Effective governance; insights from recent training courses

Effective governance; insights from recent training courses

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Starting meetings in the right way.

Ninti One has been conducting training in governance for voluntary committees in remote communities that are participating in the Stronger Communities for Children program, which is Australian Government supported. Working with colleagues at Ninti One, I have developed the materials and delivered the first few sessions in locations in the Northern Territory.
All along, we have wanted the training to be interactive, meaning that people get the chance to practice governance skills rather than just watching a presentation. Thanks to the willingness of committee members to have a go at the various exercises we have developed, some interesting insights and lessons on governance training have come out of the work. I share a few of them here.

Starting meetings in the right way.

It can be easy to think that board or committee meetings simply happen once everyone has shown up. The reality is that the start of meetings can be a messy and confusing business. Through the training, we noticed that an effective chairperson makes people welcome, sets the right tone for the meeting and gets the work started. Practising how best to start meeting makes all the difference.

Visuals replacing words.

Too much paper and too many words can sometimes get in the way of good decision-making. We found that summarising the main subjects for discussion in 1-5 words in a series of circles on the white board, with space for other people to draw arrows or make notes, provides a simple focus. In one case, the discussion really kicked off, with members of the group coming to the front of the room to explain their views on each subject.

Getting everyone involved.

Not everyone wants to speak in front of a group, which is fine as no committee needs to be full of public speakers. But still their views should be taken into account because everyone at the meeting is there as a decision-maker. We found that breaking up into small groups of 2-3 people to discuss particular topics really worked well. Here the chairperson has an important job in suggesting the right mix of people in the groups and making sure the report back from each one is clear and understood by everyone else.

Handling conflicts of interest.

A conflict of interest is not easy for anyone to define clearly, but most people know one when they see it. I describe it as a situation when a person’s role as a committee member is hampered by personal or family interests in a subject the committee is discussing. In small communities, conflicts of interest are inevitable. Through the training, we found that defining what it means, using examples and then agreeing a clear procedure where members declare their conflict of interest seem like a big step forward. Along with nepotism and confidentiality, the subject benefits from open discussion.

Improved and more effective governance is critical to remote communities. It has been a subject of much work by government, NGOs, researchers and communities themselves over many years. Ninti One is developing a sound approach to governance training that I hope will become more widely available in time.

Minyerri; what a community arts centre is for

Minyerri; what a community arts centre is for

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We have been working with the community of Minyerri recently through a project managed by Enterprise Learning Projects (ELP) through The Smith Family. The work is part of the Australian Government-funded Communities for Children program.

I visited the community in August during a period when the Arts Centre was being revitalised and relaunched, so it was an exciting time as the building was repaired and improved. A beautiful sign was created by the women and children at the Centre (see the photo).

At this time, the activities of the centre were also being planned, which is why I was there. My job was to help the people running the Arts Centre and ELP work out a way of planning and measuring the results of the work they would be doing at the Centre into the future. We call this a Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, which is a grand-sounding name for a table with three columns and which follows the logic below:

Discussing this framework with the women at the Arts Centre led to one important question; what is the Minyerri Arrts Centre for? There are many answers to this question. As we talked about it, the conversation produced a set of outcomes that define what they are trying to achieve. Outcomes include sharing of knowledge between older and younger generations in the community, developing new skills, building self-esteem of children and young people and strengthening connections that they have with their history and culture.

These are early days but the Arts Centre is becoming a place for many activities to take place. Drawing and painting are part of the plan, especially as after-school activities. One lady is making cushions there. Minyerri is also the home of Gulbarn Tea and so the collecting and packaging of tea also takes place there. More information on Gulbarn can be found here: https://gulbarn.com.au.

The official opening day was 1st October. The children formed their own mini catering and events organisation, doing all the promotional material and distribution around Minyerri. They prepared wraps and popcorn and sold food and art to the community. It fitted in with one of the outcomes in the framework: ‘The community, especially parents, will know about the good things that kids can do at the Art Centre, that will help them grow up well’.

I will be visiting Minyerri again in February, this time to help work out ways to collect information on the outcomes being achieved. No doubt we will review the framework in the light of experience so far at the Arts Centre. I am looking forward to being there again with Minyerri people and the ELP team.

Countering violent extremism through social resilience

Countering violent extremism through social resilience

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It is September 11th, and I am steeped in literature relating to counter-terrorism. Community Works has recently engaged in a new project examining ways of building social resilience to prevent violent extremism, and, importantly, how to approach evaluation and impact assessment in this rapidly emerging area.

