Have a challenging issue to tackle but lack the resources for meaningful engagement? ML Giving -the not-for-profit division of MosaicLab - partners with emerging and under-served communities to create spaces for deeper conversations that drive real change. We believe everyone deserves a voice in shaping their communities, and we’re here to help. Learn how you can apply to work with us.
As 2024 wraps up, our facilitation team is sharing their standout moments. From mysteriously missing catering and questionable gong skills to a surprise bush trek under the stars, 2024 had its fair share of laughs, twists, and unforgettable memories.
The City of Melbourne views affordable housing as crucial infrastructure for maintaining a liveable, inclusive, and prosperous city. With a projected shortfall of 23,200 affordable homes by 2036, immediate action is needed to address this long-standing issue. While there is broad community support for affordable housing, acceptance often wanes at the neighbourhood level. To tackle this, a People’s Panel of 39 diverse community members was established to represent local perspectives.
A support facilitator studying psychology, our first team member based in NSW and a brand new participant recruitment coordinator... meet the newest additions to the MosaicLab team: Polo, Polly and Gus! Learn more about this trio of terrific team members and gain some insights into who they REALLY are through their answers to our fast five questions!
How should we plan for the new energy future while providing affordable services that meet changing customer and community needs? Two representative ‘Voice of the Customer’ panels in Queensland answered this question. Randomly selected, everyday customers deliberated and agreed on recommendations that electricity distributors Ergon Energy Network and Energex used to prepare Regulatory Proposals for the Australian Energy Regulator (AER). Delve into a tale of two deliberative customer panels, and gain ideas and insights you can draw on for your next project.
The past three years have seen a tremendous amount of water works under the bridge in the deliberative engagement catchment (oh yes, puns galore!). It has provided us with such a great opportunity to design and facilitate a range of interesting processes from community co-designing long-term strategies, through to community deciding pricing and servicing levels across the water industry. Let’s take a closer look.
In 2022, council worked with MosaicLab to deliver an engagement process to gather community feedback about its assets. The process included a survey and the creation of a citizens’ panel, one of the first we hosted fully face-to-face post-pandemic. Participants enjoyed not only being ‘back in the room’ but also the strong sense of achievement at the end of the process as they saw their recommendations reflected in the final Asset Plan adopted by council.
We are thrilled to feature on a recent episode of the Engaging Local Government Leaders podcast called GovLove. Our Directors Nicole Hunter and Keith Greaves had a transcontinental chat with USA-based host Kirsten Wyatt to talk about the book we released last year: Facilitating Deliberation – A Practical Guide. Listen here!
Turns out there IS such a thing as a free lunch. Our monthly Lunch and Learn community engagement webinar series resumes in February. These free sessions run online for just one hour and are presented by MosaicLab engagement experts. Learn, upskill and connect. Open to engagement and facilitation professionals of any level.
2022 was the year of the big MosaicLab book. Copies of 'Facilitating Deliberation – A Practical Guide' have sold around the world and the positive feedback has us feeling equal parts humbled and ecstatic! Stuck for a gift for that hard-to-buy-for person in your life? Digital and print copies are available now.
New year, new skills, fresh insights from the experts: and it won’t cost you a cent. Get ready to be rewarded and inspired in 2023, with free monthly learning and connection opportunities for engagement and facilitation professionals. MosaicLab’s Lunch and Learn webinar series goes to the next level in 2023.
Need a break from the holiday hectics? Take some ‘me time’ and set up your 2023 for success with one of MosaicLab’s online, beginner short courses. Learn the art of facilitation, the seven steps to simple engagement planning, how to deliver a successful deliberative engagement process and how to handle high emotion and outrage in groups. Boost your toolkit and learn from specialist trainers with this easy, valuable learning.
Calling all facilitators or community engagement practitioners! Looking to level up? Watch and learn how to facilitate a citizens’ assembly by experiencing one in person. MosaicLab and the newDemocracy Foundation (nDF) are teaming up to offer this unique training opportunity to a small group in Melbourne in February 2023. Places are limited. Register now.
Keeping up with all the technical language used in the world of ‘deliberative democracy’ can be tough, so we have created a dictionary to define and unpack these terms. We hope that it launches a central reference hub for terminology across the sector, and that this helps bring some clarity to new and old enthusiasts of the field. We plan on building the dictionary with input from you. Download the first edition for free and let us know which words should be added.
