CPCX FY2011 Accomplishments
|
|
The Mission of the USACE Conflict-resolution & Public-participation Center (CPCX) is to help Corps staff anticipate, prevent, and manage water conflicts, ensuring that the interests of the public are addressed in Corps decision making. In its third year of existence (FY2011), the Center provided technical assistance to Districts, Divisions and other stakeholders on collaborative processes, including Shared Vision Planning, facilitation services, training, and courses on public involvement, risk communication and collaborative modeling. CPCX staff also produced various references to serve USACE in the areas of Environmental Conflict Resolution and collaborative processes.
Highlights from FY2011 include:
CAPACITY BUILDING
- Established the Collaboration & Public Participation Community of Practice with DCW, Steve Stockton, as Champion; the CoP offered webinars including ones on public engagement, risk communication and conflict management, including: Risk Map for Silver Jackets and FEMA; the use of Technology in Public Participation for MsCIP; and Working with Native American Tribes.
- Developed a Facilitator Network and Training. CPCX is building a USACE facilitators network to better serve Divisions and Districts with facilitation needs; CPCX is also working with other agencies to develop a database of federal facilitators. Facilitation training is also being finalized for USACE divisions and districts.
- Led courses on Public Involvement and Teaming in Planning (PCC7/PITB) for SWD, SAJ, as well as PROSPECT. As new course owner for PCC7/PITB, CPCX updated the course, trained new instructors and conducted sessions. CPCX is also the Proponent for a new Risk Communication/Public Participation PROSPECT course
- Other Trainings: Risk Communication seminars for USACE Project Management and Floodplain Management Association conferences; Shared Vision Planning training classes made available online; Suggested revisions to PPM career development guidelines; Collaborative Leadership presentation for USACE Asset Management team.
CONSULTATION SERVICES
- Provided interagency facilitation support for 404 Regulatory issues related to Colorado water supply.
- Designed Shared Vision Planning and Public Involvement process in support of Little Rock District’s Iowa & Cedar Rivers Basin Comprehensive Watershed Planning Process.
- Supported California Water Planning for the state of California and USACE Districts through assistance for the Central Valley Round Table for Flood Protection, California State Water Plan Update 2013, & Shared Vision Planning for the Bay Delta.
- Supported stand-up of Missouri River Flood Task Force for Northwestern Division.
INFORMATION EXCHANGE
- Created a Lessons learned database of case studies on USACE Collaboration (First 16 cases complete)
- Led an international symposium on Collaborative Modeling for Decision Support at the American Water Resources Association summer conference on Integrated Water Resources Management
- Provided Shared Vision Planning mini-trainings for Silver Jackets, and Flood Management Association conference
- Published Converging Waters: Integrating Collaborative Modeling with Participatory Processes to Make Water Resources Decisions. The third publication in the Maass-White Book Series provides a touchstone in the development of collaborative modeling for decision support and was draft by more than dozen experts from multiple organizations.
- Drafted a flowchart for USACE field on when the Federal Advisory Committee Act applies.
POLICY SUPPORT
- Assembled the annual report on the Use of Environmental Conflict Resolution in USACE for ASA-CW’s submission to CEQ and OMB.
- Finalized and conducted external stakeholder review for Framework and Implementation Plan for Improving Public Involvement in Flood Risk Management Report.
- Provided national leadership in interagency ECR & Technology and Collaborative Modeling working groups.
- Provided USACE support for Environmental Justice Guidance including drafting of a case study on environmental justice in practice in New Orleans during post-Katrina recovery.
- Provided Shared Vision Planning support to UNESCO’s International Center for Integrated Water Resource Management projects and proposals for the Government of Peru and the Mekong River Initiative.
RESEARCH
- Developed methods to address Public Participation, collaboration and communication challenges for Corps document on Risk-based Decision Making for Climate Change.
- Published report on “Collaborative Modeling for Decision Support in Water Resources: Principles and Best Practices” in collaboration with the American Society of Civil Engineers.
- Drafted articles on Indigenous Knowledge in Water Resources, USACE Collaborative Capacity Assessment, and the Intersection of Collaborative Modeling and IWRM.
- Drafted “Use of Collaborative Modeling for IWRM” for UNESCO’s IWRM Guidelines series.
