Ensuring youth have a meaningful voice and the playing field is racially level are two hot topics for P2 practitioners these days, and that was brought home by our keynote presenters at the 2019 IAP2 North American Conference in a Charlotte in September. Join us on Wednesday, November 20 at 6am (AEDT) as Liz Styron and Kaleia Martin of YES! Youth Empowered Solutions reprise their presentation.

As a valued member of the IAP2 Australasian (IAP2A) community, we would like to invite you to ‘have your say’ in our annual IAP2A Community Survey. It is important for us to hear your feedback so we can continue to support, educate and provide resources to assist our members and broader community in the practice.

Nathan Connors shares his reflections from the 2019 IAP2 Australasia ConferenceThe 2019 IAP2 Australasia Conference delivered more than just a stellar program of workshops, break-out sessions and keynotes, instead, it provided yet another opportunity to observe a mature and professional community-of-practice in action.Focusing on the theme of unlocking engagement to build trust, connection and potential, this year’s conference for me, told the story of growth.

You would recall a teacher, or lecturer, or someone, telling you there is no such thing as a stupid question. That may be true in some contexts, but I have been concerned for many years about the stupid questions asked by project teams about the progress of their ‘community engagement’ (especially in regard to infrastructure or urban planning projects).

A big thank you and farewell to three of our amazing Board members – Helen Christensen, Kate Henderson and Donna Marshall. We thank you for the hard work, knowledge and guidance you have provided in helping to grow IAP2 Australasia.And a very warm welcome to our new Directors – Lance Brooks, Nathan Connors and Penny Townley. We look forward to working closely with you as we continue to grow and shape IAP2 Australasia.

I have had the privilege of being the Chair of IAP2 Australasia for the past two years and on the Board of Directors for the past four. Over that time, the organisation has certainly gone through a period of rapid, intensive and very positive change.When I look back on where we have come from, I am extremely proud of what has been achieved. I can now see an IAP2 that is meeting the expectations of our members across a range of areas, with a plan to continue on this path.

In 2016, MosaicLab and Dr. Lyn Carson (of Deliberative Designs and the newDemocracy Foundation) commenced a research project to explore what happens when participants have an opportunity to build and use critical thinking skills during a deliberative engagement process.