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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.

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.

Community Works acknowledges the First Nations people upon whose lands we operate. We recognise that this land was never terra nullius. Their land was never ceded, given up, bought or sold. We recognise continuing connection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to their land, language, waters, sky and culture. We pay our respects to Elders, past present and emerging.