This document describes in detail what makes up good practice community engagement and defines community engagement as “a wide range of practices suited to different situations or purposes, guided by a common set of values, principles and criteria.”

Using clear diagrams to illustrate this process it outlines the steps needed to achieve good practice. The document discussed each step in detail, describing the values for the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, and what it means to apply the principles and criteria.

The document discusses different community engagement tools. It provides explanations of each tool, matches them to different aims of community engagement, provides an analysis of each tool for it’s ability to foster engagement, the number of people it will involve, and how challenging it is to apply. This guide is a useful framework for deciding which community engagement tool to use to achieve a desired outcome.

The guide also provides a decision-making cycle that outlines the different stages of the engagement process, how each tool can assist each stage, and how to move the community engagement process forward through to action.

Source: Aslin, H.J & Brown, V.A. Towards Whole of Community Engagement: A Practical Toolkit. Canberra, Australia: Murray-Darling Basin Commission, 2004.

Available at: http://www2.mdbc.gov.au/data/o309t12.pdf

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