Community Engagement Training – IAP2

Engagement Plus delivers the IAP2 Australasia Certificate of Engagement training program via face to face and virtual classroom deliveries.  Our principal trainer Michelle Feenan is a course developer of many of the courses in the training program.

The IAP2 Australasia Certificate of Engagement has been designed to meet the needs of the Australasian engagement practitioner, and takes a holistic approach looking at the many perspectives and facets of engagement in the modern context.

The Certificate incorporates flexibility with a range of core and elective courses ranging between one to two day courses so that learners can choose their own learning pathway.

Course Descriptions

This is the prerequisite course for IAP2 Australasia’s Certificate of Engagement and you must complete this course before any others. You will learn to:

  • Identify key elements of contemporary and quality engagement practices
  • Ethically practice the application of the IAP2 Core Values and Code of Ethics, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion principles
  • Understand and apply the principles of the Community Engagement Model (CEM) to be clear on who leads and acts in the engagement process
  • Understand and use the IAP2 Australasia Practice Framework to guide your engagement processes to successfully Plan, Design, Implement and Review your engagement project.

By the end of this course you will understand the essential elements of a ‘best practice’ contemporary model for engagement and the next steps you, or your organisation need to take.

The Design and Plan Engagement course focuses on the Design and Plan stages of the Practice Framework and provides ‘best practice’ key concepts and processes for both internal and external engagement.

The course assists engagement practitioners to prepare and develop a comprehensive engagement plan through working on genuine scenarios in a step-by-step process.

By the end of this course, you will be able to identify and understand the roles of the community, stakeholders and organisations and how they may impact the decision, action and engagement for your engagement project, and design engagement programs and approaches for a range of purposes and situations.

The aim of Apply Engagement Methods is to introduce engagement practitioners to a variety of different methods to use in their engagement processes, when planning engagement and the outcomes required.

You will be introduced to the IAP2 Australasia Engagement Methods Tool (EMT) and the Methods Matrix, where there are more than 60 combined face-to-face and online engagement methods, and you will explore and practice a range of engagement methods. Through practising and using different methods for engagement you will enhance your skills and knowledge of methods that work well in different contexts.

The course allows you the opportunity to select and develop methods that can be tailored to suit your audiences and desired outcomes of your engagement project.

The aim of the course is to build on an individual engagement practitioner’s capability to work with conflict in engagement processes, including recognising people’s behaviours, developing personal practitioner skills and using appropriate facilitation tools.

This course is suitable for people who are working one-to-one with people, project teams, or groups, in the engagement process.

The three areas of focus are:

  1. Recognising people’s behaviours and emotions and why they occur in conflict situations.
  2. Developing individual skills and abilities to manage the participant’s own responses in conflict situations and fulfil the practitioner’s role.
  3. Using tools and/or strategies to facilitate engagement processes where conflict is present.

By the end of this course you will have developed skills to enhance your ability to approach engagement situations that might trigger conflict and to better understand your own responses to conflict and how to stay resourceful in the face of conflict.

The aim of this course is to enhance your ability to evaluate both the engagement process and the engagement outcomes for an engagement project or program.

The course will help engagement practitioners develop their critical thinking about what works most effectively and what doesn’t, so that they can evaluate and report on their engagement process with confidence.

Upon completion of this course you will have developed your knowledge and tools to define the purpose and scope of your evaluation, and implement and interpret an effective engagement evaluation framework.

The aim of the Facilitate Engagement course is to assist engagement practitioners to apply key engagement facilitation strategies and techniques and build confidence for planned and unplanned facilitation contexts for multi-modes of delivery.

The course will help engagement practitioners plan and facilitate meetings with individuals and groups as part of your engagement project.

By the end of this course you will understand, identify and describe factors that make engagement facilitation effective. This also includes engagement facilitation in different cultural and DEI contexts. You will also enhance your abilities to respond appropriately, build and enhance your confidence levels and develop your facilitation approach.

The aim of this course is to identify and apply the many elements that contribute to an engagement practitioners’ credibility, to enhance their professional impact and presence.

The course provides the tools and knowledge to assist you to build your professional credibility and positive impact with other professionals, engagement partners, decision-makers, community members and stakeholders.

Upon completion of this course you will have built skills to enhance your professional impact, presence, and ability to influence decision-makers about the value of engagement. You will be able to enhance the context in which you work to positively influence the views of others and utilise key models and concepts to build respect and develop positive relationships.

The aim of this course is to apply a process for data collection and storage, processing and analysis to include in your evaluation report for an engagement purpose or process.

The course will assist engagement practitioners to apply a robust methodology to the design, collection, processing, analysis and reporting of data that are aligned to engagement processes.

By the end of this course you will be able to understand what data is required to be collected and how to collect data to ensure that your engagement processes are meaningful and fit the purpose of the outcomes you are aiming to achieve. You will also know how to analyse and present data for your target audience.

How to complete the IAP2A Certificate of Engagement

The Essentials of Engagement course is the pre-requisite course and must be completed first before any other courses. You can then follow two pathways.

  • The Core Pathway – where you complete all three courses; Essentials of Engagement, Design and Plan Engagement, and Apply Engagement Methods.
  • The Core and Electives Pathway – as detailed in the diagram.