War and Peace by Jason Edmiston

A shift to prevention

Governments around the world are struggling to figure out how to prevent the disillusionment of the post-911 landscape from breeding future terrorist activity. The importance of research into countering violent extremism (CVE) has gained traction in recent years as increasing evidence demonstrates that hardline approaches to counter-terrorism can actually exacerbate the threat. At the same time, there is a surge in recognition that preventing new recruits from resorting to violent extremism requires a drastically different skillset from conventional approaches to counter-terrorism that focus on detection and interception of attacks.

Early approaches to CVE focused on broad attempts to ‘counter the narrative’ of radical ideologies, but it is now understood that ideologies are only a small part of the problem. More and more, analysts and policy-makers are recognising the need for social approaches rooted in local contexts. Growing emphasis is being placed on finding ways to build social resilience among individuals and communities to resist the pull of violent extremism.

Context, contact, and complexity

It occurred to me today that, like the broader field itself, my own approach to studying CVE is rooted strongly in the history of what happened on this day fourteen years ago. At that time, I was living abroad in Denmark as a volunteer at a residential school for at-risk youth. One of our students, Habib, had recently arrived from Afghanistan. He was almost fifteen years old, spoke little Danish and even less English. His father had vehemently opposed the Taliban, and their attempts to punish his family had driven them to flee. Soon after I first saw those planes slam into the skyline of a city I love, in the country where I grew up, Habib came to me and apologised with great sincerity. My response was astonishment: ‘No Habib! What happened today has nothing to do with you!’

But of course it did, because my government’s response was to launch an attack on Habib’s country. When he heard the news, he collapsed in tears and repeated adamantly ‘If they stop the Taliban then it will be worth it.’ This was no light statement: aside from his parents and siblings, Habib’s whole family, his entire history was in Kandahar, one of the first cities to be bombed. Whereas I had been able to pick up the phone and hear almost immediately that all my loved ones were safe, it would be months before Habib would learn the fate of his family. Fourteen years later, there are far too many young people facing similar situations.

The nuances that unfolded in this exchange with Habib have made it impossible for me to think of the ongoing wars in the Middle East as a matter of ‘us’ and ‘them’. Although our countries were at war, it was plainly clear that he and I were not enemies and no amount of propaganda could convince me otherwise. The psych-social processes at play here fascinated me, and my research in the years that followed explored how interaction between people from different cultural backgrounds relates to peacebuilding. The social psychology of peacebuilding now plays a central role in my investigation of innovative methods for countering violent extremism.

The demand for research on CVE

Community Works has recently conducted a review of the literature surrounding CVE. A strong theme to emerge from the review is the demand for more rigorous studies, especially to develop effective methodologies for social approaches to countering violent extremism at the local level. Specifically, the literature points to the need for:

  • Collaborative, transdisciplinary approaches – most studies of CVE have arisen from security-focused fields; there is a strong need for input from a range of perspectives including psychology, sociology, education and public health;
  • Focus on stakeholder ownership and empowerment – there is strong theoretical support for the importance of empowering communities through CVE initiatives, but very few programs employ participatory approaches;
  • Studies that focus on women and girls – the vast majority of research on CVE has focused on men and boys, with very little consideration of the strong potential role of women and girls
  • Innovative methods for impact assessment – although governments are increasingly investing in social approaches to CVE, there remains no clear idea of how to gauge which programs are achieving impact;

In partnership with LaTrobe University, Community Works is currently developing a longer-term research project with the intention of filling these crucial gaps. The project will draw heavily from key theoretical frameworks emerging from the social sciences, such as intergroup contact theory, moral inclusion, and social cohesion. The central aim of the project will be to assist a local CVE initiative in developing ethical and effective methods for measuring and leveraging their impact.

Source: Holmer, G (2013), ‘Countering Violent Extremism: A Peacebuilding Perspective’, United States Institute of Peace Special Report.

