes District Council, about how they have found working with the tool so far. >>

Why choose community engagement?
This is the question that has
driven this project designed
to help local project workers
measure the effect of their
work on sustainable living. Download our introductory pamphlet. >>