Facilitation and negotiation work

Facilitation, negotiation and mediation are the foundation of much of RPR's work. We have extensive experience in running successful meetings between individuals or groups of people that focus on: planning, exploring ideas together, problem solving and/or resolving conflict. A key to the effectiveness of our work is our capacity to design good processes that support individuals in their contribution, allow people to hear one another and ensure the progress of the group towards achievement of desired outcomes. A particular strength is our ability to clarify the key elements of these discussions and debates and synthesize the range of options. Our goal is to achieve results that can be owned and committed to by all stakeholders, that deepen people's understanding of themselves or the situation and that build sustained working relationships.

RPR work which demonstrates our skills in this area includes:

• facilitating a joint planning session with the Partnership Against Homelessness (PAH) sub-committee and the Partnership Advisory and Resource Group (PARG) to develop a three-year work plan for the PAH (2007)
• facilitating two days of meetings for the Collaborative Centre for Aboriginal Health Promotion, as part of a series of forums to develop key health promotion strategies (2007)
• facilitating a Children's Summit which brought together the range of state and local government and non-government agencies that have identified a range of issues of concern for children aged 8–11 years in the Fairfield LGA (2007)
• facilitating a workshop to clarify details of a new Criminal Justice Project in the NSW Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care. The Department had received a grant to focus on the needs and manage the care of people with intellectual disabilities coming out of prisons, with the aim of providing appropriate services and accommodation
• facilitating a workshop on the development of a framework for Aboriginal Home Care Services (2006)
• facilitating a planning day for Arts Access Australia, the national peak body for arts and disability (2006)
• organising and facilitating two forums regarding the implementation of two new strategies: one regarding Hepatitis C Implementation Plan and the other regarding NSW HIV, STI and Hepatitis C Strategies Implementation Plan for Aboriginal People (2006)
• facilitating a forum which looked at how the current model of clinical management for people with HIV was working and the possible workings of a new model of care (2006)
• facilitating a planning day for the Youth Justice Advisory Committee to consider the role and purpose of the committee in its next period of operation and to consider key actions that will ensure future achievements. The Youth Justice Advisory Committee advises on the implementation of the Young Offenders Act 1997, in particular on youth justice conferencing (2006)
• facilitating three roundtable meetings on topics related to the economic development of the Pacific region for AusAid, to help shape their policy direction for the next 15 years. The meetings involved experts, government and industry representatives from across the region (2005)
• working with key Indigenous leaders from across Australia in the process of developing a new Indigenous Policy Centre. The work involved determining a structure, name and purpose for the Centre as well as considering the key process for policy development and priorities for work in the first year of the centre (2005)
• facilitating a series of workshops designed to progress the development of new National Cervical Screening Guidelines. In response to controversy surrounding the new guidelines on cervical screening, the workshops provided the opportunity for the developers of the new guidelines to present their rationale for the changes and then to hear the views of participants about the proposals. Australian Department of Health and Ageing (2005)
• facilitating a meeting of senior executives from all New South Wales justice agencies, human services agencies and academia to identify strategies that could be considered to address the rise in the prison population in New South Wales. Department of Corrective Services (2005)
• facilitating a meeting between a range of NGOs and DADHC to discuss and refine the outcomes and broad specifications for two new funding programs - one to provide Intensive Family Support for families with a child with disabilities and the other to fund Alternative Family Placements for children with disabilities. NSW Department of Ageing Disability and Home Care (2005)
• facilitating a 'Roundtable' discussion of siblings of missing people to hear from them about their experiences and what services would help them to deal with the loss of a sibling NSW Attorney General's Department (2005)
• facilitating a series of forums over a four year period focused on training, corporate and business planning, systemic case coordination and induction of consultant panels Registrar for Aboriginal Corporations (2001–2005)
• facilitating a week-long forum of the National Bilaterals Taskforce, a whole of government group charged with developing the principles to guide the Federal Government's negotiations with states on bilateral agreements in Indigenous affairs. Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination (2005)
• ongoing work with the Board, Australian and international staff of the Fred Hollows Foundation through a process of revitalising the organisation's strategic plan (2004–2005)
• assisting numerous individual community organisations and government agencies with governance, conflict resolution and strategic planning.

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