OVERVIEW OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM FOR 2024 · Report

ORDINARY MEETING                                                                      16 MAY 2024


   •   Increased social capital due to greater trust and knowledge acquired while working
       collaboratively with the community.
   •   Stronger relationships between Councillors, council officers and residents, including
       stakeholder groups.

Ongoing strategic initiatives to enhance Council’s community engagement capabilities
Noosa Council continues to enhance community engagement capabilities within the organisation
and through external initiatives, as outlined below.

Internal Capability
A range of internal capacity-building strategies are currently underway as part of continuous
improvement initiatives to enhance community engagement skills and practitioner expertise across
the organisation. This includes the development of an internal Community Engagement
Ambassadors Network, and investment in IAP2 aligned community engagement training for staff
across the organisation with engagement capabilities as part of their role.

The inaugural Community Engagement Ambassadors Network, led by the Community Engagement
Advisor, will be a network of internal engagement expertise and support, advocating for ways of
engaging our community that are in line with the Community Engagement Framework and our
obligations under the Local Government Act. IAP2 aligned training will elevate the level of skill and
confidence of key internal staff to design, plan and deliver high-quality engagement that assists
Council to make decisions that are informed by the aspirations and perspectives of our community
and stakeholders.

Further, Noosa Council has commenced investigation of other engagement platform options that can
optimise how we host engagement projects to engage the community to have their say and improve
internal workflows.

External Capability

Several initiatives are highlighted to enhance external engagement capabilities from 2024: improving
ways younger people are included in engagement and Council decision-making, re-introducing
Council Meetings in the community and Councillor Coffee Chats around the Shire.

Objective 4.4 in the Noosa Council Corporate Plan 2023 – 2038 is to “improve opportunities for
increased inclusion of young people in community engagement and decision-making to provide
relevant services, activities and opportunities.” Council has commenced investigations on how to
enhance engagement with younger people and harder-to-reach cohorts, and the Community
Engagement Ambassador Network will continue this work as a collaborative network of practitioners
to identify potential opportunities for the Executive Team and Council that also factor in the
commitments of time, resources and budget for consideration.

Council will re-introduce Council Meetings in the community and Coffee Chats with Councillors in
this term. The Council meetings in the community initiative builds on the Live Streaming capability
introduced in 2019 to improve the accessibility of Council’s General and Ordinary Meetings.

Forthcoming engagement
An extensive schedule of community and stakeholder engagement has been identified and
scheduling of engagement projects is subject to ongoing consultation with the Executive and
Councillor Teams. An outline of identified community engagement projects is attached.

How the community can engage to inform decision-making on Council projects
We encourage the community to stay informed and engage with Council on key strategic projects in
a range of ways.