Abstract
This paper profiles a project that began in one Western Australian Local Government Area (LGA) in 2020 and continued for three years; the project focused on the ways in which the LGA worked to understand and engage multilingual communities during crisis and recovery. It uses Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) with communities, the LGA, and social service organisations to engage all stakeholders in the process of co-designing a framework for community-driven engagement. Over the course of three years, we tracked the implementation of this framework with communities, conducting surveys, focus groups, shadowing, and in-depth interviews to determine progress and inform next steps; the overall research project now includes 54 multilingual community leaders, 11 LGA staff members, three multilingual service provider staff. It also includes 112 identified community members who have participated in or benefitted from the co-design and activation of approximately 48 small and larger-scale projects, events, or initiatives across the City of X, including the opening of an intercultural centre that now serves the entire community. While the project noted transformative change within the LGA and its connections with surrounding multilingual communities, the paper also discusses the ongoing issues throughout the project, which contribute to new knowledge around caring platforms, cultural sustainability, and community-led co-design.
Presenters
Sally LampingDirector of Learning and Teaching, School of Education, Curtin University, Australia Paul Mercieca
Senior Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Education, Faculty of Humanities, Curtin University, Australian Capital Territory, Australia Toni Dobinson
Associate Professor- Postgraduate programs Coordinator and Discipline Lead Applied Linguistics/TESOL/Languages Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities/School of Education , Curtin University, Western Australia, Australia Sonja Kuzich
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Community Diversity and Governance
KEYWORDS
Community-led Co-Design, Language and Cultural Access, Local Government
