Agora Conferences

Through forums and conferences Agora achieves its goal of finding fresh and innovative ways to address issues of disadvantage. Agora forums and conferences provide participants a place to explore existing and successful cross-sector partnerships; appreciate how cross-sector partnerships can deliver tangible, workable and actionable corporate social responsibility; and grasp practical lessons for generating new partnerships.

The forums are half-day conversations that lead to conferences. Conferences are held over the course of one day and involve senior business managers, departmental heads and their managers, not for profit executives and their managers. Activities include parallel sessions, chaired plenaries, personalised stories of young beneficiaries and their advocates as well as creative components.

Agora 02 Conference 14 June 2007

In June 2007 Agora is hosting a conference on the practical realities of cross-sector partnerships in addressing social and economic disadvantage. To prepare for this conference, Agora has commissioned a number of researchers to explore cross-sector partnerships in education, community infrastructure, crime prevention and asset building.

The focus of the research is on partnerships that have evolved internationally and in Victoria. The research is being overseen by working groups that include senior representatives from the three sectors. This work is being undertaken for the purposes of exploring how such partnerships have worked internationally and in Victoria, how they could be expanded, what we can learn from partnerships that could help strengthen them, and what limitations may exist.