Steps Towards Sustainability in Western Australia - One-day training for public sector professionals

The Natural Step Australia (TNSA) recently delivered new sustainability training on behalf of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA), a training and development organisation focused on public sector professionals.

Below is a summary with a full case study available for download.

IPAA had seen the rising demand for knowledge and skills for sustainability, and knew there was a market for short courses for their clients. Andrew Outhwaite and Tracy Lydiatt were invited to deliver the training. TNSA and IPAA's combined networks were used to market the open training event and resulted in more than twice as many registrations as anticipated.

At the training itself Tracy and Andrew were able to meet the needs of the seventeen diverse participants, both due to their flexibility in presentation styles, and the wide applicability the framework for strategic sustainable development they were using.

At the end of an intense day, the workshop closed with a question and answer session that ranged across topics such as life cycle analysis, how to champion change, and useful resources. Each participant finished the workshop by sharing their personal action plan for how to implement what they had learned in their work. The evaluations completed immediately after the event showed that the content and style of presentation was appropriate for most participants:

“Terrific presenters. Knew their stuff and used good adult learning principles in delivery”

“The most useful components were the process/framework for planning sustainability projects”

Finally, TNSA have stayed in touch with a number of the participants, following up with them three months after the training to offer ongoing support in integrating their sustainability learning into their work and lives.

The website for the course is here: http://www.wa.ipaa.org.au/index.php?page=328 and a longer case study is available for download, below.