A program and excerpts from the papers listed below can be downloaded here.

• Community Engagement and Local Government (Working Paper [Download] + Annotated Bibliography [Download])
• The UK Transition Network and Community Governance (draft Discussion Paper) [Download]
• Evolution in Community Governance: Building on What Works (Working Paper and Literature Review - draft under review).

Hosted by the City of Melbourne, the workshop was attended by 30 people from a range of councils and from the local government organisations, MAV, VLGA and LGAT.  In welcoming people to the City of Melbourne, Councillor Jackie Watts reinforced the importance of the aim of ACELG supported research - that it result in practical outcomes.

Workshop participants provided feedback on four of the challenges identified in the community engagement research:

• how their community engagement policies are translating into practice
• more effective involvement of communities in long term community planning
• the use of new and innovative approaches
• how councils can measure the effectiveness of their engagement policies and practices.

Community engagement is increasingly being considered in the context of a community governance approach, where communities are viewed as partners in decision making about local futures. Following two presentations on the topic, participants discussed the findings of the research in the context of their own council area. The value of a placed based approach was emphasised by one council, as they found residents only wanted to be involved in decisions that affected their neighbourhood.

Following a presentation on the City of Melbourne’s approach to community engagement, Desley Renton (Manager of Community Engagement) led the final session which looked at three areas of activity that could result in improved community engagement practice:

• Learning and training opportunities
• Additional support that could be provided by local government associations
• Further research

The range of practical and detailed suggestions arising from this session are now being followed up within ACELG and in discussion with a range of local government organisations.

Authors are currently finalising the Evolution in Community Governance paper which should be available from the ACELG website by mid-December.