You need excellent and innovative community engagement practice but the consultants and staff training are too expensive and take too long!

Imagine if your own staff became both effective in and inspired about community engagement after an affordable and customised training course.

CLICK HERE for current training program

Evolve’s community engagement training, delivered by internationally recognised engagement experts, is different. Evolve’s community engagement training, delivered by internationally recognised engagement experts, is different. To find out why and about Evolve’s Engaged Community Model, watch this presentation (6 mins).

As busy and cash strapped organisations aim to meet the needs of their constituents by providing meaningful public engagement opportunities, they face many challenges. These can include any of the following:

• A generally poor reputation for working with the public 
• Inconsistent delivery of community engagement processes
• Lack of in-house community engagement skills
• Limited budgets for staff training
• Limited budgets for consultants
• Complex issues
• The need for immediate and enduring improvements in community engagement

The EVOLVE team has the expertise, drive and experience to help deliver practical high quality engagement solutions that are tailored to meet the needs of your clients and constituents.

We can help you to GAIN

• A positive reputation for working with the public 
• Consistently deliver top quality community engagement processes
• Valuable in-house community engagement skills
• The best value for your community engagement investment
• A reputation for excellence when dealing with complex issues
• Immediate and enduring improvements in community engagement

Participatory Planning research and evaluation | Remote Indigenous Service Delivery | Partnerships|

There is a growing body of evidence to show that community engagement, when done well, improves the quality of Government decisions, increases the legitimacy of decisions in the eyes of those affected by them, and saves money and time for Government agencies. It also plays a critical role in improving the quality of long term relationships and partnerships between Government agencies and its clients.

Through relevant, grounded and practical strategies, this course will show you how to develop relationships and partnerships of credibility and trust between your agency and its stakeholders; increasing the relevance and support of your services and outcomes. You will see how practitioners, with the right tools and strategies, have turned around high stake situations, where emotions are high and trust is low, to sustained relationships of integrity, credibility and trust, often within tight time constraints and budgets.

Do you also need to understand and apply current cutting-edge concepts related to participatory planning and research, participatory evaluation and monitoring in a way that is practical, real and works! During this course we will explore real examples of how it is possible in the most remote and regional areas to develop partnerships with communities that have genuine participation at the heart.

We feel passionate about the importance of developing practical and effective community engagement skills.

Evolve offers a unique and powerful solution and ‘fit’ to your requirements for the following reasons. Evolve is the only community engagement training provider in Australia where:
- Training is delivered by an internationally recognised community engagement practitioner/facilitator (Carla Rogers) and by a PhD scholar in public participation (Dr Ann Murphy) with a wide range of international experiences in the practical development and application of community engagement programs, with connections and ongoing working relationships with leading practitioners and authors in the field;

• The trainer models community engagement practice throughout the course and has participants evaluate this practice (called ‘facilitator watch’);
  
• Training is customised in each instance to both your organisation and participant
  requirements and also modified according to participant feedback as we go;
  
• Participants consistently rate the training as excellent and exceeding expectations;
  
• Unique services are added to ensure development and practice of skills including a
  follow up coaching and mentoring session, and access to Evolve’s Leading
  Lights Program and Virtual Workshop series; and
  
• Where the facilitators/trainers have extensive experience and expertise in community engagement programs for natural resource management, land use and infrastructure projects.

At Evolve we have a proven track record in developing and delivering effective community engagement training.


How does it work?

The following is the training approach that will be customised:

1. The WHY of community engagement (benefits of getting it right)
2. The WHO of community engagement (who needs to be involved?)
3. The HOW (What, Where and When): What is the appropriate level of community engagement? Choosing the right approach for the circumstance including online strategies
4. LIVE! 'Tips for the Event' and RISK MANAGEMENT
5. ACTION and the on-going relationship (How do you know if your program is successful?)

Follow on Group Coaching Session (1 hour)

A scheduled group coaching session is an integral part of our training, possibly via telephone link up or face to face, 1 month after training to evaluate application and practice. The training program, while bedded in best practice community engagement and facilitation, will be unique and is not an ‘off the shelf’ product. We model best practice principles by ensuring that we have a clear and thorough understanding of your needs and then collaborating with appropriate staff to design a solution that will meet these needs.

Want to know more?
Here is what you can do:

• Watch an audio and visual presentation about the training and the Evolve Engaged Community Model Here
  
• Download a complementary copy of ‘Community Engagement – The Limitations'
  

Ready to explore community Engagement Training with Evolve?
To develop customised training, please contact us

 

CLICK HERE for current training program

"This is a great and valuable course – useful  information, tools and techniques and Carla is a well experienced practitioner and facilitator. I would most definitely recommend this course to Indigenous groups both in the public and private sector. As an Indigenous person it is important to gain further experience, tools and techniques to engage better in our Indigenous communities. I  think it is vital that both Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups learn from each other after all isn't that engagement when we can walk away from a workshop and learn from each irrespective our own cultural differences and better our community but most importantly better our own self. We did this and more in the Evolve Course.  Engagement starts with ones self.” Elsja Dewis, Indigenous Advisor, Crime and Misconduct Commission

“Evolve’s Community Engagement training was very worthwhile, informative and applicable to the workplace, conducted both professionally and interestingly. I especially enjoyed the tips for engaging with indigenous people.” Kylie Jeffery, Business Manager, Centrelink

  “I loved this course! It was inspiring, extremely well run and organised. I now have new and exciting tips to engaging with communities, especially the marketplace, and I am ready to think outside of the square!” Tracey Roffey, Rural Liaison. Royal Adelaide Hospital

“An excellent way to network with a diverse range of agencies on shared issues, concerns and tips and I enjoyed the opportunity to work through the course learnings collectively. Carla’s facilitation was excellent. I walked away knowing the importance of defining key messages, negotiables and non-negotiables, a suite of different consultation techniques especially Open Space Technology and the Marketplace.” Yvonne Power, Native Title and Heritage Co-ordinator, Horizon Power, WA

“Carla is a fantastic facilitator who “walks her talk”, putting community engagement in a whole new light. My most outstanding learnings were around the importance of preparation and planning, considering the why and who first, and the importance of using a range of tools (the How) to get the right mix”. Karen O’Rourke, Team Leader, North and West Qld Primary Health Care

“I give this course and Carla’s facilitation top marks (10/10), and I appreciated how the training was tailored to our learning needs. The most significant learnings I gained from the course were the importance of relationship building, creating a ‘recipe’ for your approach, the Evolve Engaged Community Model.” Christopher Birtwistle, Senior Project Officer, Community Engagement Strategy, Department for Families and Communities, Housing SA.