Facilitation Engagement Partnerships
Facilitation
Jacinta Cubis can help you to engage and collaborate with your partners, communities and stakeholders for social benefit.
Jacinta is a skilled facilitator and engagement practitioner, accredited partnership broker and creative problem-solver.
Jacinta is a sounding board for clients at any stage of their collaboration with stakeholders, the community or partners.
Jacinta's cross-sectoral experience helps her build bridges between the community, government and higher education sectors.
Jacinta gets to the core of an issue helping clients find the words and pictures that resonate with potential partners, stakeholders and the community. She has experience across a diverse range of issues such as health, mental health, road safety, water services, education, positive ageing, disability and international development.
"Jacinta is a gifted facilitator. She set the tone right from the start to ensure a respectful exchange between the community and the project team on a controversial topic. We were in awe of how well she facilitated the Q&A. Community members in the room and on Facebook told us the same thing afterwards too. With a week’s notice, Jacinta helped us deliver a critical forum that exceeded our objectives and was greatly appreciated by the community. We will definitely be working with Jacinta again."
"I really appreciated Jacinta’s ability to just jump in and keep things moving over 18 months on a tricky engagement project. She covers all bases – planning the engagement, writing the content and facilitation. She was integral in making a citizens’ advisory group such an effective process and the trust she built with members was evident when we reported back a few months later. Jacinta was quick at turning around actions and very responsive to prioritising critical tasks as they emerged. This was the first time we’d tried something like this in Ballarat and Jacinta was a vital part of making it happen.”
"Jacinta is a delight to work with - she is energetic, creative, warm-hearted and has a wonderful sense of humour. She relates to all kinds of people and can therefore work with different kinds of organisations. Jacinta is a highly skilled facilitator and community engagement specialist, and is a brilliant writer. I seek out opportunities to work with Jacinta for all these reasons."
"Jacinta had a very positive impact over the time she worked with us on the network of schools. She was instrumental in helping us establish this innovative partnership. I appreciated her deep understanding of the value of engagement and her practical, hands on approach to making it work. And it was fun to work with her, given her drive and attention to quality."
"Jacinta and I have collaborated on a range of projects in the positive ageing space over the years, both as partners and colleagues. Her curiosity, empathy and ability to connect ideas and people make her a valuable collaborator on any project. Just as importantly, she’s great fun to work with! "
"Jacinta is a natural social entrepreneur. She knows the theory and practice of engagement: she is well-skilled in making meaningful connections; and has the diverse industry experience that allows her to engage with the client through a deep understanding of the 'tribal' language and rituals of the client's sector. Jacinta leapt at the opportunity to explore ways to strengthen the formal partnership between our institutions, and is a standout 'go to' person and personal sounding board."
"I had so many light bulb moments at one of her partnership masterclasses. Jacinta knew what questions to ask and made observations and challenges in a respectful and insightful way that gave me a new perspective on at least one partnership that had lost its mojo. I have drawn on her advice and expertise over 15 years and recommend her to anyone who is looking for an engaging and highly experienced player in the partnerships space."
"Jacinta is a thoughtful and empathetic facilitator, whose insights and advice I’ve appreciated as both a fellow practitioner and trainer. She’s a great story teller who instinctively knows how to see things from a range of perspectives. Jacinta has a great energy, and injects humour and fun into her practice – your time with her will fly! She brings unique insights and perspective from her client-side experience to her consultancy practice. I recommend Jacinta to anyone looking to energise and enthuse their teams, communities and project."
"I really enjoyed working with Jacinta to develop our partnership to build understanding between bike riders and taxi drivers. She invests the time needed for partners to get to know each other while moving quickly to take advantage of opportunities when they crop up. I particularly appreciated the strategic perspective she brought to a critical behaviour change initiative. I’d recommend Jacinta to anyone needing a hands on practitioner and strategic partnering advice."
"As a colleague of Jacinta’s, I greatly appreciated her leadership in partnering and engagement. Her enthusiasm and readiness to question pre-existing methods helped the International Relations Office to re-conceptualise our own work engaging with international stakeholders."
"We had the pleasure of working with Jacinta at a policy and research workshop. Jacinta has a refreshing style which is open and engaging, and as support facilitators we appreciated her effort to ensure we were well-briefed and clear about the session's approach and objectives.
Cross-disciplinary workshops can be tricky, and Jacinta navigated the complex content and diverse views in the room with confidence. We particularly valued her willingness to respond to suggestions and to actively engage with both her collaborators and the workshop participants to make sure the experience was positive for everyone. We’d be delighted to work with her again."
"Jacinta was a key ingredient in the development of our ESTEME partnership when she was at the University of Melbourne. She provided the structure and guidance to our partnership consultant and I continue to appreciate being able to draw on her expertise regularly as our partnership matures. She has empowered us to develop clear objectives and measurements for a key project to strengthen teacher’s skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. I highly recommend Jacinta as a partnership consultant."
"I’ve enjoyed working with Jacinta as a colleague and stakeholder. She has an intuitive ability to quickly see an issue from others’ perspectives. Her enthusiasm is second to none and is key to her success in bringing both sceptics and advocates with her when championing a new approach or idea. An influential communicator, Jacinta successfully builds the capacity of both leaders and colleagues, resulting in lasting cultural change."
"Jacinta is an excellent intitiator and driver of ideas. She seeks out and builds the relationships and partnerships needed to develop and deliver ideas into concrete results. In the case of working with her through Alzheimer's Australia Vic she made many things possible that have enabled us to improve our services, making a difference to the lives of people living with dementia and their carers. I wish her every success in her consultancy."
"Jacinta Cubis is a natural communicator and talented facilitator who understands people and process. I was impressed to see her in action when I worked with her as a table facilitator while she ran the large cross-sectoral workshop. Jacinta has a gift for reading the room and perfectly balancing the needs of the participants with the outcomes required by the client. Her thorough preparation on the day allowed me to dedicate my time to my own table of participants and her flexibility of delivery meant she could accommodate feedback and recommendations of her table facilitators and steer the process to a successful conclusion. She is professional and enjoyable to work with and I look forward to collaborating with her again."
"Jacinta is as enthusiastic, creative and lateral thinker. These skills combined with her natural communication and relationship building skills ultimately result in stronger and more meaningful partnerships. I have no hesitation in recommending Jacinta."
When not facilitating a workshop or scoping a partnership, you may find Jacinta on her yoga mat, in her art studio or on the tango dance floor!