Beyond Public Meetings; Connecting Community Engagement with Decision-Making - Softcover

Vivien Twyford; Stuart Waters; Max Hardy; John Dengate

9780646467207: Beyond Public Meetings; Connecting Community Engagement with Decision-Making

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0646467204 ISBN 13: 9780646467207

Publisher: Vivien Twyford Communication Pty Limited, 2006

This book is an essential guide to the fundamentals of community engagement and tells you: * Why communities must be engaged to create better decisions * How engaged communities can help make better decisions * How to go beyond the public meeting by focusing on desired outcomes rather than tired techniques * How to engage communities in a positive and productive way * What successful community engagement really feels like Read this book if you are: * A decision-maker in government, the public service, the private or community sector. You will learn how to engage the community, not to make your decisions for you, but to help you make better decisions that stick. * A practitioner in the community engagement field. You will learn how to redefine communities and their role in supporting better decisions, and how to do so in a way that honours the values we share as individuals and communities. * A project manager who has to engage the community around a specific project. You will learn how to work with the community in a way that helps you deliver a more sustainable project sooner, with less opposition and more support. * A community member or anyone else interested in how to get engaged. You will learn what community engagement means and how it feels when done well. You will better understand the role you can play in making decisions, and how to make sure your input is most useful to those who have to make the call.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

VIVIEN TWYFORD BA Grad Dip Com: 2004 International President of the International Association for Public Participation, Master Trainer. Consultant & trainer in US, UK, New Zealand, Singapore as well as Australia. MAX HARDY BSocSc Assoc Dip Social Welfare: Experienced Trainer & practitioner in Community Engagement Field. IAP2 Master Trainer JOHN DENGATE BMet: IAP2 Trainer, delivers professional development courses throughout Australia and NZ STUART WATERS BSc (Hons) MA(Jour). Passionate about engaging communities to make better, more sustainable decisions. DR VICKI VAARTJES BSc (Appl Psych) BSc (Chem Hons) - Specialist in organisational development and leadership.

Review:

Democracy is a dream, so it is said, and the task of thinkers is to keep the dream alive, while the task of doers is to keep trying to approximate democracy. Twyford Consulting which birthed this book is made of doers who, fortunately, are also thinkers. Not surprisingly then, this thoughtful and practical book shows how democracy, in the form of community engagement, can be done. --Dr Lyn Carson, Senior Lecturer in Applied Politics, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Sydney

Reading this book is like listening to the authors talk about their experiences, as one professional to another, with clarity, candor and warmth. I think it is an excellent companion piece to the IAP2 certificate program --Beatrice Briggs, Director, International Institute for Facilitation and Consensus, Cuernavaca, Mexico

This plain language book is full of common sense approaches to community engagement practice. It presents a combination of practical experience and expert knowledge that has been lacking. I recommend this book to anyone seeking a clear discussion of the role of community engagement in making better decisions. --Dr Michael Cuthill, Director, UQ Boilerhouse Community Engagement Centre, University of Queensland

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.