IAP2 Australasia partners with Next Generation and how you can participate
Australasia’s community engagement peak body – IAP2 Australasia – and the Australian National University’s Next Generation Engagement Program have announced a powerful research partnership that aims to transform the way communities and infrastructure projects interact and to support a step change in the professionalisation of the engagement sector.
IAP2 Australasia Chief Executive Officer, Marion Short, and Next Gen Research Director, Associate Professor Sara Bice, announced the in-principle agreement on Monday night before a group of Next Gen partners and friends including the Global Infrastructure Hub, Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, Infrastructure Australia, Transurban, Aurecon and RPS Australia-Asia Pacific.
“We see this is as such a logical partnership,” Mrs Short said, “IAP2 Australasia is committed to advancing the practice of community and stakeholder engagement through education, advocacy and building partnerships – which aligns very much with our 2020 Strategic Plan to strengthening the evidence base by working with key partners.
“In addition, this partnership will support our key measure of building case studies with tangible outcomes and evidence of capacity building and transformation.
“What could be more topical than researching the impact of engagement on infrastructure delivery, which touches thousands of communities globally?”
The Next Generation Engagement Program’s second annual State of Infrastructure and Community Engagement Survey is the first major collaboration under the agreement. IAP2 Australasia’s 7000 members are being asked to join other infrastructure professionals from across Australia to share their experiences through the survey and help improve understanding about the state of the community engagement discipline and the need for further professionalisation.
“In our 2017-18 survey, participants from across the infrastructure sector told us that although many projects are completed on time, when delays do occur, community and stakeholder pressure is the single most influential factor,’ Research Director, Associate Professor Sara Bice said.
“We’re aiming to build on this and other industry insights with this year’s State of Infrastructure and Community Engagement Survey.”
“We also heard practitioners loud and clear when they raised concerns about pay rates, longevity and career progression. They also shared their perceptions of how their discipline is regarded by peers in the infrastructure sector… of the need to professionalise engagement to help put practitioners on equal footing with their peers and to support better outcomes for projects and communities.”
“We’re now gathering the data that can help us to offer informed solutions to these challenges.”
IAP2 Australasia’s members are being invited to spend around 20 minutes to share their experiences in this anonymous survey.
“The people working at the coal face are the experts. We need their help to get a sense what their challenges and opportunities are when it comes to working with communities to deliver major infrastructure,” Dr Bice said.
Mrs Short concluded: “This is the first in a series of important collaborations between the world’s leading engagement body and the Next Gen Program. We’re also excited to work with Next Gen to encourage the development of a post graduate qualification within the tertiary sector, and to collaborate with the IAP2A Research Working Group.”
“I encourage any IAP2 Australasia member who is interested in the future of our profession to share their experiences with NextGen,” Mrs Short said.
Share your experiences in the State of Infrastructure and Community Engagement Survey now – submissions close Friday 1 March!
Media contacts: Kirsty O’Connell 0411 100 734 (Next Gen) and Marion Short 0420 427 497 (IAP2 Australasia).
