IAP2 Federation Announces Core Values Awards Winners

IAP2 North American Conference
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
September 24, 2013
Nomi Muthialu, IAP2 Federation Presiding Member

It gives me great pleasure to be here this evening to announce the winners of the 2013 IAP2 International Core Values Awards.

This year for the first time the IAP2 Federation Board supported a new model of Core Values Awards, one where each Affiliate runs their own awards program, with winners of these being considered for Core Values Awards internationally. Put simply, the International Core Values Awards would be ‘the best of the best’ in three International Award categories: Project of the Year, Organization of the Year and Research Project of the Year.

IAP2 Federation Affiliates in Australasia, Southern Africa and the United States ran programs this year with winners being announced in Johannesburg, South Africa, Adelaide, South Australia and here tonight in Salt Lake City, Utah. For IAP2 members in Affiliates that did not run an awards program this year, the IAP2 Federation held the Member-at-Large awards to offer an opportunity for members around the world to submit their work. The winners in this group have been judged along with winning entries submitted by Affiliates for the international honors.

I am pleased to announce two entries in the Member-at-Large awards program are being recognized for their excellence in the Project of the Year category.

Highly Commended is awarded to the City of Calgary/Calgary Transit for their entry titled “RouteAhead: The 30-year strategic plan for Calgary Transit” submitted by IAP2 Canada member Tracy McCabe.

The Winner of Project of the Year in the Member at Large group is awarded to Intelligent Futures, for their entry titled “Our Wascana” submitted by IAP2 Canada member John Lewis.

The Project of the Year entries recognized previously by their respective Affiliates are the following:

IAP2 Southern Africa: Sonja Pithey Consulting submitted the winning Project of the Year for the City of Cape Town S78(3) Waste Review Stakeholder Engagement process.

IAP2 Australasia: City of Marion, South Australia was recognized as the Project of the Year for Making Marion – A Community Plan towards 2040 submitted by Patrice Pearson.

IAP2 USA recognized Healthy Democracy for their Project of the Year entry, “The Citizens’ Initiative Review” submitted by Tyrone Reitman and the City of West Hollywood, Social Services Division for their entry titled “City of West Hollywood 2013 Community Study: Engaging, Listening, Learning”.

All of these entries were judged according to a set of criteria with an emphasis on IAP2’s Core Values by an international panel of judges convened by Leanne Hartill, IAP2 Federation Director, Australia, including:

Patricia Munro, World Café Europe, Germany

Fiona Cavanagh, Centre for Public Involvement, Canada
Rodolfo Lewanski, University of Bologna, Italy (2012 Award Winner)

On behalf of IAP2, I would like to extend our sincere appreciation for their time and dedication to participating in this way.

So without further adieu, it is my pleasure to announce the winner of the IAP2 International Core Values Award Project of the Year…

Healthy Democracy for their Project of the Year entry, “The Citizens’ Initiative Review” submitted by Tyrone Reitman.

Congratulations to all the winners for their excellence in their work in the practice of public participation.

 

Journal of Public Deliberation

The latest edition of the Journal of Public Deliberation is now available. 

Guest Editors  Brian Wampler from  Boise State University, USA  and Janette Hartz-Karp from Curtin University, Australia have brought together an interesting and distinguished range of discussions about the the spread of participatory budgeting across the globe.


Since its humble beginnings in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre in the early 1990s, Participatory Budgeting (PB) programs are now being adopted by governments across the globe. 

This special issue of the Journal of Public Deliberation brings together leading scholars and practitioners of PB in order to expand our understanding about why PB programs are being adopted, how governments are adapting the rules and principles to meet different policy and political goals, and the impact of PB on civil society, state reform, and social well-being. We hope that this special issues helps to bridge an unnecessary divide that seems to separate "participationistas" and "deliberative democrats." 

Join in the conversation.  

Conference Reflection: Guest Blogger Jane Purvis

NORTH AMERICAN CONFERENCE 

Here are a few reflections on a session held at the 2012 North American IAP2 Conference in Halifax.

