This document provides an overview of the Inter-Council Network's (ICN) 2011-2014 Public Engagement Program in Canada. The ICN, composed of seven provincial and regional Councils for International Cooperation, aims to explore public engagement effectiveness through knowledge hubs, research, and resource development. Key activities include a national opinion poll on global issues, a literature review on public engagement, regional knowledge-sharing hubs on topics like education and gender, and a national online conference and toolkit to disseminate lessons learned. The goal is to better understand and support effective public engagement in Canada.

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.

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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)

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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Knowledge Hubs
 Public Engagement in the Formal Education System (ACGC)
 Gender in Public Engagement (AQOCI)
 Public Engagement Through Advocacty (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)

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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

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Questions ???