Case Study

Award Winning Facilitation to support Dublin’s Transition to Net Zero

Jewell Facilitation and Codema

JF Icon Arrow Down

Jewell Facilitation supported Codema, Dublin’s Energy Agency, to create a plan to accelerate Dublin’s transition to low carbon, and to build consensus on how to achieve the aim of effectively and equitably moving Dublin away from fossil fuels.

Over 8 workshops, a team of experts in the sector known as the Transition Team, came together to develop a shared vision, to define barriers to achieving this and generate ideas and plans to overcome those barriers.

Impact is key, so we were delighted  that we won a Silver Facilitation Impact Award for our facilitation on this project.
JF Icon Diamond 2

The challenge faced by Codema

Codema is heading up the Zero Together initiative, aimed at bringing together multiple stakeholders to create a vision and strategy to move Dublin towards net zero. The stakeholders, experts in climate change, formed the Transition Team and needed to work through several challenges.

Their first task was to work together to agree and define a shared purpose and vision, to identify barriers to the vision and collaboratively create solutions to enable and support this important transition.

To get the best out of this team of experts, Codema needed the help of an experienced facilitator. The complex topic of climate mitigation required an objective, unbiased facilitator with the flexibility to ensure a range of diverse perspectives was heard, while encouraging equal contribution from the whole team. It was also crucial to ensure that there was space for those big-picture ideas to be expressed but that they were focused and collated into tangible, implementable outputs.

Codema was keen to work with a facilitator with experience both in the climate space and with multi stakeholder groups and after some research chose Jewell Facilitation.

Working together to gather ideas

Setting strategic directions

Getting things in place

There were a number of challenges facing Codema, including the fact that many members of the team hadn’t worked together before. To understand the scope of the project and the specific challenges and desired outcomes, we hosted an initial exploratory session with the two members of the Codema team leading the initiative.

We were then able to propose and plan the best workshop structures for the team. Initially, the workshops were online due to the limitations imposed by the Covid pandemic, but as time progressed, the final few workshops took place in person.

Facilitation in action

In total, we facilitated 8 workshops, both in person and online, bringing together the Transition Team (around 20-24 people) with diverse backgrounds, perspectives and opinions to build consensus and create a high-level plan.

We used our 15 years of experience to expertly facilitate deliberation within the group, allowing for those differing perspectives to be brought to the fore while ensuring that the team stayed on track and aligned to the objectives of the sessions. It was necessary to keep the team engaged online, and to enable the transition of the workshops from the virtual space to face to face in person.

Meetings before and after the workshops with the Codema team ensured that there was a constant monitoring and feedback cycle allowing workshops in the planning phase to be informed by the outputs of completed workshops.

Bringing in a professional facilitator meant that Codema were able to benefit from a level of creativity, skill and flexibility to the work that would have otherwise been missing.

We started facilitating online

Outcomes and benefits

The main objectives of the workshops were reached through an effective collaborative process. Equally, the team at Codema felt that an additional benefit to the facilitation was that everyone was able to foster and develop new and existing relationships. In this way, Codema was able to make great progress in a relatively short space of time

We were delighted to win a Silver Facilitation Impact Award for our facilitation on this project. 
JF Icon Diamond 2

What you should know about working with Jewell Facilitation

JF Icon Quote

A wonderful rapport and consensus was built among a very divergent team

Helene’s involvement in the process of creating the workshops and then in facilitating them ensured that a wonderful rapport and consensus was built among a very divergent team. So, while creating the desired outcomes of the workshop was key, the Transition Team, and Codema as a whole, benefited from those new relationships and connections. There are often several additional ‘side benefits’ to using a facilitator like Helene – not least, her expertise in allowing for differing perspectives to be brought to the fore while ensuring the team stayed on track and utilised their valuable time effectively.

Katie Harrington
Public Engagement Manager, Codema

Ready to more your organisation forward?

Let’s explore how our tailored facilitation can help you have impactful conversations, build connections, create plans, and develop ideas for aligned and collaborative outcomes. 

Get in touch today and let’s start creating a thriving, resilient organisation together.

JF Icon Arrow Down

Explore other case studies