Why involve your community and communicate about your program?

Involving the community in the design and delivery of your Indigenous Guardian program can enhance and strengthen the community’s role in stewarding your lands and waters.

Community engagement may benefit your Indigenous Guardian program in many ways. It can lead to:

• Putting community values front and centre in program design.
• Identifying issues of highest concern to the community.
• Building a shared vision for the purpose and focus of the program.
• Using valuable community knowledge.
• Increasing community understanding of and support for the program.
• Transparency and accountability because people know what is going on with the program.
• Creating new opportunities for community members to connect with each other and with the lands and waters.
• Creating opportunities for knowledge exchange between youth and older generations. See the chapter 'Involve Youth' for ideas about how to involve youth in your programs.
• Strengthening community decision-making and negotiations by using information generated by guardians.
• Better information sharing and compliance with laws, policies, and protocols.