Goal
City of Canterbury-Bankstown Council commissioned JOC Consulting in partnership with Katrina De Jersey and Jan Willet to design and facilitate a program of deliberative community consultation in relation to one of Sydney’s largest events, Ramadan Nights Lakemba with CALD community members. Ramadan Nights Lakemba is a month-long community-led event to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan. The event has experienced rapid growth from a crowd of 250,000 in 2019 to approximately 1.4 million people in 2023. Its rapid growth has brought a variety of benefits and challenges to the local community. The deliberative consultation looked at ways to unpack the various challenges felt by the community.
Solution
JOC Consulting prepared a rigorous deliberative consultation program utilising the IAP2 Framework, using techniques, tools and cultural sensitivities for engaging with CALD stakeholders, many of whom did not speak English. The consultation specifically targeted four key stakeholder groups who were directly affected by the evening, being local residents, local businesses, religious community and stall holders.
The consultation included:
- Round 1 Consultation – 3 x Stakeholder Workshops and 1 x Focus Group, focused on exploring and unpacking the key challenges and issues experienced by the stakeholder groups.
- Co design session with Council – Between the consultation rounds, Council and the consulting team cleaned, analysed and explored alignment across the various forms of feedback received from participants.
- Round 2: 2 x stakeholder workshops – The workshops unpacked ways to address their challenges. Details on the considerations and feedback heard from different stakeholder groups were presented to all participants. Participants were then asked to make informed decisions about some of the potential options.
Outcomes
Workshop participants were highly receptive and appreciative of the consultation approach. Many stakeholders who attended the workshops were positive and complimentary about the Council’s willingness to open the channels of communication and genuinely listen to their views. Feedback from the consultation has been presented to Council for the final decision on the future management and growth of this key event.