Training

Taylor Baines and Associates provides training programmes ranging from short courses to university programmes.

Training is provided in the areas of:

Social assessment
Integrated (sustainability) assessment
Risk assessment

TBA offers Social Impact Assessment (SIA) training courses focussing on the practical application of concepts, processes and techniques to deliver high quality assessments. SIA training is aimed at public and private-sector applications as well as community agencies.

University courses:

In recent years, University lecture courses were provided on contract at both graduate and undergraduate levels, as well as supervision of graduate research. At the University of Canterbury we ran the course SOCI237/337 Sustainable Development, led by Dr Nick Taylor along with our associates Gerard Fitzgerald and Susanne Rose. This popular course, which is no longer available, provided a general, international perspective on development issues with a mix of lectures, tutorials, readings and a country research project.

The graduate paper Social Impact Assessment SOCI418 was led by our colleague Colin Goodrich (Dean of Arts and Humanities) with input from Nick Taylor. This course has ended with Colin's recent retirement.

Types of short courses:

Training courses can be customised and typically are basic introduction (0.5 - 1 days), familiarisation (2 days), professional practice (3 days) and advanced with field work (4-5 days). Training techniques are fitted to the training context and can include lectures and seminars, role plays, group work, case studies and practical exercises. Further professional development exercises are provided as required and defined by an internal needs assessment.

Typical content coverage:

definitions of SIA
origins of SIA, approaches and orientations
potential applications of SIA
the institutional setting for SIA
integrating SIA with other aspects of impact assessment - towards sustainability assessment
the SIA process - basic steps and the SIA cycle
using scoping to drive the SIA process
types, collection, organisation and validation of social data using the issues oriented approach
the social profile based on secondary data
public involvement through SIA - stakeholder identification
methods for engaging with affected people (personal interviews, focus groups, workshops and community meetings, social surveys)
monitoring, mitigation and management of impacts, including enhancement.

Recent training courses:

Social Assessment Training Workshop, Tauranga, 17-18 May 2010.
Social Assessment Training Workshop, Christchurch, 30-31 March 2009.
International Association for Impact Assessment pre-conference courses, 2009, Accra, Ghana (2 days)
Federal Dept of Town & Country Planning, Malaysia, 2004 (3 days)
Environmental Risk Management Agency, New Zealand, 2004 (0.5 day)
Petronas Malaysia, 2004 (2 days)
Neighbourhood Nurses Project community profiling, New Zealand, 2003 (1 day).

TBA principals have considerable experience in professional in-service training in Asia and the Pacific. Training techniques are fitted to the training context and can include lectures and seminars, role plays, group work, case studies and practical exercises.

For further information on training contact:

Dr Nick Taylor, Taylor Baines & Associates, Christchurch
Ph: (03) 313-8458; email: n.taylor@tba.co.nz

James Baines, Taylor Baines & Associates, Riccarton, Christchurch.
Ph: (03) 343-3884; email: j.baines@tba.co.nz