Our analytic brain gets a workout these days. Factual information flow is all around us, demanding our grey matter to process, process, process. This doesn't always work in favour of us looking at things from another angle, appreciating another perspective, and understanding complex issues. We can, however, help our brains to begin to consider information in a different way by introducing narrative techniques to our engagement processes. Pattie La Croix from Catapult Media took the time to introduce a few of us to the "Narrative Room" technique on Day One of the IAP2 North American Conference. In small groups, we listened to Pattie's ideas about story, and then were given the time and space to work through a narrative room process of our own.

Pattie’s work rests on her favourite definition of story – “A story is a fact, wrapped in emotion that provokes us to take action”. It is the broader narrative context and resulting emotion that takes us from reflexive thinking (our default), to reflective thinking. Reflective thinking supports us in processing complex problems and possibly seeing them in a new way. According to Pattie, narrative techniques also help to build relationships, as we can begin to understand appreciate fellow participants’ deeper personal context, perspective, and emotion with respect to an issue.

Following the small-group practice of the narrative room technique, Pattie reminded us two of the most important points about the ethics of narrative technique – 1) the story that is told should be able to be told in front of the people that it is about and 2) don’t story over someone else’s story.  Pattie made great use of our short time together, and I’m sure many of us will be looking for more information about how to properly use this technique in our processes.

Guest Blogger

Jane Purvis

Presidential Address to IAP2 UK & Ireland Annual General Meeting

Address by Geoff Wilson

Presiding Member

IAP2 Federation Board

May 2012

Thank you for the opportunity to say a few words here today at the Annual General Meeting for IAP2 UK/Ireland. For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Geoff Wilson and I am the presiding member of the IAP2 federation board of directors.

I am from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Some of you may know that it takes about the same time to fly to London from Halifax as it does to fly to Vancouver, British Columbia on Canada’s west coast, so in this Canadian context, I am very close to the UK. And of course Canada and the UK share deep historical and family roots, so it might not surprise you to know that I have a strong affinity for and sense of connection to the UK.

I bring greetings from the IAP2 federation board and offer my congratulations to the executive committee, board volunteers and members of IAP2 UK/Ireland for your achievements over the past few years since becoming an IAP2 affiliate.

I would especially like to acknowledge Nicky Leggatt who I have been so fortunate to work with on the international board in recent years. As well, I am getting to know Emma Cranidge and Rod Sterne and am looking forward to building a closer and more productive working relationship with them.

It’s fair to say that keeping an international professional association alive and relevant during a prolonged international financial crisis has had its challenges. From speaking with Nicky, Emma and Rod I know that every sector in the UK is cutting back on things like public consultation and engagement. It’s therefore a bit ironic that relatively recent public policy changes in the UK have placed a much greater emphasis on public engagement than ever before.

And while I’m sure many of you may be feeling challenged by this, I believe there is a tremendous opportunity for the IAP2 UK/Ireland to grow its membership and its influence on the public involvement stage. What could possibly be more appealing in this environment than a professional association of peers that connects one to a vast international network of practitioners, trainers and researchers? The cost of membership is much less than many other professional associations but the value of the networking opportunities is priceless, in my view.

I understand that IAP2 UK/Ireland is planning some ambitious membership recruitment targets for this coming year. The timing of this couldn’t be better.

I also understand that you’re planning to launch a more interactive web presence. Again, the time is ripe to be reaching out to prospective new members and for creating some new buzz within our professional community in the UK and Ireland.

So, I want to thank each one of you for your commitment to IAP2 UK and Ireland, and for lending your time and expertise to growing this association.

As some of you may know if you are familiar with the federation’s strategic directions, we have embarked on an ambitious international agenda and the UK and Ireland affiliate is a valued contributor to that agenda. We are developing new affiliates in many places – but most exciting and relevant for all of you – many of your European neighbors are working towards IAP2 affiliation. I hope we will be welcoming an Italian affiliate to the federation very soon to join with UK & Ireland, France and a growing European presence.

We are also in the midst of renewing our training program and materials, one of IAP2’s most important initiatives. And, we are developing standards for our field of practice. I know that the development of practice standards for public participation is a particular interest to many of your members, so I hope that UK and Ireland will play an active and leading role in our standards work as it develops in the coming months.

