Miriam O'Brien has wide experience in designing and conducting stakeholder analysis and community consultation programs. She is a skilled facilitator of group discussions and is adept at analysing issues arising from surveys and consultations.
We design structured consultation programs involving some or all of the following: interviews, workshops, public meetings, written submissions, internet surveys and discussions, telephone and mail surveys and "street" surveys.
Consultation programs can be stand-alone or they may form part of a larger assignment such as designing a new program, evaluating an existing program, or preparing a strategic or business plan.
Projects include:
Kyneton Primary School: an assessment of the views of the local community and parents in particular, on whether to upgrade Kyneton Primary School at its current location or to build a school on a greenfield site adjacent to the Kyneton Secondary College. The consultation program involved meetings with students and teachers, a public forum and an internet survey open to the local community - of all ages.
Delatite Shire: Our firm conducted a review for the Delatite Shire, a rural municipality in Victoria Australia. The purpose was to assess the desirability and feasibility of splitting a the shire into two, which has since taken place. The community consultation component of this project involved more than 500 written submissions, individual and public meetings involving more than 1200 people, and analysing 826 responses to our survey of 2400 residents and ratepayers. The Victorian government subsequently accepted the review's findings and created two new municipalities, Benalla and Mansfield.
City of Boroondara: a citizen responsiveness review involving face-to-face and telephone surveys with local residents, plus extensive consultation with staff, resulting in a number of recommendations to enhance responsiveness and customer service.
Other projects include consultation with pharmacy companies to obtain their views and level of support for initiatives of the Australian Liver Association, for research, education, models of care for liver disease and government liaison; facilitating sessions of the Local Constitutional Convention workshop held in Moreland, preceding the national republic referendum; facilitating two national planning workshops for the Australian Physiotherapists Association, each involving more than 70 people; facilitating numerous community workshops for a variety of purposes for local governments, on topics such as restructuring municalities, gambling issues and heritage sites.
Contact us to talk about how we can help you in your consultation program.
We involve our clients when designing consultation programs to make sure the breadth and depth of issues are covered and key parties are involved.
We test survey instruments and refine them to ensure they are unambiguous and clearly understood by respondents. We provide advice on who to involve in the consultation and the most appropriate methodologies.