TrainingHelping people to understand new communities and work with them effectively across cultural barriers has been central to my work since the mid-1950s when I joined the Extension Department of St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. I helped develop short courses for international students who flocked there to discover the Antigonish Movement - community development, adult education and economic co-operation through credit unions and cooperatives. This led to a thesis on the international diffusion of this program and to the establishment of the Coady International Institute to continue this work.In the 1960s, I developed a course on community development for the U.S. Peace Corps and eventually trained 22 projects of 30 - 90 people each to understand new communities from Afghanistan to Zanzibar and work effectively with their residents. In the early 1970s, having decided to specialize in public participation, I developed workshops in this field and have now delivered more than 150 in Canada, a dozen in the U.S. and five overseas. I have recently developed a multimedia, distance workshop, using an instructional video, a print package and four one-hour long distance calls; an individual tutorial program is also available.
ObjectiveThe aim of my public participation program is usually to develop informed, visible, majority public understanding, acceptance and support for a valid proposal, which may be a new policy, program or project by a government agency or a corporation.
Core ToolsThe principal techniques used to reach this objective are:
Cultural AdaptationThese tools must be culturally adapted to suit the characteristics of the people involved. For example, in Costa Rica in 1996, I had social profiles assembled in community workshops rather than by a lone researcher. In larger communities, the core tools can be supplemented by meetings with NGOs, reference material placed in libraries, telephone surveys and media relations. In small rural communities, informal face-to-face techniques are essential. e.g. identifying and using the nodes on the neighbourhood grapevine and recognizing the role of key families. In all cases, the same functions must be served - understand the community, provide relevant and understandable information, seek purposeful responses, talk with interested residents about their questions, concerns and suggestions and develop a proposal which is technically sound, economically attractive to the community and the proponent, and generally understood and accepted by most of those affected so it is politically viable.
Program DesignThe design of an effective program is developed in my workshop by having the participants, after some hours of instruction, identify a forthcoming proposal and form design teams of 3 - 4 people. They use the following format:
These designs are prepared in an hour and reviewed by other participants and the instructor; many are implemented directly in the weeks that follow. Reference: "A Generic Design for Public Involvement Programs"; "The Design Maze for Public Involvement" challenges participants to make the right decision on 15 design issues - or drive off a mythical cliff into the sea below! In 1997, I spent a week in Whitehorse, capital of the Yukon Territory, and provided a half-day seminar to 20 deputy ministers and plus three 1.5 day workshops to over 50 managers and specialists. Within the field of public consultation, I have developed a special program as part of an environmental impact assessment for a major project. See "Participative Social Impact Assessment and Management: Cross-Cultural Application", a paper given at the Society for Applied Anthropology meetings recently.
Professional AffiliationsThese include: International Association for Public Participation (founding member; Editorial Committee for Interact); International Association for Impact Assessment (Chair and now member of the Training Committee for four years); Society for Applied Anthropology (elected Fellow in 1987); World Future Society (founding member); Rural Sociological Society (Program Committee, 1963-65); Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association (founding member, Chair of Research Committee, 1966-69); American Sociology Association; Professional Association for China's Environment.
Personal BackgroundI grew up on a sheep and beef cattle station on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand and completed a two-year Diploma at Massey Agricultural College (1952), before conceiving the idea of a young farmers exchange between N.Z. and U.K. Following this visit, I stayed to complete a National Diploma in Agricultural Engineering in England (1954) before sailing to Canada and enrolling at the Ontario Agricultural College where an initial interest in soils changed to a degree in agricultural economics (1957). After spending the preceding summer with the Extension Department of St. Francis Xavier University, I joined the staff full-time and worked there for four years before taking up graduate work at Cornell University in 1960. I completed a Masters and Ph.D. in rural sociology and applied anthropology with a focus on community development. After returning to Nova Scotia in 1963, I became more interested in applied work than teaching, so set up a consulting practice and moved to Ottawa in 1967. In 1971, after a landmark highway project in Ottawa, I decided to specialize in public participation, started my newsletter in 1973, published its major articles in a resource book in 1981 (6th Edition 1997) and made an instructional video in 1990; 150 are in use. Born Auckland, N.Z., married with three grown children; Canadian citizen; good health; sailor and jazz fan.Note: For my International Project Experience see my International Resumé. February 1999
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