CONTACTS
|
|
The Goal of CPCX’s training program is to build the collaborative capacity of USACE staff and its partners to enable effective convening of, and participation in, collaborative processes. Training formats include short or multi-day courses, webinars, and coaching. Training courses can be customized to fit specific challenges a District may have, such as poor public involvement in a community; an upcoming, complex, stakeholder driven project; or a conflict with a stakeholder regarding project approval.
Public Involvement and Risk Communication Webinar Series
Contact Seth Cohen (Seth.B.Cohen@usace.army.mil) for the current schedule.
Courses
Courses are offered by request and, when noted, through USACE’s PROSPECT program. Divisions and Districts can host classes locally, which reduces travel expenses and overhead costs and provides the opportunity to train multiple staff members at one time. Please contact Stacy Langsdale (Stacy.M.Langsdale@usace.army.mil or 703-428-7245) to request a local course offering or for current schedules.
Public Involvement and Team Building in Planning (PCC7 – PROSPECT Course #407)
Objectives: This course will concentrate on the methods, techniques, and skills which assist Corps planners and project managers with developing a high-functioning team and maintaining effective communication with sponsors, stakeholders and interested parties throughout the life of the study. Participants will learn ways to effectively consult with or include others in raising awareness of on-going studies and efforts, integrating stakeholder values and concerns into the formulation and evaluation of projects, managing conflicts and disputes, and developing strategies to align participation activities with the Corps 6 Step Planning Process.
Who Should Attend: Corps Planners
What You Will Learn: By the end of this course the student will be able to identify the characteristics of effective public involvement processes, design and facilitate a team or public meeting, identify behaviors that escalate conflict during a dispute with other agencies or the public and identify behaviors that halt this escalation, develop a public participation plan, and select appropriate techniques for a participatory process.
Length: 4.5 days (3-day option is available)
Risk Communication and Public Involvement (New PROSPECT course 104)
Objectives: Risk Communication requires both planning and communication skills to work with internal and external stakeholders on any issue that impacts an organization’s mission. This course provides hands-on skills training in how to conduct an open, two-way exchange of information and opinions about hazards and risks, which enables communities to better understand risks and consequently make better risk management decisions.
Who Should Attend: Those who communicate risk to external and lay audiences.
What You Will Learn: Participants will focus on the following areas: 1) Know you stakeholder; 2) Risk communication overview; 3) Responding to a challenge or threat; 4) General communication skills; 5) Non-verbal communication; 6) Message development; 7) Media communication; and 8) Planning and implementing risk communication.
Length: 3 or 4.5 days
Effective Communication for Regulatory Project Managers
Objectives: This course will cover (1) Basic communication skills (active listening, written and email correspondence, identifying varying communication styles);
(2) Conflict management (causes of conflict, conflict management styles, resolution techniques, dealing with an angry public); (3) Collaboration (forming effective working teams and partnerships); (4) Meeting etiquette (public meetings and hearings); (4) Mediation, negotiation, and facilitation skills); (5) Dealing with the media; (6) Presentation skills
Who Should Attend: Corps Regulatory Project Managers and staff
What You Will Learn: By the end of this course the student will be able to identify basic skills to improve communication between applicants, public and coworkers; identify varying conflict management styles, effectively diffuse an angry public and resolve conflict as it arises during permit application review; form effective working teams and partnerships; effectively plan and facilitate a public meeting; effectively deal with the media and present the regulatory program to varying groups to educate the public on the program.
Length: 3 days
Collaborative Leadership
Objectives: Collaborative leaders are needed more than ever to tackle today’s changing landscape of diminishing resources and increasing complexity. This course includes several thought exercises and skill building modules designed to 1) foster discussion amongst leaders on how to create a corporate culture that enables collaboration, and 2) equip current leaders with collaborative consciousness and skills.
Who Should Attend: Leaders and members of teams interesting in improving their organization’s collaborative environment and personal collaboration skills. This course is specifically designed for those who seek to solve a particular problem that requires multiple parties to engage in identifying and implementing a solution.
What You Will Learn: Participants will think through the components of collaborative leadership, including institutional enablers to collaborative working environments and characteristics of collaborative leaders. Participants will then focus on one component of collaborative leadership, skills of the collaborative leader. Skill modules focus on problem solving, communicating, leading and effectively working in teams, convening, and facilitating. A final exercise allows participants to apply their learning to overcome real-world hurdles to collaboration in their organization.
