Why is cultural engagement planning important?

Why is cultural diversity engagement important? NSW community demographics mean there is a need to engagement with culturally diverse client groups or stakeholders Engagement helps ensure access and equity for culturally diverse communities in program/service delivery and communications/marketing activities

Reasons given for lack of engagement: A perceived lack of resources Claims of too few or too many people to consult with, especially in communities with several organisations or broad community leadership Lack of experience or capacity in engaging with culturally diverse communities Previous failed attempts that resulted in a belief that the issue was not of interest/need in culturally diverse communities

The business case Challenges or engagement failures should not deter practitioners from understanding and benefiting from good cultural diversity engagement Demographic statistics make compelling reasons why cultural diversity engagement should be part of organisational life. Engaging with culturally diverse communities is an area of skill that can be learned, delivered, replicated and refined

NSW 27.6% of the NSW population were born overseas This is or over 2 million people In Sydney this increases to 37% of the population born overseas 25% of people in NSW speak a language other than English at home This is almost 2 million people

Cost efficiency of engagement Investing upfront in engagement helps get planning right to meet community needs Talking to your target communities helps build the right messaging to make sure diverse communities understand your information . Investing in quality translations, culturally appropriate messages and images that are accessible and able to be used by diverse communities ensures your overall investment is not a waste

Planning for engagement activities The following method can be applied to many engagement activities: Do your homework Speak to people to find out what they want Ask what they need Ask what they will use Develop the resources and materials alongside the outcomes

Access & Equity Without the involvement of the significant number of people from culturally diverse backgrounds there is a risk that the program/service may not meet their needs. A lack of engagement can result in differences between those who can and those who cannot access or use services based on language proficiency levels. Failing to involve all cohorts in your target communities can lead to potentially significant costs in designing and retrofitting more accessible pathways or corollary services. The use of appropriate engagement activities ensures that services/programs that are being planned meet the needs of culturally diverse populations The current migration to online/digital platforms is an example of not considering accessibility for culturally and linguistically diverse communities that may lack: Digital literacy English language skills Digital access to benefit from these online services Some sectors such as aged care and health are now facing retrofitting of approaches that deliver greater access to culturally diverse audiences as an alternative to digital access.

Getting engagement right ensures sustainability Delivering successful engagement with culturally diverse communities not only benefits the design, delivery and use of programs or services it also establishes relationships that can bear fruit over the medium to long term. This can take form as the following: Ongoing feedback from user populations The potential development of partnership/sponsorship: through community specific activities evolving from existing relationships Providing a pipeline of stakeholders: for other types of organisational engagement and involvement

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS Successful engagement delivers strong relationships that are based on trust and transparency Results in convergence of outcomes for both organisations and culturally diverse communities Strong relationships are essential to create goodwill between organisations and culturally diverse communities.