Advancing WSUD: A Rapid Assessment of Institutional Capacity in Local Government Agencies.
Between 2009 and 2011 the WSUD in Sydney Program partnered with the Lower Georges River Sustainability Initiative to develop a process that could be used by local councils to assess their organisation’s Institutional Capacity to deliver WSUD.
Andre Taylor was engaged to produce the Rapid Assessment and Action Plan Tool which provides a do-it-yourself framework for council officers to:
- Assess whether the necessary elements of Institutional Capacity are present within their organisation to drive the uptake of WSUD;
- Prioritise capacity building initiatives to improve your organisation’s Institutional Capacity in this regard;
- Develop a prioritised action plan (management strategies) to build this capacity.
At the bottom of this page are the products that are available for download. If you would like to run the assessment in your organisation please contact the WSUD in Sydney Program Manager at info@wsud.org.
A review by the University of Technology Sydney’s Institute of Sustainable Futures together with feedback and evaluations from participating council officers were integrated into numerous product revisions to ensure councils could be confidant the process and associated resources had been refined to suit their needs and wants. Furthermore, we wanted to ensure the process could be applied and adapted by organisations across a range of councils within the Sydney Metropolitan region and more broadly across Australia.
Based on feedback from council officers who participated in both the pilot projects and reviews, we are confident the following resources and tools provide a tried and tested support framework that will empower council officer’s ability to implement WSUD by building Institutional Capacity thereabouts.
North Sydney and Lane Cove Councils – The Coal Loader 22 March 2012
The rapid assessment workshop was a partnership between The WSUD in Sydney Program and North Sydney Council’s Smart Trees Blue Harbour Project. The workshops were facilitated by Phillip Birtles, Program Manager WSUD in Sydney Program.
The Facilitator slides – rapid assessment wshop -Nth Sydney are available for download and the video used on the day included Landcom’s “Living with Water” video and the Clearwater Champion videos of Caroline Chandler and Gary Whitehead.
Upper Georges River Councils Workshop – Campbelltown Civic Centre 7 March 2012
The rapid assessment workshop was initiated in partnership with the Upper Georges River Urban Sustainability Initiative and the WSUD in Sydney Program completed by Fairfield, Wollondilly, Campbelltown & Liverpool Councils. The Workshops were facilitated by Andre Taylor.
The Original Guidelines/Materials:
It is recommended that you start by reading the Guideline, which clearly details how to use the other products. You may like to consider delivering the initiative within your own council individually or in partnership with adjoining or catchment based councils within your region.