Community Engagement and Information

Community Engagement and Information Strategy underpins the whole Locality Plan for Govanhill, Crosshill, and Strathbungo East, providing insights and direction on how to effectively engage with and inform our diverse communities about local services, events, and developments.

This page hosts the Govanhill Community Engagement and Information Strategy as part of the Locality Plan and further updates and related documents will appear here.

What is the strategy

Govanhill Community Engagement and Information Strategy’ is a tool for people who are trying to make a difference in Govanhill. The strategy explains how to ensure that all residents are well-informed about the services and opportunities in the area and can meaningfully engage with them, with a special emphasis on reaching those who are most excluded.

Why is there a need for it

Govanhill is one of the ten areas of Glasgow that has been designated a ‘Thriving Place’ by the Glasgow Community Planning Partnership because it faces specific challenges that require tailored local solutions.

Thriving Places is an approach aimed at bringing together residents and organisations to collaborate for the good of their neighbourhood.

Each Thriving Places area is required to develop a Locality Plan that local communities, organisations, services and businesses will be able to use to guide their work towards positive change. A Locality Plan, as a vision for the future, must be informed by local people so that it can address the real needs and aspirations of the community.

Who is it for

This strategy is for local staff and residents who are involved in organising events, activities, opportunities, or offer support to people of Govanhill. Anyone living locally can use this strategy to find out what can be expected from service providers.

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who has participated and engaged in the process so far, from the people who took part in our community conversations, those who helped to make sense of ideas and shape the survey, all the 205 individuals who took part in our GCEIS survey, the Working Group, the Thriving Places Board members, and other colleagues who supported this project throughout the different stages. All your contributions have made the strategy stronger. 

How will we know if the strategy is working

The ‘Govanhill Community Engagement & Information Strategy’ should be seen as work-in-progress, and in fact, it is meant to be an ever-evolving document. The strategy will be regularly reviewed and adapted to suit changing circumstances. This will ensure that it remains relevant and reflects the real needs and aspirations of local people.

  • The Govanhill Thriving Places Board will review the strategy in 2024
  • Relevant local statistics will be monitored

Download the strategy below:

Residents’ and local staff’s feedback is welcome and much appreciated. Please direct your comments to Marzanna Antoniak, Community Connector within the Thriving Places Govanhill programme.

Email: mantoniak@govanhillha.org

Phone: 0141 433 2152

You can also contact the members of the Thriving Places Board at:

Samaritan House

79 Coplaw St

Glasgow G42 7JG

Community Engagement and Information Strategy – initial results of community survey

In the first quarter of 2021, we conducted a community survey to inform the Community Engagement and Information strategy. The survey looked at how the people of Govanhill access information and connect with each other, and how they feel about making decisions for their neighbourhood. The survey was developed with the support of partners from the NHS and GCC, based on the ideas shared by Govanhill residents during the process of community conversations held in 2018 by GCDT. 

We would like to thank everyone who participated and shared their views. 

Below are the basic results of the survey. Further analysis will be conducted by a working group.

205 people took part in this online survey, a few of them were supported to do so through a phone conversation. The responders represent diverse groups in terms of age, ethnicity, gender, income, health and other factors.
In terms of ethnicity, most of the responders described themselves as white Scottish or British. Answers to the ‘What is your ethnicity?’ question indicate that around 40 survey participants belong to ethnic minority groups, however, not everyone sees themselves as such.
159 people said they lived in Govanhill and 9 people said they lived here in the past.

Do you feel welcome and included in Govanhill?

Most of the people from the groups specified in the survey said they felt welcome and included in Govanhill. Some people provided additional comments which will be released in the wider report.

What could bring people of Govanhill together?

These suggestions were based on the ideas from the residents’ conversations delivered earlier by GCDT.
Several respondents praised them all: “omg all of these sound amazing!!” / “All of above would be beneficial” / “all of the above” / “All sound fantastic.”
A number of these already take place, but there is a clear need for safe and inclusive community meeting spaces.

Taking part in making decisions about local services and developments

Most people wanted to take part in local decision-making processes.

Improving access to information

Access to information is key to community engagement and empowerment. Below is a breakdown of responses to proposed solutions to make information more accessible to residents. These solutions were based on community conversations and the input of local staff.

Most residents felt that the proposed support-based solutions would be effective, with the greatest emphasis put on working to reach people who are excluded or disengaged.
In terms of community-led solutions to improving access to information, most residents felt that the proposed solutions could help.
Access to devices and digital skills training, as well as information available online in different languages were seen as effective. Most people were unsure whether mass texting could help improve access to information.
Most responders felt that the proposed public spaces based solutions could improve access to information.

These are the basic results of the survey. The next stage of the process is to form a working group to analyse the feedback received from the community, so that a draft of the Community Engagement and Information strand of the Locality Plan can be developed.
Please check this website for further updates.