Jill French Consultants is passionate about promoting community well-being and social change through creative approaches, partnerships and investing in local community capacity.
Our goal is to assist communities to understand HOW to increase their organisational capacity to act in their own interests and engage with broader regional policy and strategic plans.
Our well designed and professional processes assist individuals and stakeholder groups to engage with their diversity and richness, to share their many ideas, build a collective vision, and develop a structured course of action to implement the vision. In many ways, we support an “action learning” approach.
- We understand integrity and accountability are essential to build the trust and mutual respect which form the basis for a sound working relationships with our clients.
- We believe that the planning process needs to be inclusive. Inclusion means our processes may include mud maps, visuals, interactive computer surveys, public art works, exchanging stories and working with interpreters – whatever it takes to promote a space for listening and conversation.
- We believe reflective practice is a central part of monitoring, reviewing and adapting to change and this is a key step in the action learning cycle for community groups.
- We believe in participatory processes capable of facilitating different or competing interests, democratic debate and shared values, which lead to problem solving.
What are participatory processes and why are they important ?
Participatory processes are a framework for the structured involvement of the community and other stakeholders to promote local ownership and strategic alliances. Genuine participatory structures for local planning are inclusive, democratic and robust. The process needs to be capable of facilitating different and sometimes opposing or competing interests, promote democratic debate around issues, and emphasise shared values and interests to support problem solving and resolution. Finally, the planning process is responsive to change with built in points of reflection and adaption (French, 1997).
The quality of the participatory processes and the capacity of local citizens to participate are vital issues for equity and community engagement and are the foundations for community ownership and empowerment. Initial focus on the development process should be on the internal strength or capacity of the organisation, a sound governance structure and participatory processes for engaging local resources and fostering local ownership.
A participatory framework for planning has the potential to stimulate engagement and leadership at the local level and also at the regional level forging constructive partnerships between community groups, agencies and the business sector. This PROCESS then provides the foundation for community organisations to address broader goals of development.
One of the more difficult problems facing community organisations is the need to deal with the tension created between (a) local implementation of plans and projects and (b) the centralised process of government program delivery which undermines and negates local decision-making.
Therefore, community organisations need an effective organisational strategy for the successful coordination and implementation of plans and to advocate for local priorities.
A sound organisational communications strategy is in itself a capacity building processes as it brings together and synergises the resources of an organisation. This process will also assist the integration of the organisation and its objectives into the broader community.
Jill French Consultants subscribes to the values of the International Association of Facilitators “Statement of Values and Code of Ethics for Facilitators”
Download here: IAF_Ethics_June2004.sflb