Date: 10 July 2018
Time: 9.30am-2.00pm
Venue: Cardinia Cultural Centre, Pakenham

Why this workshop?

It is well recognised that each of us has responsibility for ensuring healthy waterways, and if we work collaboratively, we will have greater impact.

This workshop focused on:

• Celebrating our work together since the start of the collaboration in April 2017
• Seeking early feedback on the draft Strategy
• Exploring how we continue to work together to achieve the targets and performance objectives we have set ourselves.

• 25 participants were external stakeholders who represented a diverse array of groups including: councils, community groups, water authorities, the Catchment Management Authority, VicRoads, Parks Victoria, and DELWP.
• 16 participants from Melbourne Water helped support the conversations and provide catchment knowledge. These included teams such as Integrated Planning, Service Delivery - Waterways and Land, and Customer and Strategy.

Part 1: Setting the scene

Daniel Besley (Project Manager, Healthy Waterways Strategy, Melbourne Water) opened the workshop with a call for collective action. He highlighted the pressure climate change and population growth will put on our waterways, and Melbourne Water’s commitment to work tirelessly with others to avoid a decline in waterway health. Dan also heartily thanked the workshop participants for their commitment to and work on developing a Healthy Waterways Strategy that can be co-owned and co-delivered, since the project began in August 2017.

Facilitator Geraldine Plas invited participants to connect or reconnect with each other, and share a memorable moment of the collaboration. We heard that collaborators were particularly proud of:

• The extensive engagement with the public
• How Landcare groups have been involved in the writing of the draft Strategy
• How participants have been so generous with their time in attending the workshops and submitting written feedback, as well as in sharing of their wisdom
• The sharing, listening and learning being done throughout
• Seeing the passion of others for their waterways

Participants also shared significant achievements since the group last met in March. These included:

• Creating a Healesville to Phillip island Nature Link strategic plan, which will be ready in early August
• Toomuc Landcare working with Melbourne Water on capital works, stream frontage management, maintenance works and community grants related to Toomuc Creek

Part 2: Draft Strategy

Dan shared with us:

• The overview of the draft Strategy
• How the 1807 comments received on the preliminary targets and performance objectives had informed the draft
• 69% of a representative sample of residents from the Westernport catchment support the vision developed for the catchment by the collaborators.

(Download the presentation An overview of the draft Healthy Waterways Strategy - Westernport Workshop 4.)

Participants were then invited to pair up and identify parts of the draft Strategy that are:

• On target
• Missing
• Required clarification or outstanding.

(Download the outcomes Workshop participants’ feedback on the draft Strategy.)

General comments included:

• How does this strategy align with DELWP?
• It’s missing the sense of ‘Melbourne, World’s most liveable city’ - the wow factor is not there, the sense of custodianship, wildlife connectivity.
• How will performance objectives be met? Who will undertake works?
• It’s missing the ‘how can I contribute’ factor.
  

Part 3: Looking to the future – How do we implement the strategy together?

In May 2018, we held a regional collaboration lab to develop initial proposals for:
• An on-going platform of collaboration
• Governing the implementation of the Strategy
• Tracking the effectiveness of the Strategy

Andrew Titterington, who was among the 32 attendees, shared his experience of it and the lab outcomes, including examples of collaborations, and issues in the Westernport catchment that require collaborative action.

(Download the presentation Outcomes of the Collaborative Implementation Lab.)

Building on the lab outcomes, Daniel Besley presented a proposal for collaborative implementation of the Strategy that built on the lab outcomes. The five key elements of the proposal are:

• A regional HWS committee
• Five catchment implementation forums
• ‘Pop-up’ regional co-design labs
• ‘Pop-up’ catchment project groups
• Activities to assist multi-scale connectivity

(Download the presentation A Proposal for Collaborative Implementation of the Strategy.)

Participants were then invited to work in small groups to provide feedback on the proposal. When reporting on their group discussions, the participants expressed general support for the proposal, with feedback including:

• How can catchment collaborations be designed for greater efficiency and engagement
• What additional avenues can be made available for those unable to attend workshops
• How to share ongoing and upcoming to promote best practices and to ensure there is no duplication of work
• How best to disseminate information
• What is needed to enable smaller groups with limited resources, to stay involved for the long run

(Download the outcomes, Feedback received on the collaborative implementation proposal.)

Finally, using the Poll Everywhere voting system, participants were asked about their commitment to working together on the implementation of the strategy. The results showed a very high level of commitment:

• 64% of respondents were very committed to working together on implementing the Strategy
• 27% were committed to it.

Part 4: Next steps

To close the workshop, Dan thanked the participants and described the next steps in the process, including:

• Consultation period for draft Strategy will close on Sunday 22 July
• Opportunity to ask a question on the draft Strategy via Your Say
• The hope to submit a final draft strategy to Ministers in September
• The plan to get together again in the Spring to continue to collaborate on the implementation of the Strategy.

Part 5: Evaluation from the sensing sheets

The project and each workshop are being evaluated to provide opportunity for ongoing learning. As a final action, participants completed a sensing sheet and provided comments on the design of the workshop and their experience of collaboration.

The response rate was 78% (32 out of 41 participants):

• Nearly 75% of respondents felt that the series of workshops provided new ways of thinking about waterways
• Over 90% of respondents are ready to advocate for the Strategy

(Download the results Evaluation of the sensing sheets.)

Question: What did you enjoy about this workshop?

Question: What’s one specific difference the HWS workshops have made to what you are doing on waterways health?