Strengthening community trust in municipal projects: lessons from the Z-CMF’s success in stakeholder engagement

Building community trust is one of the most significant challenges facing development projects today. This is the case, especially in contexts with a history of socio-political complexities like South Africa. The Zeekoe Catchment Management Forum (Z-CMF) offers valuable lessons about how municipal projects can succeed by prioritising trust, transparency and sustained stakeholder engagement. This initiative, led by the City of Cape Town’s (CoCT) Catchment, Stormwater, and River Management (CSRM) branch, was supported by the Economic Development Partnership (EDP) during the course of 2024. This blog post will explore why trust is critical in holistic development, examine the challenges unique to South Africa and highlight how the EDP navigates these complexities. The experience of the Z-CMF demonstrates that genuine community trust can be achieved with the right approach, serving as a model for similar projects.

Effective engagement strengthens necessary trust

Holistic development approaches recognise that sustainable change requires top-down government support and bottom-up citizen engagement. For these approaches to succeed, trust between the two is essential. Without trust, even well-designed projects can face resistance, miscommunication or become derailed by conflicts. Effective engagement ensures the intentions of development initiatives reflect community values and needs, so communities are more likely to participate actively, collaborate and invest in the project’s success.

In initiatives like the Z-CMF, trust enables a wide range of voices — from local government to community-based organisations (CSOs) and individual residents — to contribute to a shared vision.

An inclusive model to facilitate engagement allows for development that reflects real community needs and is responsive to local contexts. For the EDP, establishing the Z-CMF as a trusted space where stakeholders feel respected and heard has been crucial to emerging positive outcomes. The success of such initiatives shows that community trust isn’t just beneficial; it’s fundamental for holistic development to work.

In the context of establishing the Z-CMF, the EDP and the CoCT worked collaboratively to implement an inclusive model of stakeholder engagement. This meant identifying and engaging with stakeholders whose voices may otherwise have been overlooked. Reaching out to these groups, fostering trust and reinforcing the importance of the CMF as a space for shared vision and collective action, sparked stakeholder interest in an alternative, more inclusive approach to addressing ongoing challenges. Interested stakeholders indicated their belief in its potential and their willingness to engage, with the expectation that the CMF will be an inclusive and beneficial platform.

Legacy issues of mistrust make trust-building difficult

Solutions need to bring multiple voices into the conversation. Despite efforts to bridge the gap between state and non-state actors, trust remains elusive in South African development. This is due to the enduring legacy of apartheid, deep-rooted socio-economic inequalities and a history of broken promises and corruption. Many communities feel excluded from decision-making and past inconsistencies in government support have fostered scepticism. Political tensions and a lack of transparency further complicate building lasting partnerships. Economic and political fluctuations can create an uncertain environment and a perception that the local government can be avoidant of community needs. In local government projects like the Z-CMF, the mistrust plays out between communities toward the CoCT.

From the outside looking in: working with intermediaries to strengthen trust

As a collaborative intermediary organisation, trust-building is at the very core of the EDP’s practice. For partnerships to work effectively and for all the voices within one to be heard, strengthening trust is paramount. Lines of communication between the CoCT and residents in the Zeekoe catchment area existed prior to the EDP’s involvement, which provided a solid foundation on which to build . Strengthening this foundation of trust began with representatives from the CoCT joining the Z-CMF engagements. Making this first effort to show up was the starting point for demonstrating to communities that the local government take them and their issues seriously. Working through the EDP as a collaborative intermediary, the CoCT and community members enhanced the trust between them in four ways.

1. Be intentionally inclusive and representative of all stakeholders affected
   The Z-CMF was open to a wide range of stakeholders, from residents and community-based organisations to City departments and other government entities. By inviting voices from all sides, the forum avoided the perception of being a closed or exclusive space, making it clear that everyone’s input was valued.
2. Make use of a neutral party to facilitate the process
   Recognising the challenges that come with multi-stakeholder initiatives, the CoCT reached out to the EDP to act as a neutral facilitator. The EDP’s role was to create a safe space where all stakeholders could engage with the challenges at hand. As a collaborator without a direct stake in the outcome, the EDP provided an objective presence, ensuring discussions remained balanced and that no single agenda dominated the forum.
3. Be transparent in communication
   Transparency was a key component of Z-CMF’s approach to trust-building. Regular updates, clear agendas and open documentation from forum meetings allowed participants to stay informed and understand the decision-making process. Transparency meant that each member, whether from the community or the local government, had access to the same information. This equitable access to information helped minimise misunderstandings and foster a shared sense of purpose.
4. Manage different expectations openly to arrive at the way forward
   Despite its successes, the Z-CMF encountered several challenges inherent to trust-building in local government projects. One fundamental difficulty lay in managing the different expectations of local government departments and civil society organisations (CSOs). While CSOs sought immediate, community-centred solutions, local government departments often had to balance these priorities with longer-term policy considerations. The EDP played a critical role here, mediating discussions to bridge the gap between immediate community needs and the local government constraints.
5. Offer a diverse range of ways for stakeholders to engage
   Building trust requires more than inviting stakeholders to participate; it necessitates creating genuine opportunities for engagement and interaction. And a diverse range of stakeholders will necessitate an equally diverse range of engagement mechanisms. Two approaches that worked well in the case of the Z-CMF were targeted workshops and responsive feedback loops.

The targeted workshops focused on issues directly impacting the local community. These included matters of water quality, environmental preservation and land use. Each workshop was designed to facilitate meaningful contributions from participants, ensuring they felt their voices were being heard and that their concerns were integral to the forum’s action plans.

Responsive feedback loops were built into the design of all engagement mechanisms. Sometimes, this looked like pausing to ask a simple question: ‘what are you feeling, how was that for you?’ This demonstrated that feedback from participants wasn’t just invited—it shaped the way the engagement unfolded. In these feedback loops, stakeholders could see how their input led to tangible changes and thus were highly valued.

Build trust for better impact

Trust is the foundation of successful development projects, particularly in South Africa, where historical and structural issues have left many communities wary of new initiatives. Through the Z-CMF, the EDP demonstrated that trust can be strengthened with the right strategies, provided there is a foundation of trust that already exists. Contexts where trust is thriving lead to more effective and inclusive development. However, strengthening trust when a stakeholder is deeply involved in the focus of an engagement can present an incredible challenge. Working with a collaborative intermediary proved beneficial for strengthening trust in the case of the Z-CMF. For those looking to implement similar projects, the Z-CMF’s success offers valuable lessons about the power of trust in creating meaningful, lasting change.

Acknowledgement:
The contributions of Jessica Wilson in shaping this work are gratefully acknowledged.
Editing by Natalie Tannous.

This blog post is subject to the following disclaimer.