Training and Facilitation
Training
This page describes the Training and Facilitation that Chris Church can offer to anyone with an interest in running or hosting a course, discussion, meeting etc. Chris is currently doing a range of work in this field (see section on Suscom Current Work), and is happy to discuss new ideas.
For facilitation, see the section below.
Training
Much of Chris Church's training is delivered with two agencies:
With the social enterprise Talk Action Chris runs a one-day course on effective facilitation. The last course sold out rapidly and got very positive feedback. Chris also works with Talk Action on climate change communications. There is a range of existing courses, but further courses can also be set up to be delivered locally, refined or developed to ensure that they meet local needs.
Chris works with COIN, the Climate Outreach & Information Network. His work for COIN is primarily on public speaking and communicating about climate change. Check the COIN website for details of current courses
Above and beyond this Chris offers a range of courses for local or regional delivery:
T.1 'Developing sustainable communities'
How to work with local community groups using the principles and practice of sustainable development to create better places to live
This course enables those working on sustainable development or community development to see their work from another perspective and to acquire knowledge and skills that will help them to develop and carry out programmes that link environmental and social priorities. It covers tools for local action planning for sustainable development and will help those attending to develop ways to work more effectively with local communities on these issues.
T.2 'Working across disciplines'
How to encourage workers within different disciplines and professions to work together more effectively.
This course addresses one of the ongoing problems for anyone working in the field of sustainable development. It enables those taking part to look at why it is so often difficult to develop cross-disciplinary links and encourages participants to review their own preconceptions. It includes opportunities for people from different disciplines to review work and case studies from their own perspectives and to compare and contrast these. The course has developed out of ongoing research in this field.
T.3 'Working with communities'
Ideas, tools, and techniques for those (especially professionals) seeking to work with local communities.
This event arises out of work done in producing Groundwork UK's manual on community involvement: every aspect of it is based on practice that works. It is ideal for those who are new to this field while more experienced staff will find in it an opportunity to reflect on and develop their practice. It can also offer an opportunity for staff working with different communities within a larger area to learn together and plan for better working
T.4 Effective Community Advocacy
How community organisations can become more active and more effective
This course is designed for representatives of community organisations who want to get things done, to understand how political systems work, and play an active part in 'civil society'. It covers topics including organisation, public speaking and writing skills, researching, lobbying, using the media etc. It would ideally last for two days, but consists of discrete modules so can be designed to meet the needs of specific groups. The feedback from this course has been very positive.
T.5 Monitoring and evaluation
How local organisations can monitor, assess, and evaluate their progress
It is often said that it is hard to evaluate the impact of community action. Recent work by CDF and others has shown how this can be done effectively. This course is designed to help professionals and communities assess their work and look at the inputs and processes involved as well as the outcomes and outputs. It will help with fund-raising, with performance assessment and with recognising and valuing the role of community action.
T.6 Towards Effective Participation
How to get people involved, keep them involved, and ensure that they feel positive about that involvement.
This course develops ideas in the 1999 'Having Your Say' booklet (available as a PDF download from the Suscom site) and offers straightforward guidance on how to make participatory working more effective and productive. It's been found to be a valuable day for both professionals and communities.
Most of these courses are designed as one-day events, but they could also be designed to fit into a half-day or to run over one or two evenings. To discuss your requirements or any ideas you may have please contact me directly on 020 8806 1836.
Facilitation
Chris Church is a trained and experienced facilitator. While much facilitation is related to ongoing processes (and Chris is always happy to be asked for advice on this work), he is also offering Workshops on some subjects - facilitated discussions that can enable participants to take stock of what they are doing, to learn from each other, and to plan future action.
F.1 How are we doing
A chance to discuss and assess progress on local sustainable development
It's ten years since LA21 was introduced. There's been a lot of work all over the UK on the broad theme of local sustainability. This one-day or half-day session takes participants through a discussion which can help them recognise and assess what has been achieved, identify the problems that they have to deal with and to consider where to go next.
F.2 Building trust
A lack of trust between councils and communities is one of the underlying problems for local action
The issues of trust, poor communication, and lack of mutual understanding all affect public support for work by local councils and others on environmental improvement and sustainable development. This facilitated session offers participants an opportunity to address these issues in a non-confrontational manner and look at how different groups can work together to overcome these problems.
F.3 'Working across disciplines'
Different disciplines and professions need to work together more effectively.
This session offers a different approach to the issues addressed in the Training Session of the same name described above. Rather than offering a structured programme of exercises this provides an open discussion session to look at the difficulties linked to developing cross-disciplinary links.
The Costs.
The costs of these sessions relate to the time (a half-day or full day) to deliver the course, travel expenses, and some preparation time (that will depend on how far the course is specifically designed for a target audience). Chris Church's daily rates are very flexible but are usually in the region of £400-£500 (but please feel free to discuss this if you have a very tight budget!). Delivering a course in your area means that it is tuned to your needs, that travel time and costs are minimised, and that those attending have a higher degree of shared understanding of local issues. As such this can be a very cost-effective way of delivering training.
Give me a call if you want to talk about it! You can contact Chris directly on +44 20 8806 1836 or email me
