WORKSHOPS
Monday 21st February, 2011
Thursday 24th February, 2011

In order to engage in effective regional development it is necessary to understand where the potential lies in the region and have a realistic picture of its networks, population and assets.

This workshop will engage you in a process of identifying, exploring and evaluating community assets, partnerships and opportunities in your regional areas. It will provide a benchmarking exercise to evaluate where you are now and how to get to where you would like to be.

This workshop is designed for those across the three tiers of government and other regional stakeholders. It will equip you with the necessary tools to evaluate the assets of individual regions, engage the community and situate decision-making closer to the people affected. It will also assist you to exchange and transfer skills across stakeholders from all levels.

By attending you will learn:

• Effective asset mapping and how to best engage communities in the process
• How to evaluate working relationships for enhanced collaboration in the future
• How you can leverage current assets to improve the potential and realise achievable outcomes
• The importance of working from a strengths perspective in achieving effective outcomes
• The strengths and limitations of the ABCD approach.

About your workshop leader:

Dr Phil Connors
Lecturer and Course Director, International and Community Development
Deakin University

Dr Phil Connors has worked, taught, researched and published in the community development field internationally and in Australia for over 20 years. His doctoral research focused on community economic development in the context of economic globalisation, and he maintains a keen interest in this field.

His current areas of research include transition towns as examples of re-localisation and building community resilience, with a particular focus on governance, participation and localised food production.

Partnerships will be an essential component of regional development in Australia over the next decade. With evolving policy directions, adjustment to climate change and changing populations, successful regions will need to set their own agenda as well as engage government, service providers and the community in strategies to achieve their vision. This workshop will draw together the conference topics and provide a practical approach to building regional partnerships in rural and regional Australia.

By attending this workshop you will learn how to:

• Develop a common vision
• Identify and engage new players in your region
• Use collaboration with your partners to build knowledge and direction
• Create and manage funding that delivers
• Build leadership.

This workshop will use an action learning approach so that you experience the process, plus gain new knowledge and great connections.

About your workshop leader:

Kristine Peters
Chair
North West Business Development Centre

Kristine Peters is Principal Consultant at KPPM Organisational Strategists, a consulting firm she started in 1994 that focuses on social and policy research, strategic planning and organisational development. Her particular interest is policy implementation that generates good outcomes for both government and beneficiaries of the policy. Her social research experience has also provided useful perspectives on developing and implementing policy change.

Kristine's work includes the management of the South Australian Government's Community Builders programme which provides rural facilitators with training to support ongoing local capacity-building.