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Client Name

Manningham City Council

Date

2006

Project Description

The City of Manningham is located 12 km east of Melbourne and is home to 110,000 people. Population projections for the City show that in 25 years time more than one in three of them will be aged over 55. Manningham City Council sought a process and a strategy that would inform and provide the foundation for the creation of an age-friendly city into the future.

A critical objective was innovation in consultation: to conduct a 'conversation' with the community and to use the consultation as a critical input - not to simply test findings or key directions.

The project involved multiple parties: a Council Working Group representing very area of Council; Council officers; an external Stakeholder Reference Group made up of local, regional and State service providers and government; and a Community Leaders' Forum.

Our Role

In their role as project facilitators RPA took the Manningham community and the stakeholders on a 'journey' that was holistic in nature: it considered a wide range of factors that influence an individual's experience of ageing.

The Community Leaders' Forum was an innovative example of consultation where a group of 30 community leaders were selected, and armed with a detailed brieing and a suite of consultation tools,they conducted a conversation with their commmunity on behalf of the project. A variety of consultation methods were used including intercept interviews, large group meetings, one-on-one consultations and briefings. The results were outstanding - the project reached pockets of the community that 'traditional' consultation programs usually miss.

Another feature of the project involved regular presentations and briefings to Councillors and Council Staff by RPA. Whilst the project was focused on positive ageing and the wider community, a service overview was also developed documenting current Council services and the likely future growth in demand in light of the growing number of older residents.

The outcome was a Strategy that has been very well received both within Council and in the wider community, and is being used to inform the development of a detailed action plan, and a process that can be applied across a number of broader contexts.