What does fair look like from your perspective?

On 21 May, Watertrust Australia ran a workshop in partnership with the Peter Cullen Water and Environment Trust and DemocracyCo, ‘Collective decisions, shared futures’, at Adelaide’s National Wine Centre. The day was facilitated by Emily Jenke from DemocracyCo.

Watertrust Principal Kane Aldridge was on hand to speak about how fairness perspectives can influence difficult trade-off decisions.

“We know from the work we’ve done to date in Watertrust’s Fairness initiative why fairness matters in the water policy context. Now we’re in the critical phase of transforming what we’ve learnt into practical guidance for water policy practitioners,” he explained.

The workshop was an opportunity for participants to delve into Watertrust Australia’s work on fairness and put some of the tools and approaches it is developing into practice. There were fifty-five participants in attendance including fellows, friends and supporters of the Peter Cullen Trust.

During the workshop, participants had the opportunity to step into the shoes of different characters who might take part in water policy discussions and explore how fairness can apply in real life scenarios. As the day progressed, participants learnt how to surface competing values, apply fairness in decision making, and engage diverse perspectives to navigate trade-offs. Real world examples were used to explore how these principles would work in practice.

As one participant put it: “There was something very powerful about considering the perspectives on what is fair, and unfair, through the eyes of others. It has prompted some deep reflections for us on how we make decisions.” Watertrust are continuing to develop guidance, tools and approaches on how best consider fairness across the water policy cycle.

Want to know more? Call Chris: 0429 990 604.

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