There is much happening at the local and international level in our association to stimulate interest in being an IAP2 member, so I would ask everyone at your AGM to think about five people they will approach to join IAP2 UK and Ireland in the next few weeks. You can begin these conversations by saying how wonderful it is to be part of a growing international network.

Before I conclude, I just want to speak about the importance of the relationship between UK/Ireland, the other IAP2 affiliates and the international board.

Like many of you I joined IAP2 to be part of an international network of colleagues with whom I could share experiences and learn from. That means that it is vitally important for each affiliate not to become too insular; to look beyond borders and reach out to colleagues around the world.  We have much to learn from each other, and much to share.

The federation is the connector for affiliates and their members to the rest of the IAP2 world. If we are to achieve the vision for IAP2 to become the preeminent public participation organization worldwide, UK/Ireland and all affiliates must embrace their membership in a global community of practice. And I would say this of the UK and Ireland from my own personal experience: You have so much knowledge and experience to contribute to our professional field that we need you as an active and engaged affiliate within the IAP2 family.

This federation is the affiliates, and without vigorous and interested participation in the federation by all affiliates, IAP2 cannot deliver the important member benefit of being part of an international network of professionals.

In closing, thank you for this opportunity and congratulations on your AGM. For those who may be looking for professional development opportunities, IAP2 Canada and IAP2 USA are co-hosting a North American conference in late September here in Halifax, and IAP2 members from everywhere are welcome.

I am looking forward to hearing about the many great things that will happen for IAP2 UK/Ireland in the coming months and years, and I thank you for your time and attention today.

IAP2 North American Conference : Call for Proposals

IAP2 North America Conference 2012 – Call for Proposals

IAP2 Canada is hosting an IAP2 Conference on behalf of IAP2 Canada and IAP2 USA.

Here is their message - please share with your colleagues and networks

Welcome to the 2012 North American IAP2 Conference! We are extremely excited to be working with our partner organization IAP2 USA to bring you this event and hope you can join us September 30-October 2, 2012 in beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

You’re Invited
This call for proposals is for interested individuals, groups or organizations to present and share their insights and expertise in the P2 field. Our team was inspired by the idea of P2 equally involving the head, heart and hands and through our conference themes hope to explore how each of these play an integral role in expansion and growth of public participation. We aim to involve researchers, stakeholders, academics, community members, decision-makers, practitioners and others to build together a diverse audience thereby truly getting a 360 perspective.

Conference session proposals must support or align with one of the sub-themes. The key focus questions are not meant to limit but rather used as a launch point and touchstone.

Theme Key Focus Questions

STIMULATE your mind
What have you learned, discovered, proven or identified from your research, study of the field or experience, which will advance the growth and practice of public participation.
This is all about the thinking…..

MOTIVATE your heart
What is at the heart of public participation? We think it might lie in the values, ethics, and feelings associated with P2. What is it that motivates, influences or provokes involvement or lack thereof in public participation?
This is all about the feeling…..

PARTICIPATE in action
What tools, activities, techniques are defining the cutting edge of public participation? How do you find the balance between the “tried & tested” and the “innovative & creative?”
This is all about action…..

For more information please download the full Call for Proposals and proposal template.Proposals are DUE March 23, 2012 and questions should be directed toconference@iap2canada.ca

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2012

Here is a short movie of 2011 showing some of the highlights of activities of the first year of being a Federation of Affiliates.

We hope you enjoy it.

What are you looking forward to in public participation in 2012?

2011 IAP2 Leadership Team announced

IAP2 Board of Directors met for the first time as a Federation of Affiliates in Paris this past weekend (25 -27 February). One of their tasks was elect their leadership team and they elected

President Geoff Wilson - Canada
Vice President Nicky Leggatt - UK & Ireland
Treasurer - Theresa Gunn - USA
Secretary - Lucy Cole-Edelstein - Australasia

More information and an update to members will be available through Affiliates in the near future.

Congratulations to the new team!

Moira Deslandes
Executive Director, IAP2

Jim Creighton Award Winner 2010 Visits Australia

Lars Kluver, from the Danish Board of Technology has been visiting Australia in the past week as a guest of University Western Sydney, Centre for Citizenship and Public Policy , newdemocracy and IAP2. During his visit IAP2 was able to present to him personally the 2010 Jim Creighton Award.