Length: 1 day
Facilitation
Objectives: This course trains participants on meeting facilitation. It is customizable from a basic introduction to facilitation to a multi-day hands-on training where participants learn and practice facilitating various types of meetings.
Who Should Attend: Those interested in acquiring the skills necessary to facilitate both internal and multi-party meetings, especially Public Affairs officers and Project Managers.
What You Will Learn: Participants will learn a variety of facilitation techniques and have multiple chances to practice. Specific topics covered include the role of the facilitator; agenda building; logistics and ground rules; and group process, consensus-building, and conflict management techniques.
Length: Half day - 2 days
Partnering
Objectives: “Partnering” lays the foundation for better working relations by defining common goals, improving communication and fostering a problem solving attitude among the parties involved in the execution on the project. This results in more effective project execution and improvements in quality, schedule, and cost. At the end of the course participants will be able to establish productive relationships with partners and contractors during the life of project execution by making customers and partners an integral part of the team.
Who Should Attend: Those (Civil or Military) who work closely with external parties to execute projects; those whose projects are suffering due to poor partner relationships.
What You Will Learn: Students will learn collaborative processes that can be used during different phases of Civil Works or Military Programs projects to involve potential partners in the development, implementation and operation of the projects. These processes range from informal meetings with a sponsor to establishing a formal Partner relationship. Topics covered include introducing the Partnering concept to bidders, conducting a Partnering workshop, preparing an Issue Resolution ladder, developing the Partnering Charter, and planning for Partnering implementation.
Length: Half-day
Shared Vision Planning
Objectives: Shared Vision Planning (SVP) is a water resources planning process centered on developing a collaboratively built decision support model with a diverse array of stakeholders. At the end of the training, participants will be able to determine if SVP is an appropriate tool for their situation, and what a SVP process entails. Graduates of the full-length course will be ready to work with others to lead a SVP process.
Who Should Attend: Those who are interested in learning the fundamental principles of Shared Vision Planning, either as someone who may convene a collaborative decision-making process, or as a conflict management/mediation practitioner who would like to incorporate modeling as a problem-solving tool, or a modeler who would like to apply their skills in the decision-making setting.
What You Will Learn: Fundamental principles of planning, participation, and modeling as the three elements of SVP; the decision making process and how a collaborative model can support this process; modeling tools that support SVP; and an example of how to construct a model.
Length: Varies by request - self-paced; 1-1/2 hour interactive presentation; or 4-day session
Participation, Consensus Building and Conflict Management
Objectives: By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Identify the characteristics of effective participatory, consensus building, and conflict management processes.
- Design and facilitate multidisciplinary teams (as needed in Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM)), a variety of interactive workshops, and large and small meetings.
- Identify behaviors that escalate conflict during a dispute with other agencies, stakeholders, or the public – and identify behaviors that halt this escalation.
- Select appropriate techniques for a participatory process.
- Design basin-wide organizations and frameworks for action.
Who Should Attend: Water resource managers focusing on complex transboundary water resources, whether those boundaries are geographic or cultural.
What You Will Learn: Participants will focus on the following areas: 1) Why process tools are relevant for water managers; 2) Alternative Dispute Resolution; 3) Negotiation; 4) Facilitation; 5) Building River Basin Organizations and Frameworks for Action processes; (6) Engaging the public effectively
Length: 3 days
Emotion, Outrage and Public Participation
Objectives: By the end of this class, students will be able to:
- Name six practical strategies for managing outrage
- Describe a new way of thinking about and analyzing outrage
- Name new ways to plan and implement public participation projects where people are outraged
Who Should Attend: Program and project managers, project delivery team members and
leaders who must communicate about sensitive, controversial and volatile issues with external audiences to achieve effective public participation.
What You Will Learn: Participants will study the link between best practices for public participation and outrage and emotion; understand the differences in the goals and ethics between public participation and outrage management; develop a common understanding of the foundational concepts and definitions; and understand strategies for assessing and addressing outrage and how to plan for it in a public participation program. This class was developed jointly by renowned risk communication expert Dr. Peter Sandman and the International Association for Public Participation.
Length: 2 days |
|
Collaborative Capacity Assessment Initiative
|
|
Collaboration is critically important for achieving the missions of the Corps in the 21st century. Solutions to today’s problems require reaching out to those with different authorities, perspectives, and resources to solve the various dimensions of these problems.
