Community Development Unit

The Community Development Unit delivers sessions and workshops to help organizations strengthen their services.

Overview

The Community Development Unit offers facilitation training workshops to help non-profit and public staff and volunteers learn how to lead meetings and groups in a facilitative way. Topics covered include:

  • strategic planning
  • board development, roles and responsibilities
  • planning and conducting effective meetings
  • team enhancement and development
  • building leadership capabilities throughout your organization
  • creating plans for fund development and marketing
  • consultations with the public and stakeholders
  • identifying, developing and enhancing partnerships, collaborative relationships and assets within your organization and community

Services are mainly tailored to:

  • community groups
  • non-profit organizations
  • volunteer teams
  • municipality groups
  • provincial ministry groups

Community Development works to improve, enhance or otherwise contribute in a positive way to the lives of Albertans.

Session types

Building community capacity

Community Development facilitators can facilitate sessions to help:

  • identify assets in your community, including individuals, organizations and others
  • assist with creating an action plan for capitalizing on those assets

Collaboration and partnerships

Community Development facilitators can support you and your collaborative team in exploring, building and strengthening methods and processes for working effectively together.

Facilitation

The Community Development facilitators can provide crucial process design expertise, as well as advice on project planning and management. Whether it's a clear strategic plan you need, an agreement on a contentious issue or collecting extensive input on an idea, our facilitators are process experts.

Facilitators design sessions and projects that:

  • are inclusive of a diverse array of participants
  • are non-biased and achieve the group's goals
  • create a safe environment encouraging full participation from everyone present

The Community Development Unit offers facilitation training workshops to help employees learn how to lead meetings and groups.

Fund development

Community Development facilitators can assist your organization with a broad range of services related to fundraising and fiscal management, including:

  • referrals
  • building feasible action plans
  • creating strategies that are right for your organization
  • social enterprise
  • partnership building and collaboration
  • obtaining and maintaining charitable status

Developing leadership capabilities

The Community Development facilitators can help your organization build a culture of leadership by providing personalized workshops focused on:

  • facilitating conversations regarding leadership
  • clarifying roles and responsibilities
  • effective planning
  • coaching services

Organization and board development

Community Development works with board members and staff teams of organizations to help them find ways of working more effectively and efficiently.

The topics we cover include and are not limited to:

  • developing and working with your bylaws
  • assisting with incorporation
  • strategic planning, prioritizing and planning for the future
  • planning and conducting effective meetings
  • developing clear board and staff roles and responsibilities

See the Board Development Program for in-depth information bulletins and worksheets to guide your Board's development and growth.

Planning

Community Development facilitators work with you to design and deliver sessions that may include and are not limited to:

  • reflecting on and considering factors affecting your group and work
  • understanding and articulating mission, vision and values
  • identifying relevant and adaptive strategies to guide your work

Public participation

Public participation consists of a variety of activities ranging from sharing information to active engagement of stakeholders in the implementation stages.

Public and stakeholder participation processes include:

  • Identifying purpose and intent
  • Defining appropriate levels of public and stakeholder participation
  • Planning and managing all aspects of the interaction with the public
  • Assessing and interpreting the information gathered

Facilitation training workshops

The Community Development Unit offers facilitation training workshops to help non-profit and public staff and volunteers learn how to lead meetings and groups in a facilitative way. Community Development Facilitators design and deliver sessions that cover facilitation theories and tools as well as provide practical hands-on learning opportunities.

Whether you're leading meetings with coworkers or leading groups for clients, facilitation skills will help you:

  • increase participation
  • build consensus
  • handle difficult situations
  • enable groups to focus and work together creatively
  • get concrete results
  • build commitment to action

Contact us to have our standard, 3 Day Basic Facilitation Skills workshop offered in your community.

Basic facilitation skills workshops

Workshops that non-profit and public volunteers and staff can attend are regularly scheduled around Alberta. For more information download the 3 Day Basic Facilitation Skills (PDF, 92 KB) information sheet.

Next scheduled workshops

  1. June 26 to 28, 2018 in Stettler
  2. September 17 to 19, 2018 in Lethbridge

Contact the Community Development Unit for more information about these workshops.

Resources

Websites

Knowledge Connector Learning Opportunities

International Association for Public Participation

Coalitions

Harvesting the Wisdom of Coalitions: Review highlights

Harvesting the Wisdom of Coalitions: Literature review

Harvesting the Wisdom of Coalitions: A Study of the Sustainability of Coalitions in Alberta

Harvesting the Wisdom of Coalitions: Understanding Collaboration and Innovation in the Coalition Context

Building a Successful Coalition Conversation Guide

Public participation

Facilitating Large Public Input Events Handbook

Facilitating Large Public Input Events Tip Sheets

Public Input Toolkit

Contact

Contact the Community Development facilitators to discuss how they can help you or how to set up a session:

Email: communitydevelopment@gov.ab.ca

You can also contact the office in the region closest to you.

Head Office Administration

Fax: 780-415-8594

Address:
905 Standard Life Centre
10405 Jasper Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta T5J 4R7

Northern Region

Phone: 780-963-2281

Grande Prairie

Address:
Room 3501, Provincial Building
10320 99 Street
Grande Prairie, Alberta T8V 6J4

Peace River

Address:
Bag 900 - 11
3rd floor 9621 96 Avenue
Peace River, Alberta T8S 1T4

St. Paul

Address:
Room 414, Provincial Building
5025 49 Avenue, Box 318
St. Paul, Alberta T0A 3A4

Stony Plain

Phone: 780-963-2281

Address:
Provincial Building
4709 44 Avenue
Stony Plain, Alberta T7Z 1N4

Central Region

(Edmonton and area contact Stony Plain office)
Phone: 780-963-2281

Stony Plain

Phone: 780-963-2281

Address:
Provincial Building
4709 44 Avenue
Stony Plain, Alberta T7Z 1N4

Red Deer

Address:
6th Floor, Provincial Building
4920 51 Street
Red Deer, Alberta T4N 6K8

Southern Region

(Calgary and area contact Cochrane office)
Phone: 403-932-2970

Cochrane

Phone: 403-932-2970

Address:
Box 970, Provincial Building
213 1 Street West
Cochrane, Alberta T4C 1A5

Lethbridge

Address:
Room 406, Administration Building
909 Third Avenue North
Lethbridge, Alberta T1H 0H5

Medicine Hat

Address:
Room 203, Provincial Building
346 Third Street SE
Medicine Hat, Alberta T1A 0G7