Community engagement excellence recognised
Hundreds of projects, strategies and initiatives have been shaped by the Sunshine Coast community over the past few years, thanks to the local council’s focus on excellence in community engagement.
The focus has paid off with Sunshine Coast Council awarded Highly Commended for Organisation of the Year at the IAP2 Australasia Core Values Awards, recently held in Melbourne.
The award recognises council’s journey over the past five years to embed best practice community engagement processes, which has culminated in a renewed Community Engagement: Excellence in Engagement Framework.
Community Portfolio Councillor David Law said the award was an incredible achievement for council and its Community Engagement team.
“The Excellence in Engagement Framework ensures our community’s voices and needs are heard using best practice engagement approaches to inform council action and decision making,” Cr Law said.
“Council regularly uses this framework for many of its projects including the recently delivered new planning scheme engagement – one of the largest and most successful engagements ever undertaken on the Sunshine Coast; Our People, Our Places, Our Aura project, and our various placemaking and place revitalisation programs, to name a few.
“It guides leading practice in innovative approaches to community engagement to address issues of local importance and build social capital and capacity within our community.
“Council prioritised the establishment of a centre of excellence in community engagement in 2017 and since then significant work has been conducted to direct best practice and collaborative approaches to our engagement, with a renewed Community Engagement Policy and Excellence in Engagement Framework adopted in March 2021.
“The Framework builds on the best practice engagement approach and intention used to develop and implement the Sunshine Coast Community Strategy 2019-2041.
“This is a fabulous achievement for council and this award recognises the huge amount of work our team have put in to make our engagement framework and delivery the best it can be.”
A key tool in council’s community engagement success has been the Have Your Say platform - a central portal created to spark innovative ideas in an easy-to-navigate format.
Community members are encouraged to register online to receive important community consultation updates, and for those who are already subscribed to also review and update their profiles and preferences.
“Every voice in our region has value, and we genuinely encourage you to contribute your ideas and submit feedback on matters that affect you and your community,” Cr Law said.
“Jump onto the platform today, take a look and register, or update your details as it will only take a moment.”
Key community engagement achievements include:
- Launch of our new contemporary Have your Say online engagement platform
- Hundreds of projects, strategies and initiatives have been shaped by our community
- Two new Community Engagement Practitioners have been recruited to implement the Community Engagement Action Plan and embed the Framework practices
- Delivery of corporate training, lunch and learn sessions and the establishment of a Community of Practice to support staff in achieving best practice community engagement
- Establishment of the Sunshine Coast Youth Council as part of council’s commitment to engage and empower young people.