The Corps Conflict Resolution and Public Participation Center thus embarked on an initiative to take stock of the Corps collaborative capacity. This "Collaborative Capacity Assessment Initiative":
- Assessed the Corps current capacity to collaborate with external stakeholders on water resources planning and management objectives;
- Elicited suggestions for capacity enhancements from the field; and
- Formulated priority recommendations for how to enhance the Corps collaborative capacity.
Initiative participants completed an online collaborative capacity assessment survey and attended a series of one-day workshops held at each of the eight Corps Civil Works Divisions. The Initiative resulted in thirteen key recommendations organized by the five components of a system that will support, enable, and reward the use of collaboration: institutional procedures; leadership, authority, and empowerment; individual skill sets; time and resources; and organizational culture. The Corps is beginning to implement these initiatives.
Final Report (pdf, 4.58MB) |
CPCX Celebrates Second Birthday
|
|
The Corps Conflict Resolution and Public Participation Center (CPCX) celebrated its second birthday on November 18th, 2010. Designated as a Center of Expertise and Directory of Expertise by MG Riley, CPCX's mission is to help Corps staff anticipate, prevent, and manage water conflicts, ensuring that the interests of the public are addressed in Corps decision making. CPCX has made a significant impact since it was established two years ago. During the past fiscal year, the Center provided technical assistance to Districts and Divisions on collaborative processes, completed a baseline assessment of USACE collaborative capacity, released several reports on environmental conflict resolution and collaborative processes, and launched a Public Participation and Risk Communication Community of Practice (CoP).
CPCX begins FY2011 with even greater resolve to develop and expand the application of effective processes and tools for public engagement, collaboration, and conflict resolution. By focusing on its five goals of consultation services, capacity building, information exchange, policy support, and research, the Center of Expertise contributes to both Goal 2 and 4 of the USACE Campaign Plan. CPCX works to “deliver enduring and essential water resource solutions through collaboration with partners and stakeholders”(Objective 2b) and “communicate strategically and transparently” (Objective 4b).
Highlights by CPCX's five goals are:
Consultation Services
- Supported Project Management and Planning leaders at HQ in the development and facilitation of a Continuing Authorities Program Summit for approximately 60 Corps personnel from all Divisions;
- Designed and facilitated a two-day inter agency technical working group meeting with USACE leadership for the Devils Lake Inter-Agency Initiative, which led to a draft report for The White House’s Office of Management and Budget.
Capacity Building
- Conducted workshops for the Collaborative Capacity Assessment Initiative at 5 Divisions and Headquarters;
- Conducted a week-long Shared Vision Planning workshop with stakeholders and the National Water Authority in the Chili River Basin, Arequipa Peru;
- Published “How to Conduct a Shared Vision Planning Process,” available at http://www.sharedvisionplanning.us/resReference.cfm.
Information Exchange
- Developed a Risk Communication & Public Participation (RCPP) Community of Practice SharePoint Site with 230+ new members, including a network of USACE facilitators from across Corps divisions and business lines;
- Hosted a webinar series, including environmental conflict resolution in USACE, the services and strategic plan of CPCX, and the RCPP CoP;
- Organized and led a presentation track on collaborative tools and processes, including SVP case studies, lessons learned, evaluation tools, and best practices at the Environmental Water Resources Institute annual congress in Providence, RI.
Policy Support
- Compiled and published the Annual Environmental Conflict Resolution Report, a report on the current status and cases of environmental conflict resolution in the Corps, for the Council on Environmental Quality;
- Developed and improved a framework and methods to encourage public involvement in selecting the appropriate flood risk management plan, documented in the draft report “Public Involvement Framework & Implementation Plan for Flood Risk Management,” for the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force Hurricane Protection Decision Chronology Implementation Team.
Research
- Convened a panel of experts from academia, the Corps, and other agencies to identify the challenges associated with communicating flood risk throughout the disaster cycle, and discussed principles and approaches for addressing these challenges that would inform future trainings of the National Flood Risk Management Program;
- Participated on the Environmental Conflict Resolution and Technology coordinating committee to identify best practices and create an awards program for the use of technology in
environmental conflict resolution processes;
- Published “Analysis of Process Issues in Shared Vision Planning Cases” and “Performance Measures to Assess the Benefits of Shared Vision Planning and Other Collaborative Modeling Processes.”
Learn More:
|
|
INSTITUTE FOR WATER RESOURCES
CPC-Public Participation Tools 
