STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT, FACILITATION 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 and third 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 support in many sectors, including planning, climate change adaptation and mitigation, community energy, regeneration, public policy, community cohesion, air quality and waste and recycling.

You can choose your level of support, from developing and delivering large-scale and multi-dimensional consultation programmes to individual services such as:

  • Stakeholder mapping and development of engagement strategies
  • Facilitation of meetings, events, workshops and focus groups
  • Community codesign
  • Websites and media
  • Surveys
  • Staff training

Current and recent projects include:

Case study: Smart Meter Trial – Community Engagement

Case study: Exeter Community Strategy

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:

  • Stakeholder engagement for the London Green Infrastructure Framework
  • Stakeholder engagement for the development of the new Waverley Borough Council Local Plan
  • 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

Other 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 and evaluation
  • Community engagement and facilitation
  • 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 (from  lunchtime briefings up to full-day training sessions).   We consistently get excellent feedback from trainees.

Current and recent projects include: