Written by Eleanor Howe, Senior Manager
Over the weekend I co-facilitated a group of community members through a series of activities to help inform significant planning decisions. What got me thinking was the composition of the group – of the 50 participants, 57% were new and 43% were community members that had been involved in previous discussions including a deliberative process.
Recruitment of a community panel is a process which can be expensive and time intensive. I’m keen to explore the opportunities to leverage the time and efforts invested in the community panel processes Victorian Council’s undertook in 2021.
What I like about this approach is that it utilises the investment in community panels. Previous panel members are assets and critical friends with a deep understanding about how the decision-making organisation operates. This means they have an ongoing connection to the organisation (and each other) and they can champion, explain, and promote projects, policies and initiatives led by the organisation. They can support the new participants by asking them questions to help them feel comfortable in their roles, potentially through a buddy system, pre-event sessions like an online welcome/briefing and through structured activities on the day of the workshop. For our workshop on Saturday, we mixed up participants so each table had new and previous and we had a name tag game where people had to find their buddy – these were lyrics to a song or a song and the artist. As the topic we were discussing was water, these were all water themed, as was the music we played throughout the day.
Having a group of participants that include a dynamic mix of seasoned members and fresh voices brought continuity and innovation. It allowed history to be honoured and ensured we didn’t rehash previous decisions but embraced new ideas. The experience and insights from previous members combined with the diverse perspectives of new participants created a richer, more inclusive dialogue.
