In 23 to 25 September 2025, Public and Community Engagement (PCE) Departement OUCRU Indonesia conducted its first Designing Engagement Project Training in Bogor, Indonesia. This initiative aims to develop essential skills, strategies, and practical tools to foster inclusive, ethical, and impactful community engagement for researchers and practitioners. By the end of training, participants were equipped with frameworks to integrate meaningful engagement into their research, ensuring responsiveness to societal needs and maximising impact.
Essential Skills for Community-engaged Health Research
Community engagement in health research is increasingly recognised as essential for ethical, inclusive, and impactful science. Yet many researchers still face challenges in putting engagement into practice, particularly when planning, implementing, and evaluating activities that are effective and relevant to local contexts.
To address this gap, OUCRU Indonesia’s Public and Community Engagement (PCE) Group developed this pilot training as a hands-on learning platform that combines foundational engagement approaches with practical knowledge of the project cycle.
Over three days, training brought together 20 participants from 10 institutions, including research support staff, field officers, and early-career researchers. Designed as a structured and practical learning experience, the training introduced participants to the essential principles, tools, and frameworks for engaging communities throughout the research process.
Using a participatory approach, the training features interactive games, group discussions, and individual projects. The workshop used interactive and participatory methods, combining games, group discussions, and project design exercises to strengthen participants’ confidence and creativity.
It is structured into three key sections: project identification (including the ethical foundations of community engagement and the engagement spectrum), project design (focusing on developing the logical framework and aligning engagement approaches with specific audiences), and project evaluation. Throughout the training, participants also explored some engagement approaches such as community advisory boards, participatory visual methods, and digital engagement.
Participants reflections
Participant reflects the training impact was made the improvement and significant change in learning outcomes.
Importantly, 84% of participants expressed their intention to apply their learning within six months, including through establishing community advisory groups, developing stakeholder engagement plans, and integrating engagement components into ongoing research projects. By the end of the workshop, participants had developed their own engagement plans, with guidance and individual feedback from facilitators.
… this training changes my perspective [I now see] that research or engagement project can be beneficial for both. The participants can voluntarily join not only for money reason. I also just realize that I also can improve the relationship with stakeholders who support the project by providing a clearer, simple communication.
PCE Workshop Participant
Since its establishment OUCRU Public and Community Engagement Department continues to champion approaches that make research not only scientifically rigorous but also relevant, respectful, and beneficial to the communities we serve.
For collaboration or partnership on PCE Training, contact The Training Team: Ragil Dien rdien@oucru.org or Văn Thủy Quí Hương huongvtq@oucru.org
