Please find pasted below Econnect Communication’s November newsletter. This newsletter is particularly focused on the outcomes from the recent Natural Resources Communicator’s conference organised by the Murray-Darling Basin Commission. Three of us from Econnect Communication participated in the Conference in Canberra. Some 43 communication topics were discussed in an open space forum by over 100 NRM communicators. To our knowledge, this is the first time such a conference has been held in Australia.

 

With regards

The team at Econnect Communication (Jenni Metcalfe, Lin Martin, Louise Ralph, Michelle Riedlinger)

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CONTACT ECONNECT COMMUNICATION – phone 07 3846 7111; EMAIL admin@econnect.com.au; website: http://www.econnect.com.au. Econnect is committed to planning and delivering innovative and effective communication in the natural resource and environmental fields to ensure a sustainable future. We work with clients and their partners in an open, respectful and cooperative manner fulfilling our commitment to conservation and social justice.

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NEWSLETTER 6, 27 November 2001

Feel free to reproduce any of the following articles as long as you acknowledge Econnect as the source; and feel free to send this newsletter to anyone else who might be interested and/or put onto our newsletter contact list. Past copies of newsletters can be found on our website.

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CREATING CHANGE THROUGH COMMUNICATION By Lin Martin and Jenni Metcalfe

Some of the discussions focusing around change were eye openers for us, with quite of lot of sociologically-based land use research underway or just concluded in the Basin.

Some of the findings are that:

·         the processes for change have to be designed and driven by community/interest groups themselves

·         agencies have a role in funding and providing training, support, and expertise to build  the capacities of communities (within their process)

·         such programs are long term - 10 years on average -  and must be planned and funded to continue over changes in governments etc.

·         there needs to be much more time spent on “front end” work, in defining everyone’s needs and interests, determining areas that can be negotiated, and agreeing on everyone’s roles

·         independent mediators can help resolve conflicts within communities so that people move forward on common ground

·         there is a need to move beyond the “usual suspects” in community engagement

·         the community needs to be able to see how the environment permeates throughout their lives (not as an optional extra)

·         R&D funding organisations need to value and engage the community in their research funding agendas

·         other creative means of communication – such as drama, theatre, arts and photography – can be used to engage different community sectors than are currently involved

·         there is a need to share innovative ideas across the Basin

 

The CSIRO Heartland's program actually uses 'champion producers' to go out and talk to other producers. They are trained and coached by scientists, and are funded and supported to do this. This and other working models provide examples that we can all learn from.

 

COMMUNICATING THROUGH CREATIVE EXPRESSION By Lin Martin

John Reid (Australian National University) and I facilitated discussion on the use of "non traditional" or expressive communication techniques in natural resource management, including art, installations, drama, performance etc. These techniques work by involving the community, delivering information and creating dialogue. We discussed many experiences that had been very effective, from art shows by Landcare groups, oral history projects with land users to performances with interest groups.

 

What was common about all these methods was that the use of these techniques was often considered risky by those "in charge" and that we needed to comprehensively evaluate our activities and to compile examples of "off the wall" methods that work. (We will dedicate a future newsletter to this.)

John wrote a brief manifesto: Art, in its broadest sense, is an aesthetic expression of information and emotion, and it can transcend virtually all human boundaries.

·         It is still the communication of the future

·         It embodies a value laden history

·         It is accessible to all as a personal communication of ownership and values

·         It has the capacity to visualise the invisible and materialise the intangible

·         It has the creative momentum to go beyond the square

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COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION By Michelle Reidlinger

The need for a better understanding of collaboration in Natural Resource Management struck a chord with many participants at this conference. This requirement wasn’t just lip-service to community or government involvement but the expression of a genuine need to deal with many of the facets of collaboration including:

- recognising and respecting areas of common ground

- building on mutual strengths for maximum benefits

- sharing power

- encouraging generosity and goodwill

- having a real purpose and not just getting together for the sake of it

- acknowledging and respecting differences

 

Identifying reasons for collaboration can come very easily under these conditions. Of course, you can’t make collaboration happen, you can only make the environment conducive for collaboration to occur. Communication mechanisms help to facilitate collaboration under the conditions described above, but it can often appear to be quite chaotic. Reducing output-driven processes will also result in more effective and long-term collaboration.

 

Elements to consider for creating a collaborative environment include:

*Time – it takes time for dialogue to develop relationships and trust so be patient

*Scale – servicing various scales of collaboration (8 or 8 000) takes different mechanisms and this needs to be acknowledged

*Passion – encourage, support and kindle the passions of those involved so that they share this with others

*Regulatory and institutional frameworks – make these transparent so that everyone knows how they support (or hinder) collaboration

*Language – overcome language barriers (including jargon) without devaluing its usefulness by creating shared stories and symbols; the same story may need to be told differently to those involved so they are able to share it

*Place – a shared sense of place (real or constructed) is important for establishing commonality between all collaborators

*Funding – share with others how funding can be harnessed for developing a collaborative environment (or indeed how it can hinder it)

*Power structures – recognise that power structures exist and put them on the table early

*Expectations – clarify, negotiate and acknowledge the expectations of the groups involved

*Credibility – determine and negotiate the credibility of those involved because the acceptance of information is based on trust and respect

*Skills – identify the skills necessary for members so that collaboration becomes part of the culture e.g. negotiation or interpersonal skills

*Initiation – ensure all partners come to the table in the beginning so that relationships are equitable

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EVALUATING OUR INVESTMENT IN COMMUNICATION By Jenni Metcalfe

I participated in a valuable session towards the end of the conference about evaluation. I was interested to hear what a range of people are doing in evaluation. Some of the tips shared in this session included the need:

*for simple clear objectives to start with

*for clearly stating the purpose of the evaluation and the benefits to be derived from it

*to have baseline data to be able to measure change (a lot of data is already available through surveys etc)

*to have a mix of quantitative and qualitative measurement tools

*to allocate at least four percent of your budget to evaluation

*to evaluate activities as they are going along – not just at the end

*to measure short, medium and long-term objectives or goals

 

There was some discussion about the difficulty of evaluating relationships and the building of trust. However, it seems that qualitative measures determined from data obtained in focus groups and interviews are useful in this respect.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE NATURAL RESOURCES COMMUNICATOR’S CONFERENCE, CONTACT: Lawrie Kirk, lawrie.kirk@mdbc.gov.au; phone 02 6279 0107

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