At the University of Waterloo, the decisions we make about research, programs, policies, and even physical spaces ripple across campus life. So how do we ensure those decisions genuinely reflect the people they impact? The Community Engagement Guide was developed to help answer that question.
Designed as a practical resource, the Guide supports a shared vision of embedding inclusive, accessible, and equity-centred engagement practices across the university. It aligns with institutional efforts to advance community-led change, strengthen inclusive decision-making, and empower equity-denied groups to act as leaders and changemakers in campus initiatives.
Developed collaboratively in 2025 by the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti‑Racism Office (EDI‑R), the Office of Indigenous Relations, and Campus Support and Accessibility, the Guide responds to colleagues’ call for a clearer and more unified approach to inclusive engagement. With identities being intersectional and multi‑layered, these offices recognized the need for a single, centralized resource to help colleagues engage communities meaningfully, consistently, and with care.
Whether you're planning a focus group, rethinking a service, or leading a long‑term initiative, the Guide offers practical tools to:
- Support you in identifying whose voices should be included, particularly those most impacted by a proposed change, not just those easiest to reach
- Provide you with guidance on how to make community members as stakeholders in the process, not just as one-time contributors.
- Outline ways to develop accountability and procedural fairness at all stages of an initiative: research hypothesis/ recruitment of responses/ data collection/ data analysis and dissemination of outcomes.
- Provide you with guidance on selecting accessible, trauma-informed approaches including offering multiple ways to participate and establishing clear expectations for engagement.
- Encourage proactive planning to address systemic barriers to participation such as timing, compensation, language access, and digital accessibility.
- Outline considerations for compensating participants ethically and fairly to recognize lived experience as expertise.
- Emphasize closing the loop by clearly communicating how feedback informed decisions including what changed and why.
This Guide is not intended as a checklist. It’s an invitation to shift engagement efforts from simply gathering input to intentionally creating space for communities to share their voice and shape outcomes that directly affect them on campus. In doing so, it works towards supporting a more inclusive, responsive, and human campus experience for everyone.
Whether you are consulting, designing, researching, or co‑creating, the Community Engagement Guide helps ensure that Waterloo’s diverse communities can share their experiences and feedback in a dignified, respectful, and meaningful way.