Community Solutions

ORGANISATIONAL "DIAGNOSIS" AND DEVELOPMENT

Learn More About Community Solutions' Work by Following These Links...

• Sustainable Natural Resource Management
• Social Planning
• Community Consultation, Facilitation & Engagement
• Consensus Building, Mediation and Conflict Resolution
• Advocacy Support
• Organisational Diagnosis and Development
• Provision of Policy Advice

Organisational "Diagnosis" and Development

We will work with you to address organisational problems and to develop strategic planning tools. We are particularly experienced in working with community groups and in developing meaningful performance appraisal systems. We can also assist governments in developing accountability mechanisms for the community groups they are funding.

Since establishing Community Solutions Jane and Judy have prepared evaluation reports for client groups as diverse as

• NSW Schizophrenia Fellowship, strategic planning with Board and staff, 2007.
• Baulkham Hills Shire Council, facilitation of Community Planning and Community Outcomes' meetings, 2007
• Boral Asphalt and Blue Circle Southern Cement, facilitating community engagement through establishing local committee processes, the Blue Circle work is ongoing in 2007
• St John Ambulance NSW (a project completed in partnership with Nina Harding Mediation Services)
• The Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Unit, hosted by WWF Australia
• the Financial Industry Complaints Service, which Community Solutions is currently evaluating in collaboration with the University of Western Sydney's Law School
• the Minerals Policy Institute, for which Community Solutions is currently completing an organisational effectiveness building project
• the World Wide Fund for Nature (Australia), for which Community Solutions facilitated a major strategic planning process involving the Board, staff and other stakeholders
• CSIRO's Sustainable Ecosystems Division, for which Community Solutions facilitated staff planning for the restructured organisation
• the NSW Sustainable Energy Development Authority's residential group and its forward activities during a period of restructuring
• the NSW Department of Community Services, for which rapid evaluations were completed in 1995 on the Campbelltown Cottage and Benevolent Society home visitor programs, and in 1996 on the Centrecare Parent Line telephone support service for parents
• the Hunter Caravan Project based at Newcastle University, for which an evaluation of park management development was prepared in 1995
• the HomeStart home visitor program, which sought an independent evaluation of its programs in metropolitan and regional Australia to guide its future efforts to secure government funding support
• the Commonwealth Department of Environment's Endangered Species Unit, for which an evaluation of the National Threatened Species network was completed during 1995
• Telstra, which last year sought a review of its consumer consultative process which were coordinated by the Consumers' Telecommunications Network.

Projects Completed Include:

Minerals Policy Institute
Community Solutions has brought together a small team to assist the Minerals Policy Institute with a major Organisational Effectiveness enhancement project funded by the international Packard Foundation. This project will assist the MPI in optimising its position as a specialist non-government organisation making significant input to the transformation of the mining inudstry to a more sustainable resource sector.

Community Biodiversity Network
The partners in Community Solutions worked with key proponents of the Network, to assist in developing an initial strategic plan and associated work plans for the organisation. In doing so, Community Solutions adopted a consultative approach in seeking to build an organisation which could meet the needs of the diversity of stakeholders upon which its funding as a Network was based. More recently Community Solutions has conducted an independent review of the Network and its performance against agreed Terms of Reference. An essential aspect of that review was in assisting the organisation to meet external expectations while operating within a changing climate of political and community expectations.

National Threatened Species Network
Community Solutions worked with the Network and its major stakeholders to complete an external evaluation of the Network and its performance against Terms of Reference agreed with Environment Australia, as its major funding provider. More recently, the partners in Community Solutions have conducted short skills building sessions with staff in the Network, based on needs identified as part of the review process.

Additional Projects include:

The Cottage Family Care Centre, Campbelltown
Shelter NSW
Nature Conservation Council (NSW)
Marine and Coastal Community Network
Reverse Garbage Cooperative
Queensland Conservation Council
Community Legal Centres Secretariat
Consumer's Health Forum
Macarthur District Temporary Family Care
Ian Fell Housing Research Foundation