Inclusion & Equity in Public Engagement

Inclusion is integral to ethical and effective public engagement. Hearing from people with diverse lived experiences leads to more innovative ideas, better decisions and stronger democracies.

Inclusion is listed in guiding principles, values and mission statements across the field of public engagement. However, many groups of people remain under-represented in engagement processes due to accessibility barriers and systemic inequities.

The Centre for Dialogue is committed to advancing inclusion and equity in public engagement, not only by integrating inclusive practices in our projects, but also by supporting research and knowledge exchange around ever-emerging questions of equity in engagement.

Explore below our ground-breaking guide to inclusion and equity in public engagement, as well as additional resources, tools and case studies to support your work.

Beyond Inclusion: Equity in Public Engagement

Beyond Inclusion: Equity in Public Engagement proposes eight principles to support the meaningful and equitable inclusion of diverse voices in public engagement processes across sectors. The Centre for Dialogue developed the Beyond Inclusion guide through a participatory research and consultation process from 2019 to 2020 involving community members, engagement practitioners and representatives from governments and civil society. While we began with a framework of inclusion, participants emphasized the importance of equity—building reciprocal relationships and sharing power with communities to co-create accessible and meaningful engagement processes.

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