How We Work: Dialogue – Community Engagement
World Café conversations
Through experience gained over many years CAN has developed a strong expertise in designing and implementing approaches that deliver effective community engagement.
World Café and Open Space Technology are two such methods. Both offer effective and flexible formats for hosting large groups to engage in meaningful inquiry and participation.
These and other techniques are used for one-off learning events focusing on an issue or topic. They are also effective for exploring sensitive and complex situations where there are conflicting and diverse experiences. By establishing a safe, non-operational space, participants get to create better understanding and improved communication, build a shared vision and open new possibilities for solutions and actions. CAN initiates and designs participative learning events to explore complex dilemmas for diverse audiences. We also convene them in collaboration with others, and mentor activists and workers to do the same.
We currently work in a range of settings such as the North East Inner City of Dublin where we have initiated the North Inner-City Neighbourhood Dialogue Collaborative Initiative. Its aim is to facilitate meaningful community engagement and facilitate creative collaboration through promoting the voices of local people on issues that matter to them. It is also building on existing collaborative relationships and initiatives. We work with Southside Partnership and the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown Drug and Alcohol Task Force to convene a quarterly gathering of those who work with young people at risk. The purpose of this is to build a network for support, learning and more integrated working.
Take a look at Youth at risk – World Café Events – a case study on use of World Café by CAN on behalf of DLR Drug and Alcohol Task Force and Southside Partnership.
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