WashingtonDC SIA

Announcing A
Social Impact Assessment (SIA) Training Course
For Planners and Managers

Rabel Burdge of Western Washington University in Bellingham (USA) will be giving a two day
SIA Training Courses titled:

October 23-24, 2008 at the Holiday Inn-Arlington, VA
(Washington DC area at the Ballston Stop on the Metro Orange line)

Social Impact Assessment is the systematic analysis in advance of the likely impacts a proposed action (project, policy or plan) will have on the day-to-day life (environment) of persons and communities. The basic SIA course will provide the knowledge, understanding and technical skills to do social impact assessment at the community and project level for a variety of development and policy proposals faced by Shire, Municipal, State and Federal level planners and resource managers. A portion of each class will be devoted to lecturing, how to use the three new SIA books and discussion of SIA's completed by the instructors. However, much of the time will be devoted to working in groups on an actual SIA case study as provided by the instructors. Note: The course is limited to 20 participants.

Rabel J. Burdge, Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies
Western Washington University
PO Box 4056
Bellingham, WA 98227-4056, USA
Phone: +1-360-676-9892; Fax: +1-360-715-0985
e-mail: burdge@comcast.net
http://www.socialimpactassessment.net

Our goal is to equip participants with the knowledge, understanding and technical skills to commission or do social impact assessment (SIA) at the community and project level for a variety of development and policy proposals for both developed and developing countries. To achieve this goal, we use a combination of instructor presentations and group activity around a practical case study to achieve the following objectives:

• Understand the history and framework for doing a social impact assessment within the context of the planning/decision process for a proposed project or policy.
• Be able to implement “scoping” and to identify “stakeholders” within the SIA-EIA process as commonly used by government and private sector agencies as well as national and international donor organizations.
• Understand how to identify and gather data for the description and measurement of key social impact assessment variables.
• Understand measures utilized to enhance and mitigate significant social impacts within a variety of assessment processes and settings.
• Understand the participatory elements of the SIA process and the relationship between SIA and public involvement.

Target audience: Planners; government agency personnel; consultants; development workers for domestic and international donor organizations, extension and community development workers; as well as faculty and students in town and regional planning, environmental studies, engineering, the social sciences; and any person wanting to learn about or do social impact assessment either as a stand-alone activity or part of environmental or other types of assessments.

Participant background: Persons who have no prior experience with SIA and those with some experience but who wish to update their SIA skills against common international practice.

Format: A portion of the class will be devoted to lecturing, how to use the three SIA books (cost of each included in the course fee) and discussion of social impact assessments completed by the instructor. However, much of the time will be devoted to working in groups on an actual SIA case study with an emphasis on understanding all the steps in the SIA process.

l Introductions followed by participant and training course learning objectives.

l Presentation and discussion of Scoping and the initial identification of social impacts.

l The first group exercise is on using participatory approaches to “Scoping,” for the SIA case study provided by the instructor.

l Group discussion and sharing of the results of the “Scoping” exercise.

l Presentation and group activity on stakeholder identification and linking of stakeholder analysis to identified social impacts.

l Presentation on understanding and identifying, to include the conceptual rationale for, a suggested list of 28 social impact assessment variables.

l Answer questions from the homework and sharing of SIA and other assessment experiences.

l Presentation on the use of opinion polls and survey research in doing Social Impact Assessment.

l Presentation on sources of data to measure social impact assessment variables.

l Brief presentation on procedures and techniques to determine the significant social impacts.

l Group activity--analysis of significant social impacts utilizing data from the SIA case study (hand calculator or laptop needed for each group).

l Each working group will share the results of their measurement and analysis of significant social impacts.

l Presentation and discussion on mitigation, enhancement, evaluation and monitoring.

l Group activity on suggested mitigation and enhancement programs for significant social impacts from the case study.

l Presentation on when is SIA required and a review of the relationship between social impact assessment and public involvement in the EIA-SIA process ( as time permits).

l Slide show (test) on participant’s ability to identify social impacts in an actual project setting.

A brief description of each book to include the special issues may be found at New SIA Books .

Rabel J. Burdge is an Adjunct Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies at Western Washington University and Professor Emeritus, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he held tenure appointments from 1975-1996 in the Institute for Environmental Studies, and Departments of Agricultural Economics (rural sociology) and Urban and Regional Planning. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Environmental Studies at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. In 1994, Burdge received the IAIA Rose-Hulman Award for distinguished contributions to the field of impact assessment. In addition to teaching SIA and public involvement courses in two universities for almost three decades, Burdge has done SIA-EIA, public involvement, technological assessment and environmental management workshops and courses for the both UNEP and UNDP, World Bank Affiliates, US state and federal land management agencies, and numerous national and international private sector companies, as well as such professional societies as the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA), Community Development Society (CDS), International Association for Society and Natural Resources (IASNR) and the Rural Sociological Society (RSS). He is a member of the Whatcom County (State of Washington) Planning commission.

Registration: The two day SIA training course costs $US 595 and includes lunch and refreshment breaks both days, the three new SIA books and all course handouts. To receive a registration form and for more information, contact Rabel at burdge@comcast.net or phone +1-360-676-9892. The deadline for registration is 11 October, 2008. After that date, registrations accepted on a space available basis. Registration for the October 23-24, 2008 SIA course is now open!! For those staying in Washington DC area overnight we have a special rate of $US 189.00 (plus applicable taxes) per night at the Holiday Inn in Arlington, VA--the address is 4610 N. Fairfax Dr. Arlington, VA. To make a room reservations call 1-703-243-0103 or, 1-800-HOLIDAY The group name is "Rabel Burdge SIA Training Course." You must make your hotel arrangements by 19 September, 2008 The Holiday Inn is located next to the Ballston Stop on the Metro Orange Line. The Hotel is accessible by Metro from Reagan airport and about 25 minutes by cab from Dulles International airport. Day parking on site is free, for overnight it is $9.00 per night.

For a registration form and other course details contact Rabel by e-mail at burdge@comcast.net or phone +1-360-676-9892.