Racial Equity Resources

The Resource Development Process

on this page
  1. Who was involved
  2. How we built the resource
  3. Download our Development Documentation

Please note: This page is currently in development. The content is in draft form and may change before the resource is formally launched.

In early 2026, the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE) invited proposals to create a new resource supporting racially equitable public engagement. Vanessa Mignan Jenkins, Emily Dawson, and Siddharth Kankaria were selected to co-create the toolkit and worked together from June to November 2026.

This page opens up the research, listening, and collaboration that shaped this resource, so you can see how and why it came together and how your feedback and experiences continue to shape it.

RETURN TO RACIAL EQUITY RESOURCE HOMEPAGE

updated on 13 Nov 2026
Estimated time: 90 minutes
3 minutes read

Who was involved

NCCPE leadership: Sophie Duncan (Co-Director) and Asli Tatliadim (Head of Communications) provided thoughtful guidance, managed the budget, and supported key decisions throughout the process.

Day-to-day coordination: Alison Wright (NCCPE) and Vanessa Mignan Jenkins (UCL) helped keep everything moving and made sure the project ran smoothly week by week.

Lead authors: Vanessa Mignan Jenkins, Siddharth Kankaria, and Emily Dawson worked together to write and shape the main content.

Advisory working group: Fola Afolabi, Niyah Campbell, Sophie Evans, and Natalie Wall from the NCCPE Inclusion Advisory Group – Racial Equity (IAG-RE) guided the project’s direction and helped keep our work grounded in strong racial equity principles.

Contributors and testers: Practitioners, public engagement professionals (PEPs), and community partners from across the sector generously shared their time and expertise to help shape, review, and test the toolkit. [number] individual contributions supported:

  • Scoping interviewees and survey respondents from public engagement and community partner roles.
  • Architecture and content reviewers from the IAG-RE, NCCPE, and public engagement networks.
  • User testers representing four key perspectives: developing practitioners, experienced practitioners, institutional change agents, and community connectors.

They include;

[LIST]

How we built the resource

Between March 2025 and November 2026, we developed this toolkit step by step by listening to people doing the work, testing ideas, and refining the content in response to honest feedback and lived experience.

Early groundwork (March 2025)

Before the main project began, on 10 March 2025, the NCCPE brought together members of the Inclusion Advisory Group – Racial Equity (IAG-RE). They shared valuable insights on racial equity in public engagement, participation, and community involvement.

Step 1: Listening and identifying needs (July 2026)

We spoke one-to-one with 13 practitioners and gathered survey responses from 20 more. People openly shared the biggest barriers they face, such as slow university processes, fear of making mistakes, tokenism, and the heavy emotional toll on racially minoritised staff. These conversations helped us identify five core user needs, four user personas, and five design principles to guide the platform.

Step 2: Designing the structure (August–September 2026)

We drafted an early blueprint of the toolkit and invited 23 practitioners from across the sector to review it. Reviewers strongly supported the plan and encouraged us to use clear, everyday language and to include quick-access tools for emergencies and live incidents.

Step 3: Writing and reviewing drafts

20 practitioners read early drafts of the toolkit’s core sections and shared thoughtful feedback to help make the guidance clearer and more practical.

Step 4: User testing and improvements (October 2026)

We tested prototype versions of the website with people from all four user groups: developing practitioners, experienced practitioners, change agents, and community connectors. Their feedback helped us simplify the layout, improve navigation, and make the pages easier for everyone to use.

Step 5: Version 1 of the resource (30 November 2026)

The authors handed over the first version of the resource.

Download our Development Documentation

You can download our documentation below to understand the development process and how we came to produce the Resource for Racially Equitable Public Engagement. For transparency and better understanding of how and why this resource has been designed in this way, please feel free to look through our:

Project Plan

Scoping Document

Resource Blueprint

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