IAP2 launched their new ‘Quality Assurance Standards for Community and Stakeholder Engagement’ at the IAP2 conference in Perth last week.
The overall objective of the standards is to provide a set of ‘standardised principles’ to ensure consistency in quality and support those carrying out community or stakeholder engagement.
The standards consist of the 11 steps listed below.
- Problem Definition
- Agreement of Purpose/Context & Identification of Negotiables and Non Negotiables
- Level of Participation
- Stakeholder identification and relationship development
- Project requirements
- Development and approval of engagement plan
- Execution of Engagement Plan
- Feedback
- Evaluation and review
- Monitoring
- Documentation of Evidence
As Robert Persig in Zen and the Art of Motor Cycle discovered, the quest for quality can lead down difficult paths and even madness. The new IAP2 standards will be welcome resource for community or stakeholder engagement practitioners everywhere.