Amanda Newbery

How to write a community engagement plan

How to write a community engagement plan

Writing a community engagement plan can be a daunting task for any project manager or community engagement officer. There’s a lot to consider when planning community engagement.  Here’s a list of what to include in your community engagement plan and why it’s...

Building resilience

Building resilience

Resilience comes in many forms, whether it be discovering new skills, building new relationships, being more informed, taking decisive action or working with people who share common goals. Having worked in several regional areas across Queensland in 2020, one thing...

What is community engagement?

What is community engagement?

Community engagement is the practice of gaining community input or feedback, or collaborating with communities, to make better decisions or to implement changes. The International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) Australasia defines community engagement as:...

The toughest of projects

The toughest of projects

Last week, someone asked me what “tough projects” meant. It varies. It might be engaging on a policy change to address climate change, working on COVID, or working with communities experiencing really difficult community challenges like racism or domestic violence....

Tackling tough problems – improving staff morale

Tackling tough problems – improving staff morale

The executive manager shook his head. “I don’t know what to do. The annual staff survey results aren’t good. Staff morale is falling.” It wasn’t the first year. Morale had fallen in previous surveys. What should they do? At that point nobody knew. The answer lay in...

Behaviour change

Behaviour change

In 2020, the critical importance of behaviour change became apparent. Especially in the sectors of health, mental health, disaster resilience – all which featured so heavily during 2020 – engagement can and does change the way people think and act. By engaging with...

Welcome to 2021

Welcome to 2021

After a highly unusual 2020, our blog is back. During 2020, we focused on a few things that kept our attention away from blogging, notably working in COVID, home schooling, and making sure we had some time and space to take care of our families and mental health. We...