This award is made by the Board and the criteria used is to:

• Have made a significant contribution to the practice over time – 10 years at least


• Have a commitment to advancing the practice through supporting or enabling research


• Be linked to IAP2 core values


• Have capacity to maintain and build relationship with IAP2 and the practice in an international environment

The 201o recipient also demonstrated features of random selection, deliberative processes, innovation and creative approaches. international reach and most importantly courage.

In presenting the award on behalf of IAP2, 2010 Board and Judging Panel member, Professor Lyn Carson used the opportunity to acclaim the enduring contribution and leadership of Lars to the Danish Board of Technology and to the field. She was delighted that he had been able to participate in the IAP2 Summit and share his advice, practice and networks so generously.

Moira Deslandes, IAP2 Executive Director said: "the support and leadership of the World Wide Views project is a beacon to what might be possible in an international environment and has set a new platform for the potential of international public participation. At this time in our life on this planet, this work has never been more needed or vital. I hope this award will enhance, foster and encourage more work on this scale and field."

In his acceptance of the award Lars noted how much he appreciated that courage was recognised as this quality is what drives the practice, the profession and the reach of the Danish Board of Technology. He thanked his team and his country for consistently being at the forefront of this work in the international arena.

IAP2 Canada

President of the IAP2 Canada Interim Board, Bob Waldon, proudly announced to all at the Wild Rose Signature Event last week that IAP2 Canada had been formally accepted into the Federation of IAP2.

The first decision of the year taken in the new Federation was to accept IAP2 Canada.

IAP2 Canada are now in the final stages of putting their infrastructure together so that they are able to support members, extend the practice and further develop and lead public participation in Canada.

There are plenty of opportunities for IAP2 members in Canada to get involved and if you are interested in being a part of volunteer team behind the scenes supporting the growth of IAP2 Canada please don't hesitate to contact Bob Waldon directly.

You can also keep up to date informally with information and events by visiting the Canadian facebook group. Current news on facebook is a message from Anne Harding who is seeking input on member engagement within IAP2 Canada members. Let Anne know your thoughts about how IAP2 Canada might engage with its own members - she looks forward to hearing from you!

New Year Heralds Federation

The Federation of IAP2 commenced on January 1st 2011. Thank you to all the work done locally in countries around the world to build the governance infrastructure to create national and transnational Affiliates. It has been a wonderful year of member engagement at all levels across the association.

When the Federation meets for the first time in February 2011 those sitting around the table will be from: Australasia, USA, France, UK & Ireland, Southern Africa and Canada. There are four groups working to become Affiliates in 2011 and they are in Portugal, Italy, Indonesia and Western Africa. There is also interest in The Netherlands, Poland and Yemen.

The new year commences with an Innovation Summit in Australia to review and re-design the training framework for the Certificate in Public Participation and leaders in the field will be advising IAP2 in this work. Invited to the Summit are distinguished educators, researchers, practitioners and trainers from Australasia, Europe and North America. Amongst the Summiteers will be Lars Kluver from the Danish Board of Technology and 2010 winner of IAP2's Jim Creighton Award; US advocates and networkers in the field of public participation Sandy Hierbarcher (NCCD) and Matt Leighinger (DDC) and internationally recognized for her leading research in random selection and deliberative democracy Prof Lyn Carson from Australia.

There will be regular updates and an opportunity for participation in the Summit via an online blog and input will be most welcome and contact IAP2 HQ to find out how ot link into the event.

Happy New Year to all members of IAP2.

Welcome to Two New Affiliates

Today the Board welcomed two new Affiliates to the IAP2 Federation - Southern Africa and UK & Ireland.

