Background / Scene settingHealth Workforce Queensland provides a range of services to support primary health care in rural and remote Queensland communities, including:

This technique has been used in the 'Engaging Effectively with Communities' workshop. The following is a case example of a world cafe.

Recruitment and Locum Services

"We are going to demonstrate a World Café activity ".

Medical Education and Training

We will have a group conversation about community engagement.  Imagine you have agreed to attend a meeting to discuss why community engagement is important and the challenges facing the organisation in engaging stakeholders in their strategic and operational decision-making.

Data and Research

Meeting set up

Quality Use of Medicines

The room should be set up like a Café.  It should have small tables that can seat 4 – 6 people preferably covered with check tablecloths, flowers, water jugs and glasses.  The aim is to make it feel café-like and create the right atmosphere.

Rural Retention Program

Hosts

Community Development

Every table has a host.  The host can be an internal team member, an independent facilitator or a participant who has been briefed.  The host stays at the same table throughout the activity.  The host has a responsibility to facilitate the conversation at their table and to take notes of the issues and perceptions raised.  These notes can be on a flip chart visually, or on a notepad, or on a laptop computer.

Queensland Rural Medical Family Network

The Question

Health Careers in the Bush

The conversations are facilitated in response to a question.  For this activity the question is:
 why is community engagement important to the divisions network and what are the challenges facing it in engaging stakeholders in its strategic and operational decision-making?Student Initiatives

It can be useful to have the question written up on a flip chart or on paper on the wall so everyone can see it.

The Activity

The participants at each table should introduce themselves.  They should then take a minute to think privately about the question and then share their thoughts with others at their table.

After a preset length of time (ie 7 minutes), the Convenor or Facilitator will ring a bell or blow a whistle.  Everyone but the host moves to another table.  The host should ask everyone at their table to introduce themselves and then continue the discussion.  The host’s responsibility is to keep the discussion flow going and to record the perspectives and issues of the new group.

This activity can be repeated as many times as necessary to ensure that every participant has shared a conversation with a broad cross-section of other participants.

At the end of the activity, the hosts should provide a brief summary of the discussions they have hosted and the common issues and perspectives they have heard.  These summaries should be documented and a copy sent to every participant and to the decision makers.
 

Division Examples