The challenge
Central Highlands Regional Council enlisted Articulous to help guide thelocal community to articulate what is most important to them for the future of Central Highlands over the next 20 years in the 2043 Central Highlands Community Vision. The vision sets the strategic direction for the Central Highlands with tangible actions and aspirations for government, the private sector and community.
Our action
Using a place-based approach, Articulous engaged with businesses, community groups and residents from 13 distinct communities in the regionthrough a series of in-person workshops, surveying, DIY engagement activities, online activities, podcasts, presentations and public relations activities. In total, 1,900 contributions from individuals, organisations and groups from all parts of the Central Highlands were made during the visioning process – representing 7% of the community.
How it happened
These contributions were analysed and categorised under themes by our team before being incorporated into a vision statement and a series of priority aspirations and projects for the region and each of the 13 communities of the Central Highlands. A draft vision document was then circulated for community comment on, with this second round of engagement designed to help refine the vision document.
This second-round engagement was also used to assess support for the vision, with over 83% of residents found to support the proposed vision for the region. Incorporating two rounds of engagement employing a variety of tools, the final document was wholly community developed and will be owned and led by the Central Highlands and each of the 13 communities within.
In addition to creating the engagement strategy, public relations plan and leading the activities to gather community input to develop the vision, Articulous provided expertise in creative design processes, creating the project look and feel, collaterals, social media content, website content, and media releases.
The outcome
Articulous also undertook benchmarking research of local government visioning processes and reviewed Council’s strategic documents for alignment opportunities with the 2043 Community Vision. Our work also included the development of a Community Vision Review and Reporting Framework for internal Council use, which identified how the 2043 Community Vision could be incorporated in Council’s strategic document hierarchy. Our team adhered to performance reporting requirements, considering annual operational planning, business planning, annual reporting and five-yearly Corporate Planning needs.
This was a nine-month project requiring extensive on the ground engagement with diverse and unique communities, data analysis and extensive reporting.
