Training Course Outlines:

Overview and introduction

• Current skills inventory for community/stakeholder engagement


• Good and bad experiences of community/stakeholder engagement


• Identification of current community/stakeholder engagement process focus areas

• Setting the scene – change, conflict and community/ stakeholder engagement


• The links between change and conflict


• The role of community/stakeholder engagement in managing conflict


• A brief history of community/stakeholder engagement processes in Australia


• Politics and the roles of community/stakeholder engagement


• Changing emphasis in policy development
  > Accountability, transparency and involvement

• Levels and principles of community/stakeholder engagement


• The importance of early identification of the purpose and function of community/stakeholder engagement


• Different levels of community/stakeholder engagement – ranging from information to participation to partnership


• Is there a difference between community engagement and stakeholder engagement?

• The Community Engagement ROADMAP – an overview


• How the Roadmap provides a structure for planning


• The links between different sections of the Roadmap


• How to use the Roadmap in the work situation

• What type of engagement is needed? – The process of making decisions depending on your desired outcomes


• Clarifying what is to be achieved by community/stakeholder engagement – intra-organisational consultation


• Ensuring that the community/stakeholder engagement goals are clearly articulated


• Working up and down within in an organisation to ensure agreement on these goals

• Assessing risks and benefits


• Identifying different risk categories


• Likelihood of conflict in the absence of community/stakeholder engagement


• Possible impact of conflict


• Assessment of likelihood of conflict arising during community/ stakeholder engagement


• Use of a risk assessment tool for community/stakeholder engagement


• Managing risks – which risks can be avoided and which must be managed


• Planning the community/stakeholder engagement process to avoid unnecessary conflict


• Where conflict is inevitable, how to ensure it is managed to achieve the most useful outcomes

• Examining possibly methodologies – available skills and resources available, accessibility of those who need to be consulted, and timeframes


• A range of methodologies will be described and the usefulness for particular circumstances discussed

• Identifying stakeholders – who should be involved and how to foster support


• Do you really need to engage with “everyone”?


• How to identify specific stakeholder and community groups


• Are there peak bodies you can integrate into the process?


• Which other government agencies need to be involved?


• Addressing needs of particular groups of stakeholders e.g. rural, regional, remote areas, indigenous people, aged, young, culturally diverse

• What is an appropriate level of resourcing? Case study examples will be discussed, based on real life community/stakeholder engagement processes


• A standardised budget will be customised for the needs of individual participants and the organisational budgets. It will include all the line items for consideration in a community/stakeholder engagement process

• Communicating clearly – key points


• Communicating via different media – visual, verbal, written


• Using different tools – pamphlets, papers, internet, email, fax, face to face


• What not to do – examples of bad communication and what effect that has on recipients


• Building skills in working with a diversity of people and groups


• When and how to employ professionals/consultants

• Review – identification of key learning points for each individual participant


• What will this mean for your first week back at work?

Training Course Outcomes:

• Understand the principles of community engagement


• Develop risk/benefit assessment skills – how to ascertain current and potential community and stakeholder concerns


• Construct a methodology to identify potential costs, benefits and impacts


• Determine appropriate processes and tools to incorporate for community engagement by examining objectives, stakeholders and resources


• Formulate a community engagement timeline and implementation plan


• Undertaking internal skills assessments to establish available skill sets to assist implementation


• Communication, facilitation and dispute resolution tools to encourage participation while avoiding disputes

Course Accreditations:

Course Prerequisites:

Related Courses:

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