04/04/2024
Co-designing with the cultural values of water for First Nations peoples
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The QWMN through its External Engagement Program and Capability, Collaboration and Capacity Programs has been running community of practice events since mid-2018. Since then we have grown the number and organizational diversity of active participants, and grown the number of people engaged in the work of the network by over 860% (as measured by size of mailing list). So, who is it that is interested in hearing about activities (through newsletters) and who comes along to participate in events?
Looking at the mailing list and community of practice event registration details we see a roughly order of highest percentage of participants by organisational / employer type (e.g. State Government, consulting etc). The top three kinds of mailing list subscribers are Consultants, State Government and Research whilst the top three event participants are Consultants, Research and State Government – each making up around 20-30% of subscribers and participants. The fourth largest segments for both mailing list and event participation are education and water utility participants (around 7-15% of subscribers and participants). The remainder are regular but smaller percentages (2-6% of subscribers and participants).
The table below shows the rank order of participants by organisational / employer type for mailing list subscription and CoP event participation. Rank 1 is the highest percentage (of subscribers or participants). Please note that NRM = Natural Resource Management bodies.
| Category | Mailing List rank | Actual Attendance at Events rank |
| Consultants | 1st | 1st |
| Research (incl. University researchers) | 3rd | 2nd |
| Local Government | Joint 5th | 6th |
| State Government | 2nd | 3rd |
| Federal Government (e.g. CSIRO, BoM) | Joint 5th | Joint 7th |
| Regional NRM | Joint 6th | Joint 7th |
| Water Utility | Joint 4th | 5th |
| Education (Master, undergrad) | Joint 4th | 4th |
| Other (e.g. NGOs) | Joint 6th | Haven’t used previously |
We also know that the two largest newsletter subscribers in terms of numbers of subscribers and recipients are Australia (43% of newsletter subscribers), US (42%), with UK, India and China the next most common subscriber countries of origin (at 1.5% -1.35%).
We experience around 40% female participation at events although our statistics are not as robust here as for participant organizational type. We have dedicated young professional events although we don’t have data on young professional attendance at other events or in terms of newsletter subscription. We are now thinking through how we strengthen our approach to diversity and inclusion by broadening the current set of perspectives that plan and participate in QWMN activities.
How do you think we should approach diversity, inclusion and the representation of multiple perspectives in our activity planning and delivery? Please email personally ([email protected]) so we can talk. Many thanks.
