COMMUNITY

Secretariat for University-Community Engagement Champions/Conference

In November 2009, with collaboration from the Global Alliance for Community Engaged Research (GACER) and UNESCO-APEID, BJIM organised the University-Community Engagement Conference (UCEC2009) with the objective of enhancing the social responsibilities and changing roles of universities and to explore methods, experiences, and strategies for community development. Due to the success of UCEC2009, a permanent UCEC Secretariat was set up, thus placing USM at the forefront of community development and engagement. The second “C” in UCEC now stands for both “Conference” and “Champions”. Other than co-organising future University-Community Engagement Conferences with universities in various parts of the region, the functions of the Secretariat are to initiate, monitor and facilitate USM’s community projects as well as encourage active university-community partnership. The Secretariat also aims to establish a network of universities for future flagship university-community projects as well as to promote the concept of engagement.

The definition of community engagement (CE) – a process of working collaboratively with and through groups of people affiliated by geographical proximity, special interest, or similar situations to address issues that affect them.

Criteria for Community Engagement:

i. Rigorous site-selection procedures to determine whether candidate communities have the capacity to be active participants in the project and the project can be sustained. A simply passive host should be avoided.

ii. Identify the relevant community so that they can be engaged effectively and in a timely manner. A community comprises at least those individuals who share identified risks associated with the proposed or takes form progressively in response to specific aspects of the CE project. The relevant community stakeholders should also be identified. Ideally informed consent with community leaders or other forms of collective community authorization as well as the existence of an adequate infrastructure for public engagement should be presented.

iii. Early initiation of community engagement activities to avoid carrying out CE activities which are based on poorly founded assumptions of relevance to the host community and taking community acceptance for granted. In addition it is to ensure that the community perspectives are sought throughout the early stages of the project. This approach is important for developing appropriate CE activities. This point also allows for the on-going assessment of community needs and the CE approaches. This can be done through a two-way flow of information and views, on-going negotiations and interactions with the community. Therefore, evidence of gathering data on community and stakeholders views regarding the issues being addresses, should be clearly stated.

iv. Collaborations with others – identify and mobilize individuals, groups or agencies either public or private with relevant skills or capabilities to join the project.

v. Shared control by the community – leaders from within the community or among the collaborators should be invited to actively participate in the project.

vi. Review, evaluate and if necessary, modify engagement strategies. This is to provide an on-going platform for incorporating a wide variety of community perspectives into CE project to ensure sustainability

Projects

A flagship project is not only defined by its cost and duration but also by its scope and depth that is consistent with the APEX agenda. The project should have an impact on an extensive target group. For example, the project should be significant at the state or national level rather than useful to a single family unit only. The focus should not be limited to one aspect but encompass overlapping and interrelated issues that affect the community.

Therefore, a flagship project should be multi-disciplinary (involves people from different disciplines within a school), trans-disciplinary (involves people from different schools) and multi-dimensional (traverses the Art and the Sciences, for example, economics, politics, medicine, and information and communication technology-ICT). Flagship projects should also be marked by their scholarship in the creation and dissemination of knowledge, impact to the community, promotion of sustainability of the environment and human capital and empowerment of both the university as well as the target community.

Benefits and Impact of Projects

It is required that applicants state clearly the benefits and impact of the project. As far as possible, these should be tangible and measurable, contributing to the KIP and KPI of USM. For example, ‘documentation’ can be expressed in the form of the expected product, i.e. video/audio, print media, reports, etc. ‘publications’ can be stated as articles in citation or non-citation indexed journals, proceedings of national or international conferences, technical reports, training and education manuals or programs, books, and monographs. This will emphasize the project’s contribution to scholarly pursuits, as well as the creation and dissemination of knowledge not only to the target population but also to the larger academic community.

The impact of the project can take various forms. Applicants should delineate, for example, how the project can improve the quality of life of the target community, what intervention programs can be planned, the type of skills that can be transferred, and ways in which the target group can be empowered.

Significance

Project applicants in writing their proposals should ensure that their projects are in line with USM’s APEX agenda as stated below, with particular emphasis on reaching out to the bottom billion and addressing sustainability issues.

Topics of significance are wide-ranging and may include health and safety, the environment, socio-cultural issues and economic issues. In addition, the project should focus on contemporary issues/problems while reaching out to as large a target population as possible. For example, it is more favourable to reach out to national level target groups as compared to a single family unit.

Bottom Billions

The bottom billion group refers to communities that are marginalized, vulnerable, underserved or the underprivileged. These groups might be disadvantaged and lack access to economic, social, health as well as political opportunities.

Context

The project should tap into the expertise of the team members. The model of collaboration can be multi-disciplinary (team members from the different disciplines within a school), trans-disciplinary (team members from different schools) and multi-dimensional. The project should avoid having to enlist outside help which incurs consultation fees. Students can also be part of the project where their involvement is in the form of industrial training or part of their course requirement. The project leader should preferably exhibit a good track record of involvement in the community-engagement type of projects.

The methodology adopted should be in line with the principles of community-engagement (refer to definitions). An important part of the methodology includes the documentation of processes and products of the project. Documentation may include photos, videos, and archival materials.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to solicit alternative sources of funding to supplement the grant given by BJIM.

List of Active Projects

Vision

To contribute towards and lead in the sustainability of the social and economic development, advancement, and transformation of the nation

Mission

To engage closely with the industry and the community, especially of the north and north-eastern regions of Peninsular Malaysia, in as many areas as possible so as to achieve the vision

Function

To match the knowledge/expertise, facilities, and resources of the University to the needs, aspirations, and expectations of the industry and the community to result in a win-win situation

As a Research University and more recently as the first university in Malaysia to be awarded the APEX status in 2008, USM has focused its agenda on the realization that the social responsibility of a university needs to go beyond its core mission of human resource development. In order to serve and protect the public good, universities must play a strong leadership role in their country’s development policy and a proactive role in catalyzing the participation of all stakeholders in the development process, hence the need for engagement with society at large. Engagement implies working together with shared understanding, evolving shared solutions, shared governance, shared assets and shared advantages in mind. The setting up, in 2007, of the Division of Industry and Community network or better known by Malay acronym of BJIM (Bahagian Jaringan Industri dan Masyarakat), has reinforced USM’s commitment to engage with both industries and communities and to create an environment that is conducive for this engagement to take place and to flourish. In tandem with the APEX agenda, USM’s focus has extended beyond active collaboration and engagement with industry to community-engaged and sustainable projects.

To cultivate closer and more meaningful relations with the world outside and to be in line with the goals and objectives of USM’s transformation plans under the APEX agenda, BJIM has encouraged the various Schools and Centres in USM to conduct community projects at different levels i.e. from service to outreach to engagement types. Since 2007, programmes and activities undertaken by BJIM have greatly expanded the network of university-community partnerships and collaborations. From 2008 to 2009, approximately 60 community projects were funded by BJIM. These projects cover issues such as drug and tobacco abuse, family health, culture & heritage, environmental conservation, efficient utilisation of resources, and community empowerment.

School of Health Sciences has conducted a tremendous and beneficial amount of community projects for people with special needs under Disasble Transformation Unit (Pusat Transformasi OKU) (DTU) and school students via Science for School programme and Crime Prevention Programmes. The programmes involve collaboration from the industries, NGOs, community and other local government agencies.