PAUL KOOPERMAN

Who is the perpetrator? We are quick to name the perpetrator when violence erupts. We point to the one who held the weapon, who pulled the trigger, planned or implemented the attack, who committed the final, undeniable act. It feels clean. Contained. Reassuring. If they are the perpetrator, the rest of them, the rest of us, are not. But what if the perpetrator is not a single person? But is many people, the many who participated in influencing the act? What if the perpetrator

Every year, Christmas arrives whether we are ready or not. It comes wrapped in habit — the same food, the same conversations, the same rush to the finish line of the year. It’s familiar. Comforting. And sometimes, if we’re honest, a little automatic. Let’s do something different this Christmas. Let’s call it Thismas . Thismas is a chance to be intentional. Purposeful. Discerning. Not just a day we survive, but a day we step into. Thismas is about deciding — consciously — that

And why it’s time we need to stop pretending it is. Walk into almost any community forum, staff workshop, or “co-design session,” and you will see a familiar scene: clusters of people huddled around butcher’s paper, sticky notes piling up like confetti, scribbles scattered in every direction, a facilitator urging everyone to “get your ideas down quickly.” It looks active. It feels energetic. It photographs well. But is it meaningful engagement? Increasingly, the answer is no.

Engagious: A new word for a powerful movement in community engagement In Victoria’s local government sphere, something exciting is happening. When better-practice community engagement becomes more than just a procedure — when it starts to spread naturally, lift participation, build trust and prompt change — we can call it engagious. That is, “engagious” describes the state where engagement is self-reinforcing: people feel heard, they want to contribute, others see that their

Imagine a community where your voice isn’t just heard—it’s required. Not because you’re protesting. Not because you’re petitioning. But because it’s your civic duty, just like showing up to serve on a jury when called. We trust ordinary citizens—builders, bakers, teachers, teenagers, retirees—to sit in judgment on life-altering criminal cases. We summon them at random, pay them modestly, and ask them to spend days or even weeks absorbing evidence, discussing carefully, and ma

(Determined by children and young people)  Provide us with the opportunity lead  Show us respect  Listen to us, don’t talk at us  Don’t assume you know what we want  Show us you’ve heard us  Engage us, don’t bore us  Use social media to build connection  Meet with us in person  Give us time to have a fair, considered say  Be clear and specific about what we’re trying to achieve

If we want stronger democracies, we don’t just need more engagement—we need better engagement. And not just better in process, but better in purpose. Not just one-off surveys or community forums, but meaningful, ongoing deliberation—where diverse people come together, consider evidence and perspectives, and help shape what happens next. The good news? This kind of engagement doesn’t have to be rare. It doesn’t have to be elite. Nor expensive. And it doesn’t have to live insid

IAP2: An Alternative Spectrum Due to the broad lack of understanding from government and corporates about what it means to ‘engage with communities’ – what ‘engage’ means and how it might or could be achieved – many private companies, government agencies, Local Government Authorities and State Government Departments quite rightly utilise the IAP2 spectrum to guide their engagement practice. Many Community Engagement Practitioners also use this spectrum as a way of being consi

The Citizen Constellation: A New Framework for Growing Deliberative Democracy What if deliberative engagement wasn’t just a workshop or a one-off citizens’ jury, but a living part of community culture—curious, creative, and irresistible? Ongoing, inclusive, embracing all voices of the community and making the whole community feel like it’s their process. Too often, deliberative democracy is treated like a rare, precious mineral—extracted for special moments, guarded by expert

Local government working collaboratively with community groups to host locally based TEDx events could become powerful breeding grounds for innovation, inclusion, and transformation—creating spaces where everyday citizens become changemakers and ideas are the currency of community growth. Here’s why: 1. Incubators for Local Innovation TEDx events give local thinkers, makers, students, and doers a platform to share bold ideas that often fly under the radar of traditional civic

Festival of Democracy: “The People’s Party” Where democracy takes centre stage—and everyone’s invited. In a time of disillusionment and division, this festival reclaims democracy as a living, evolving, joyful practice, not a dry institution. It helps people feel that democracy isn’t just something done for them or to them—it’s something they own, shape, and grow together. This is a one-day, interactive celebration that transforms civic engagement into a shared, joyful, and ac

How Citizen Assemblies can help all of us feel like we belong Reimagining citizen assemblies or juries to go beyond being a consultation exercise and imbue all members in our community and country with a sense of belonging and shared responsibility is a deeply powerful intention and requires structural, cultural and community-centred design shifts. This is about seeing the bigger picture: focusing less on a Citizen Assembly being used as an engagement tool for a decision to b

I had a difficult time as a teenager and even into my twenties: emotionally immature, mixed up priorities, lack of empathy, short sighted, no understanding of the big picture, no sense of connection or community. I was looking for something but didn’t know what it was or where to look. And if I’m honest with myself now, even if I had found it I wouldn’t have recognised it. Thirty years later and things make sense. I’m living in my own golden age: a time of connection, communi

What does your organisation believe and why does it matter? Simon Sinek, author, thought leader, TED speaker, argues that “as individuals, colleagues and companies, everything that we say and do is a symbol of who we are. Trust emerges when you are surrounded by people who believe in what you believe, when we - as a group, a country, a company - share a common set of values and beliefs. Say what you believe and you will attract the people who believe what you believe. Forget

Government has an obligation under the universal declaration of human rights to ensure all people can participate fully and inclusively in decision making processes on matters which affect them. What does this mean for community engagement and public participation? It means not doing the bare minimum. It means genuinely including all people to have a say on decisions they want to have a say about, regardless of the limited time and resources available to a public authority (o

“Meaningful” is often a word associated with better practice community engagement. Companies and governments use community engagement to better understand the views of their stakeholders, but rather than the process being purely transactional, companies and governments attempt to make the process ‘meaningful’, as any and all communication with stakeholders doubles as a relationship building exercise and better relationships hopefully lead to better outcomes for everyone.  But

A movement is growing, not just around climate strikes or LGBTIQ acceptance and understanding, not just in Melbourne or Finland. The Field Trip is part of and reflects a new generation, a new kind of community, or hamula (Arabic for 'extended family'); an approach that not everything is solved, that not all problems have solutions, and that this new kind of movement chooses to maximise the odds for our collective success, embrace the wisdom, pursuits and passions of all its m

Okay so how about this? I’ve been trying to find a clear and consistent rationale for what I believe are crucial elements for effective community engagement. What are these key elements, how do they fit together and what do they mean in practice to ensure engagement is meaningful and actually ‘engaging’? One thought always leads to another and more recently I’ve been thinking... What if I drew inspiration from Aristotle’s Poetics as a basis for the various elements required t

I have noticed that when working for government, an organisation, council, agency or other, that some people with the word ‘engagement’ in their title, don’t know who they’re batting for when it comes to providing our communities with the opportunity to influence government decisions. Are we batting for our employer? Or are we batting for the communities we work with and for? Should we defend our communities and fight our hierarchy for genuine ethical engagement, or should we

Community engagement takes, gets and collects information for agencies, organisations and government to build better communities, but what does it give? "Hi, yes, we're doing a survey on our vision for the municipality, would you like to contribute? What do you love and hope for the community?" "Hi, it's a survey about a roads upgrade and we'd love to know what you feel the issues are in the area so we can build something relevant for people using the roads." "Hi, so what do