Facilitation, Consultation And Training
We provide independent public and stakeholder consultation services that improve engagement and save you time and money.
Community Consultation
We support organisations to design and deliver effective, independent and credible consultation by offering a complete range of consultation services. We work with the public, private, academic and community and voluntary sectors to engage and consult on both technical and non-technical issues. All of our work is bespoke to meet your specific needs and achieve the outcomes required.
We provide consultation and engagement support in many different sectors covering a wide range of topics, including climate change adaptation and mitigation, community-led climate action, low carbon and community energy, regeneration, public policy, community cohesion, air quality, waste and recycling, the management of environmental resources and planning (for developers and local authorities).
You can choose whichever level of support you need, from developing and delivering large-scale and multi-dimensional consultation programmes to individual services such as:
- Facilitation of meetings, events, workshops and focus groups
- Publicity resources
- Consultation software and data management
- Event management
- Media and stakeholder liaison
- Websites
- Social networking
- Online questionnaires
- Online surgeries, e.g. carbon measurement
- Behaviour change and social marketing
- Staff training, mentoring and coaching
Current and recent projects include:
- South Downs National Park Authority – Public Consultation on a beaver reintroduction scheme
- London Borough of Croydon – Croydon Healthy Neighbourhoods Drop-In Sessions
- Coventry City Council – Climate Adaptation and Resilience Strategy and Action Plan residents and stakeholders consultation
- Calderdale Borough Council – Facilitation of online and in person public consultation events for the Todmorden Town Deal
Case studies:
Facilitation
Our experienced independent facilitators help you navigate process, build consensus and address contentious issues with stakeholders.
We provide independent public and stakeholder facilitation services that improve engagement and save you time and money. We can design and facilitate in person or online events ranging from one-hour meetings to full-day workshops, from small focused groups, such as senior leadership team meetings to large events, such as conferences. We also develop and deliver training on a wide range of topics, which we can bring to your premises.
We can come to your premises or organise a neutral venue. Our facilitators are all trained and highly experienced and we can provide either a single facilitator or multiple, depending on the circumstances.
We offer facilitation of:
- Events and meetings of any size
- Public exhibitions
- Processes involving difficult, contentious or sensitive issues
- One-off events or a series of sessions
Our facilitation skills can be applied across all our areas of expertise and services.
Current and recent projects include:
- The National Lottery, Climate Action Fund – Design and facilitation of whole cohort online workshops
- Climate Action Leeds – Facilitation of the midpoint review
- South Downs National Park Authority – Facilitation of the public consultation events on a beaver reintroduction scheme
Case study: Managing Flood Risk in the Ouse Marshes Using Sluice Gates.
Stakeholder Engagement
Engage effectively with all those you need to reach using our experienced experts.
We conduct our engagement activities in a way that will ensure the views of a range of stakeholders are heard and can contribute to the process. Our engagement specialists will bring people together to discuss the key issues that you are seeking views on, for example, using small groups online or in person to explore and draw out people’s real thoughts and feelings.
We have developed effective ways to work in groups with those people who are seldom heard in consultations. We have developed innovative methods for consensus building in decision making. These methods involve working with all stakeholders to seek out and develop joint solutions.
We can carry out stakeholder mapping exercises that will ensure we reach a broad and representative sample of stakeholders.
Our stakeholder engagement can take multiple forms including:
- Face to face interviews
- Telephone interviews
- Focus groups
- Meetings and events
- Digital engagement
- Online surveys
In addition to the engagement itself we also offer the following:
- Stakeholder mapping
- Analysis and write up
Current and recent projects include:
- The Scottish Government – Engagement with Climate Action Hubs and their stakeholders to develop a Monitoring Evaluation and Learning Framework
- The Scottish Government – Engagement with the NESCAN and Highlands and Islands pathfinder Climate Action Hubs and their stakeholders to inform the evaluation of the hubs
Case studies:
Co-creating South East Water’s Vulnerability Strategy
Community Led Local Development, Cornwall
Barne Barton Neighbourhood Plan
Training For Staff And Stakeholders
CAG offers training on a wide range of topics, which can be delivered online or in person.
We create bespoke training courses and also have a number of off-the-peg courses that can be cost-effectively tailored to suit your requirements. CAG Consultants has delivered training for a wide range of clients including local authorities, housing providers, energy companies and community and voluntary groups.
We offer training in the following areas:
- Carbon literacy
- Cutting carbon emissions
- Sustainable development
- Climate adaptation and increasing resilience to climate change
- Theory of Change
- Evaluation
- Community engagement
- Facilitation skills
- Planning for a low carbon future
- Cutting fuel poverty
Our training sessions are designed to be very interactive and can be tailored to suit in terms of length (e.g. 45-minute lunchtime briefings up to full-day training sessions). We consistently get excellent feedback from trainees.
Current and recent projects delivered by CAG Partners include:
- LGA – sustainability masterclasses for officers and councillors, including carbon literacy training
- Kent County Council – facilitation training for community groups linked to climate adaptation initiatives
- Clarion Housing – training for their network of resident energy champions as well as sustainability training for staff
- DESNZ – Theory of Change training for DESNZ staff
- ADE – facilitation training
- MCS, via ADE – training for local authority officers on the enforcement of Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards
- Ashden – facilitation training
- Inside Government – fuel poverty training for social housing providers
Case studies:
Sustainability Masterclasses for Local Authority Councillors and Officers
Resident Energy Champions and Staff Training for Clarion Housing.