The opening of the Southern Africa Affiliate's submission set the scene and context for their application by saying:

"The practice of public participation in South Africa has flourished over the last decade due to legislative requirements as well as increased emphasis placed on it by the private sector and international organisations. As the practice continues to evolve in Southern Africa region, it has seen a wide range of applications both in terms of methodology and the ability to ensure successful outcomes. The diversity of Southern Africa communities, languages and cultural traditions also requires specialised approaches and expertise, which are enriched by both local realities as well as African traditions of consensus building. For these reasons, it is important to establish a professional body to the Southern Africa experience with linkages to an international body of knowledge. Such an entity could foster the need for a rigorous and ethical approach to public participation - as promoted by the international body - whilst building the capacity of local stakeholders to engage in such processes. "

The UK & Ireland Affiliate are on the cusp of growth and in their sights working the public policy space with government, commerical and not for profit sectors "to understand the public participation processes in developing better decisions which have the buy in of their respective constituents." UK & Ireland IAP2 President wrote in their submission "We are intending to establish a chartership to give professional credibility to the industry and to promote best practice in the UK & Ireland."

Board welcomes with acclamation the two submissions and are looking forward to receiving a submission from Canada next month.

Announcement: New Partnership for IAP2 with DDC

IAP2 would like to announce that it is joining the Deliberative Democracy Consortium’s Journal of Public Deliberation.

For the past three years IAP2 has been publishing the International Journal for Public Participation, as a result of a series of opportunities IAP2 has now formed a partnership with the Journal of Public Deliberation.

This partnership will see more content from practitioners in the Journal for Public Deliberation, the appointment of Dr Lyn Carson as essay editor on behalf of IAP2 and a broad international community of practitioners and researchers networking on line to build debate and dialogues in the field.

IAP2 President Desley Renton said “this initiative builds on the foundations of both journals and will extend the discourse in the field with readers benefitting from firsthand experience of public participation practitioners”.

DDC Executive Director Matt Leighninger said "We are very excited about this new partnership. Working together on JPD will help our networks strengthen the critical links between research and practice, and better support democratic innovation throughout the world."

For more information about the Journal of Public Deliberation contact:
David Procter and Timothy Steffensmeier co-editors
Institute for Civic Discousrse and Democracy (ICDD)
Kansas State University
E-mail: icdd@k-state.edu

Board Approves USA Application for Affiliation

Today the IAP2 Board approved the application from the USA as an Affiliate in the Federation of IAP2 which will commence on Jan 1 2011.

The application was acclaimed by Board members for its quality of presentation, content and activity plans for the year ahead.

In its submission which was presented by Theresa Gunn, IAP2 member of the Grand Canyon Chapter it said that:

IAP2 USA will build on work of existing chapters by supporting, promoting and helping expand these local programming efforts. Over time, IAP2 USA will begin creating and hosting national programming. Despite its initially limited resources, IAP2 USA will focus on delivering value immediately upon launch while working closely with our members to expand our offerings according to their needs. We expect the new board to create the appropriate support structure for this important area of the organization.

Potential activities are listed below.

Programs:
• Coordinate, organize, promote, co-sponsor and otherwise support regional and local events
and get-togethers in both existing and new locations, alone or in cooperation with existing or emerging chapters or other third-party organizations.
• Coordinate, organize, and promote webinars addressing current issues of the field.
• Hold one national event

Member services:
• IAP2 USA website, launched September 1, 2010 (chapter news, member and industry news, event and training calendar, job board, etc.)
• IAP2 USA member intranet (self-service member management, member database, business networking, etc.)

Training:
• Coordinate, sponsor and promote official IAP2 training opportunities
• Help promote other qualifying training opportunities of interest to IAP2 USA members and non-members.
• Partner with qualifying non-IAP2 programs and co-sponsor third-party training opportunities where appropriate.

Research:
• Support, promote and facilitate qualifying research efforts by members, third-party organizations or IAP2 International.
• Host "Core Values Awards" or comparable process to recognize excellence in the field.

The IAP2 Board looks forward to the implementation of this exciting and ambitious agenda of activity for members benefit in the USA!

IAP2 Welcomes France to the Federation

On Saturday 23rd October in Scarborough, UK the submission for Affiliation with soon to be created IAP2 Federation from France was accepted and approved.

Board members "hummed" La Marseillaise to welcome the submission which was presented by Board Member Joana Janiw.

Click here to watch and hear Joana and hear the acclaim from Board members from Canada, UK, Australia and USA.

Gilles-Laurent Rayssac, President of AIP2 said in his correspondence to accompany the submission "Now the world needs public participation to be improved, supported and advocated. If democracy is to rely on national or local legitimate governments, it also needs to be enriched through participatory practices".

