The document outlines the Inter-Council Network's 2011-2014 public engagement program in Canada. The program aims to better understand and improve public engagement effectiveness through activities like regional knowledge hubs, a national opinion poll, literature review, and online toolkit. The Inter-Council Network represents 7 provincial international cooperation councils and their 400 members. The program is funded by CIDA and coordinated by a national team to explore public engagement challenges and solutions.

1. ACGC
AQOCI
EXPLORING PUBLIC ACIC
ENGAGEMENT
BCCIC
EFFECTIVENESS IN
CANADA MCIC
OCIC
2011-2014 PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
PROGRAM SCIC

2. EXPLORING PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
EFFECTIVENESS IN CANADA
This presentation will:
 Provide an overview of the Inter-Council Network
 Outline components of the ICN Public Engagement Program
 Introduce participants to Knowledge Hubs
 Describe next steps for the ICN work

3. EXPLORING PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
EFFECTIVENESS IN CANADA
Over view of ICN
 The Inter-Council Network (ICN) is a dynamic coalition of seven
provincial and regional member-based Councils for International
Cooperation across Canada committed to social justice and social
change.
 The ICN provides a forum in which the Councils collaborate for
improved effectiveness, learn from each other’s specific skills,
troubleshoot challenges and identify common priorities for collective
action.
 The Councils’ collectively have over 400 diverse members, ranging from
international development organizations to individuals to universities to
environmental organizations.
 From 2011-2014 the ICN’s activities are funded by CIDA.

4. EXPLORING PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
EFFECTIVENESS IN CANADA
The seven regional and provincial Councils are:
 Alberta Council for Global Cooperation (ACGC)
 Association quebecoise des organismes de cooperation internationale
(AQOCI)
 Atlantic Council for International Cooperation (ACIC)
 British Columbia Council for International Cooperation (BCCIC)
 Manitoba Council for International Cooperation (MCIC)
 Ontario Council for International Cooperation (OCIC)
 Saskatchewan Council for International Cooperation (SCIC)

5. EXPLORING PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
EFFECTIVENESS IN CANADA
 The ICN PE Team
 National Coordinator:
 ICN Sarah Power icn.rcc@ocic.on.ca
 Regional Coordinators:
 ACGC Jennifer Braun jennifer@acgc.ca
 AQOCI Annick Des Granges adesgranges@aqoci.qc.ca
 ACIC Janelle Frail pe@acic-caci.org
 BCCIC Lynn Slobogian programofficer@bccic.ca
 MCIC Kirsten Earl McCorrister program@mcic.ca
 MCIC Bequie Lake pe@mcic.ca
 OCIC Jennifer Muldoon icnontario@ocic.on.ca
 SCIC Steffany Salloum worldbeat@earthbeat.sk.ca

6. EXPLORING PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
EFFECTIVENESS IN CANADA
ICN Public Engagement Program
 Purposes:
 To develop a comprehensive understanding of PE for active global
citizenship in Canada
 To learn and develop capacity about good practices for PE
 To demonstrate that PE is a meaningful and necessary endeavour
 To build relationships and foster collaboration between different actors in
the PE community

7. EXPLORING PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
EFFECTIVENESS IN CANADA

8. EXPLORING PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
EFFECTIVENESS IN CANADA
Context Analysis
 Objectives:
 Inform knowledge hubs (identify themes and areas that can
potentially be explored)
 Build relationships and trust
 Document the challenges of PE work
 To draw out solutions (through collaboration)
 Get a better sense of how
practitioners define PE
 To (indirectly) begin discussion
and exploration of what good
practices are

9. EXPLORING PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
EFFECTIVENESS IN CANADA
National Public Opinion Poll (icnpoll.ca)
 Objectives:
 To gain a deeper understanding of Canadians’ knowledge, opinions, attitudes, behavior and
engagement in global poverty issues;
 To demonstrate the value Canadians place on global poverty reduction work, including both
international activities and public engagement within Canada;
 To provide information and recommendations to international cooperation organizations and
funders on how to effectively engage Canadians on global poverty issues; and
 To create a national baseline on Canadian
engagement in global poverty issues.

10. EXPLORING PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
EFFECTIVENESS IN CANADA
Bibliography and Literature Review
 Objectives:
 To compile academic and institutional (UN, Governmental, formal
organizational level) research on PE, to identify gaps in the research and to
make this information available to PE practitioners
 To build relationships between academics and practitioners and to promote
collaboration between them

11. EXPLORING PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
EFFECTIVENESS IN CANADA
Knowledge Hubs
 Objectives:
 To regularly bring together practitioners in each region and nationally to participate in
a knowledge creation process
 To document, reflect upon, analyze and share learnings good PE practices in relation
to each KH’s topic
 To put knowledge creation towards national information sharing (through toolkit and
conference)
 To “cross-pollinate” – create opportunities for new ideas to come in (knowledge
generation)
 To bring in experts on topics in order
for practitioners to engage with new
“expert” knowledge

12. EXPLORING PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
EFFECTIVENESS IN CANADA
Knowledge Hubs
 Public Engagement in the Formal Education System (ACGC)
 Gender in Public Engagement (AQOCI)
 Public Engagement Through Advocacy (AQOCI)
 Collaboration and Partnerships (ACIC)
 Monitoring and Evaluation of Public Engagement (BCCIC)
 Public Engagement: How Change Happens (MCIC)
 Policy and the Role of Government (OCIC)
 PE Methods to Engage Young Canadians (SCIC)

13. EXPLORING PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
EFFECTIVENESS IN CANADA
PE Toolkit and National Web Conference
 Objective:
 To disseminate learnings from knowledge hubs through online interactive toolkit
 To have an online space for learning about good practice in public engagement
 To highlight best practices through a national web conference that will aim to attract a
variety of stakeholders

14. EXPLORING PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
EFFECTIVENESS IN CANADA
Questions ???
 National Coordinator:
 ICN Sarah Power icn.rcc@ocic.on.ca
 Regional Coordinators:
 ACGC Jennifer Braun jennifer@acgc.ca
 AQOCI Annick Des Granges adesgranges@aqoci.qc.ca
 ACIC Janelle Frail pe@acic-caci.org
 BCCIC Lynn Slobogian programofficer@bccic.ca
 MCIC Kirsten Earl McCorrister program@mcic.ca
 MCIC Bequie Lake pe@mcic.ca
 OCIC Jennifer Muldoon icnontario@ocic.on.ca
 SCIC Steffany Salloum worldbeat@earthbeat.sk.ca