What an effective program is

What an effective program is

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Our partnership with Ninti One

Our partnership with Ninti One (www.nintione.com.au) is never short of complex and challenging work. Recent discussions have centred on the design and planning of programs. Frameworks for measuring impact, governance training and achieving an effective model for supporting the rollout of programs across a geographically expanded area of remote Australia have been central to the current period of work. It has been interesting to reflect on what makes for an effective program. Drawing on other programs managed by Ninti One and Community Works, six key ingredients come to mind:
  • Productive relationships, especially through investing in building trust and rapport with community organisations
  • A program model that everyone understands, meaning that priorities, ways of working, roles and responsibilities fit together in a manner that might not be perfect but is workable.
  • A strategy that navigates whatever complexities exist around policy, practice, local expectations and needs to achieve the desired results on a cost-effective way.
  • Clear-sighted communication with stakeholders, meaning the range of people with an interest in or affected by the program. It involves making sure people and organisations are kept informed, consulted with and participate in a way that is appropriate to the program.
  • A shared understanding of what success looks like, which is critical in situations where problems may be many and program participants consistently feel they are not achieving what they want.
  • Leadership, especially where decisions need to be made with clarity and confidence.
Yes, it may be true that financial management, accountability and other factors are not included above, but my focus here is on the human aspects of programs, which have to be central to programs and projects with a social focus. Work continues and we look forward to contributing to the determined, long-term economic and social development efforts of Ninti One and many people and organisations in remote Australia.
Ninti One’s Aboriginal Community Researcher network plays a central role in its programs
Mining and community engagement in Chile

Mining and community engagement in Chile

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Development and presention seminar at the Alberto Hurtado University

Community Works was very pleased to work with InnovacionAL (www.innovacional.com) to develop and present a seminar at the Alberto Hurtado University on 5th March 2015. The theme was Mining and Community Engagement. As well as the university, the event was supported by the Ministry of Mining of the Government of Chile and Casa de la Paz, an NGO in Chile with interests in improving the interaction between mining companies, communities and stakeholders.
Yanina Kowszyk, Director of InnovacionAL introducing Steve Fisher from Community Works

For the first hour, I presented materials on the subject drawn from Australian experiences, including case studies from projects in which Community Works has been involved, as well as the Aboriginal Community Research network of Ninti One Ltd (www.nintione.com.au) and others. The IAP2 Framework is a useful tool for discussion of the subject, as is the generational framework developed by Kemp and Boele and adopted as part of the best practice manuals promoted by the Australian Government Department of Industry. I presented both frameworks, together with other methods and approaches.

For the first hour, I presented materials on the subject drawn from Australian experiences, including case studies from projects in which Community Works has been involved, as well as the Aboriginal Community Research network of Ninti One Ltd (www.nintione.com.au) and others. The IAP2 Framework is a useful tool for discussion of the subject, as is the generational framework developed by Kemp and Boele and adopted as part of the best practice manuals promoted by the Australian Government Department of Industry. I presented both frameworks, together with other methods and approaches.

When working with the Queensland University of Technology on training programs for mining professionals, I have always found it useful to separate community engagement into strategic and transactional levels. Strategic refers to the choice of overall frameworks for how to work effectively with communities, such as partnership agreements. Transactional work refers to the day-to-day interactions between community residents or members and outsider professionals from companies, government agencies and NGOs. Facilitation skills are a part of these processes and the seminar discussed them in some detail. Clearly an underlying principle is the need to generate rapport and respect in both directions.

Seminar ‘Mining and Community Engagement’ conducted in Chile in partnership with InnovacionAL

Always learning something new about community engagement

Always learning something new about community engagement

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We receive regular requests for advice and information on approaches to community engagement. I have also been teaching the subject to masters students at Melbourne University. So I find myself thinking about the subject a lot. Some insights on the topic come from three recent project experiences, described below.

Physical spaces with activities in them:

BasicNeeds is producing a handbook for the Rangoonwala Foundation. Community engagement in the community centres operated by the Foundation is based on practical activities for which there is a local demand, held in a space that women and children are happy to attend.

Building rapport:

I recently visited a remote community of around 12 houses and 50 people, 500km from the nearest town, in a desert location in Australia. I was working for Ninti One. Community engagement here involves an investment of time travelling and sitting down with people to work out ways to tackle local problems. We had most success when using interpreters since people can, of course, best express their views in their own language and trust and rapport are easier to develop.

Parallel processes:

Sometimes communities can feel that decisions are being made in different rooms from the ones they are in. The Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre, with which we are currently working, runs parallel processes. This means that their community of up to 60 young people are part of a ‘Youth Brains Trust’ that considers what the organisation is doing and feeds into its decision-making. The beauty of the approach is that it doesn’t push members of the community into situations where they cannot necessarily be themselves (such as board meetings).

There’s always something new to learn about the policy and practice of organisations when it comes to achieving effective community engagement. We are building up a resource of examples on the subject.