The New South Wales
(NSW) Department of Planning in Sydney, Australia has developed
a useful way of organizing different engagement tools according
to the type of community engagement they create.
Some of the tools promote passive community
engagement (e.g. informing, consultation, and participation)
while others focus on more proactive approaches (e.g. collaboration,
empowerment and development).
We like this profile so much that we’ve
chosen it to illustrate some of the potential tools of community
engagement. (Click on the steps below to learn more about
the highlighted techniques.)
More on this model...
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Citizen’s Panel: a large group of
about 500-2000 citizen’s who are surveyed about community
issues on a regular intervals. The panel can be surveyed using
different techniques such as questionnaires, meetings or conferences.
Participants in the panel are chosen to be representative
of the population.
Some resources:
Focus Group: discussion groups, usually
including nor more than twenty people, which are lead by a
facilitator. They are brought together to discuss a pre-defined
issue. Participants are people with a particular interest,
or involvement in the subject being discussed.
Some resources:
Public Hearing: open meetings conducted
with concerned stakeholders in order to investigate the opinions
of the people on critical issues of the life of the community.
Some resources:
Community needs analysis: a tool used to
determine and measure the needs of the community.
Some resources:
Planning focus meeting: A planning focus
meeting is used in Australia as a way to share information
between proponents and the government. It enables government
authorities to express their concerns with proponent development
proposals. This allows proponents to address these concerns
in the developments in the planning stage. This on-going dialogue
helps speed up the assessment process.
Some resources:
Precinct committee: a group of citizens
who gather together to discuss issues important to them and
present these concerns to city council. This process enables
citizens to participate in council decision-making. Local
councils establish the precinct committee system as a way
to include residents’ opinions in their decision-making
processes.
Some resources:
Advisory committee: an advisory committee
consists of a group of people from multiple sectors such as
individuals, community groups, non-government organizations
and government who share their expertise on an on-going basis
for the purposes of monitoring issues, and/or giving advice.
Some resources:
Charette: A charette is a workshop where
stakeholders and the public suggest solutions for a complex
community issue. It is usually lead by a series of experts
who are able to facilitate the ideas and opinions of the community
stakeholders. It takes place for no less than 2 days.
Some resources:
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Regional forum: A regional forum is a formal
meeting of people from different sectors including government,
community members, business, and non-government organizations,
which gather to discuss community issues and create solutions.
The forum meets regularly to review the performance of their
strategies.
Some resources:
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Citizens’ jury: The citizens’
jury process consists of a randomly recruited and demographically
representative panel of 12 to 18 people. The jury meets for
3 to 5 days to examine an issue of public significance. Expert
witnesses provide the jury with information, opinions and
perspectives regarding the issue being considered. Jurors
deliberate and come to a conclusion about the public issue
or problem. They then deliver their conclusions and recommendations
through a public forum.
Example:
Citizens’
Jury on Climate Change
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
A citizen’s jury was set up in Baltimore, Maryland
by the U.S EPA and the Jefferson Center to determine public
opinion about climate change. The EPA hoped the citizen jury
process would help governmental agencies, business interests,
and environmental groups improve their communication materials.
Eighteen people from within a 35-mile radius of Baltimore,
Maryland were selected from a randomly identified jury pool
and met from March 18 to 22, 2002. The jury was asked to consider
the potential impacts of climate change that concern them,
if they think climate change will have significant impacts,
and what steps should be taken to address climate change.
The jury heard from a number of experts about different issues
surrounding climate change. They then came up with a series
of recommendations based on the questions they had been asked
to consider. They wrote them into a final report and presented
them to the EPA and other interested individuals. The recommendations
included suggestions on how to mitigate climate change by
saving energy, promoting international cooperation, government
actions, research and development, and education.
Some Resources:
Search Conference: A search conference (also
known as a ‘future search’) is a participatory
planning process used to determine a vision, direction or
end for an organization. The process usually involves a 2-day,
2-night conference in an undistracted environment with 25
to 60 participants. During the conference participants work
in small groups to review factors that affect themselves,
the community and the world. In addition, they discuss what
a desirable future would look like and what the challenges
and constraints are to achieving it. Lastly they create a
shared vision and an action plan to implement their common
goal.
Example:
OP2000 Search Conference
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
A search conference was used by OP2000 in January 1999 to
discuss the problem of poverty reduction in the Waterloo Region.
50 people participated from a variety of sectors, including
people in poverty, nonprofit organizations, business and government.
During the search conference participants identified changes
in the social environment that have impacted local poverty
issues. They also discussed how each of the stakeholder groups
had been affect by these social changes. Finally, ideas for
working together to create social arrangements were determined.
The conference succeeded in verifying that a multi-sectoral
partnership would help reduce poverty over the long term in
the Waterloo Region, which helped set the direction for OP2000
future operations. It also created a network of people that
would help OP2000 develop community based poverty reduction
strategies.
Some resources:
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