In a previous post I wrote about the difference between community consultation and community engagement. They are not the same thing, no matter how often the words get swapped around.
Community consultation and community engagement are not the same thing, no matter how often the words get swapped around.
Kiama Council has adopted the IAP2 Public Participation Spectrum as its model for community engagement. It is a useful spectrum because it makes one thing very clear. How much say are you actually giving people?
| IAP2 level | What Council does | What it means for the community |
|---|---|---|
| Inform | Provides information | We will tell you what is happening |
| Consult | Asks for feedback | We will ask what you think |
| Involve | Works with the community as options develop | We will work through it with you |
| Collaborate | Partners with the community in developing solutions | We will develop the answer together |
| Empower | Places the final decision with the community | You make the decision |
IAP2 is about the role the community gets to play before a decision is made, and who decides what that role will be.
IAP2 is not a campaign to abolish elected representatives and hand every Council decision to a show of hands in Hindmarsh Park. It is about the role the community gets to play before a decision is made, and who decides what that role will be.
Kiama Council says it has adopted the IAP2 Public Participation Spectrum. Well, sort of. It has adopted a Kiama Council version of it, particularly at the pointy end. How much say are you actually prepared to give people?
Council explains its approach to Empower in its own community engagement document. In effect, you elected us, so we’ll handle the democracy from here.
Kiama Council is currently recruiting a new Manager Communications, Engagement & Customer Service. I am looking forward to seeing who gets the job.
I am not interested in whether they can run a survey, organise a drop-in session or put something on Your Say Kiama. Those are tools. I want to know what they think community engagement is.
Do they see IAP2 as a way to tell residents what Council is doing and collect feedback, or as a framework for giving the community a genuine role in defining problems, developing options and influencing decisions?
The community deserves to know who gets invited in, when they get invited in, what they can change and what Council promises to do with what it hears.
The appointment will tell us plenty. Good community engagement starts with deciding how much say you are prepared to give the community.
