Information on Foundations Courses

Planning Course (3 days, prerequisite for Techniques course) 

Learning Objectives

At the end of this three-day course, participants will:

• Define public participation and explain the rationale behind it
• Explain the three foundations of effective public participation
• List the five steps in the planning process
• Discuss how to plan p2 objectives that can be integrated into an agency’s decision-making process
• Explain how communication objectives support effective public participation
• Choose from various p2 techniques to support accomplishment of p2 objectives.

Course Overview

• What is Public Participation?
  
• Who is the Public?
  
• • The Orbits of Public Participation
  • Hard-to-Reach Stakeholders and Striving for Inclusive Participation
• IAP2’s Foundations of Public Participation
• • Foundation 1: Values-Based What are Values? and why are they important in P2?
    —IAP2’s Core Values for the Practice of Public Participation
    —IAP2's Code of Ethics
    
  • Foundation 2: Decision-Oriented
  • Foundation 3: Goal-Driven
    —IAP2s Public Participation Spectrum
    
• IAP2’s Five Steps for Public Participation Planning
  
• • Planning Step 1: Gain Internal Commitment -- the decision maker; organization; and preliminary decision description, stakeholder list, spectrum level
  • Planning Step 2: Learn from the Public
  • Planning Step 3: Select the Level of Participation
  • Planning Step 4: Define the Decision Process and Identify the Public Participation and Communication Objectives
  • Planning Step 5: Write the P2 plan including selecting techniques, assessing needed and available resources and planning for evaluation
• Digging Deeper
  
• • Public Participation Planning and Effective Communication
  • Learning Styles and Public Participation
  • Helping People Move from Positions to Interests
  • Engaging Indigenous, Marginalized and Other Excluded Groups or Missing Voices
  • Dealing with Emotions—Outrage, Fear and Anger—in Public Settings and the Importance of Empathy and Building Relationships
  • Closing the Loop with Stakeholders
  • Attitude is Everything
• Wrap up & Closure

Techniques (2 days)

Learning Objectives

At the end of this two-day course, participants will:

• Understand key characteristics of a wide variety of traditional and emerging techniques and technologies
• Assess and select techniques to meet identified public participation objectives
• Modify and combine techniques to meet various objectives and circumstances
• Determine the skills and resources needed to use different techniques effectively
• Evaluate their use of varying public participation techniques