The leadership of France within Europe and the Franco-phone community in supporting IAP2 as an Association to grow and its values and principles of practice in public participation is an exciting development for the Association.

Welcome France!

Train-the-Trainer Consultancy Underway

IAP2 is pleased to announce an international group of experienced trainers and consultants have been brought together under the Pattillo banner to be led by Anne Pattillo in association with Viv McWaters, Stephani Roy McCallum and John Miller to undertake the design and development of a process to train future trainers for the organisation's Certificate Program in Public Participation. This project is now underway and will include a range of opportunities for consultation with trainers licensed to IAP2, IAP2 clients and members. The consultants will connect with key stakeholders and advisers to this project. The final products will include a new process to deliver the train-the-trainer sessions, future application and selection criteria for prospective instructors of the Certificate program. Stay tuned!

RFP: Train-the-Trainer Certificate Program Development

IAP2 is request proposals for a project to develop a Train-the-Trainer process for the Certificate in Public Participation. If you have an interest in this field please click here for the RFP. Submissions will close on September 3rd at 4pm (GMT).

Update from Australasia

This week four new trainer candidates from Australia were put through their paces and are completing their requirements to be licensed to IAP2 to deliver the Emotion, Outrage and Public Participation course jointly developed by Peter Sandman and IAP2.

The candidate trainers are Tammie Reid (Western Australia), Emily Jenke (South Australia), Bruce Turner (Victoria) and Matt Hart (Queensland) and in the photo you will see them being congratulated by IAP2 Training Director (Gale Simpson) and Train-the-Trainer instructor and one of the developers of the course Stephani Roy McCallum from Canada.

The Australasian Affiliate also announced this week that 1,000 people this year alone have come to IAP2 events across Australia and New Zealand in all kinds of networking events. This is on top of the training being conducted by the Affiliate and trainers to their clients, communities, public authorities and commercial agencies. Congratulations Australasia!

Australasia have advised IAP2 that they are in the process of completing their documentation to come to the Board to be considered for Affiliation in the Federation of IAP2 which comes into being on January 1st 2011.

Urban Design, Public Art & Regeneration in Lisbon

Lisbon has a deep and immediate relationship between public space, urban design and public participation - it literally oozes out of the landscape! From the redevelopment of the sites established for Expo in '98 through to the inner city spaces where regeneration is taking place; artists and architects are animateurs acting as midwives to these transformations.

If you are working in regeneration you may be interested in learning more about what is happenning in the ancient city of Lisbon by clicking here This is one of the projects of urban consultant and PhD student Pedro Soares Neves who is leading the charge to bring IAP2 to Portugal.

The interest of local government and their experience with Agenda 21 is a firm foundation which IAP2 may compliment and support its development.

AIP2 France

IAP2 International Board Director Joana Janiw was joined by President and members of AIP2 France in a meeting with visitors from Canada and Australia. International Executive Director Moira Deslandes is visiting to learn more about the work of the French Affiliate.

Their first event coming soon is an symposium on social exclusion and public participation. They are very keen to hear from the international community any ideas, key publications or links that will support them in the development of this important topic. The event will be held on October 11th. If you have information you would like to share please let IAP2 know and you will be linked to the organisers of this event.

Scarborough Shines

2009 Project of the Year Winners will be hosting 2010 International Symposium on October 21st. Scarborough will continue to showcase their world beating public participation activities and last night Council and community leaders joined UK IAP2 Board Director Nicky Leggatt and IAP2 Executive Director Moira Deslandes, to plan for this event.

Last year in San Diego Charles Campion from John Thompson accepted the Core Values Award on behalf of Scarborough's Future and last night was able to deliver to the Scarborough's council team the award in person. You can read the award winning project in the 2009 State of the Practice Report.

Cr Derek Bastiman accepted the award on behalf of the Council and is the porfolio holder for Strategic Planning and Regeneration and spoke of the vital importance of public participation and the support of officers of the Council.

The IAP2 Board will be meeting in Europe's most enterprising place after the International Symposium and an invitation will be extended to members and networks to join then in this event, the Core Values Awards for 2010 and the Annual General Meeting of Members.