latest PrOJECTS
We love our work!
We deliver community engagement projects, deliberative processes and interactive training experiences of all sizes. We work online and face-to-face, or a hybrid blend of both. This page features a small selection of our latest work. You can delve deeper into some of our projects by visiting our project case studies page. Contact us to discuss how we can help you with your engagement challenge, opportunity or project.
LATEST PROJECTS
DELWP Future Forests Community Engagement
MosaicLab is working with the Eminent Panel for Community Engagement to conduct extensive community engagement for the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning around the future uses of four Immediate Protection Areas and state forest in eastern Victoria.
As part of phase one (Mirboo North and Strathbogie Ranges), the Panel held more than 50 engagement sessions with the local community and stakeholders. This included on Country meetings with Traditional Owners, local drop-ins and targeted meetings. The Panel’s recommendations and advice will support Aboriginal self-determination.
Engage Victoria managed an online mapping tool and survey that attracted 716 responses.
As of July 2022, the Victorian Government is now considering the Panel's final report ahead of phase two, focusing on the Central Highlands and East Gippsland Immediate Protection Areas. Read more about this project.
City of Port Phillip Childcare Centres
MosaicLab supported a consultation process around a City of Port Phillip proposal to sell three council-owned properties currently operating as childcare centres.
MosaicLab facilitated two rounds of consultation with each centre’s management committee, capturing thoughts, concerns and questions for council as well as an options analysis on future recommendations for the sites.
Bendigo Art Gallery future redesign
In April 2022, MosaicLab facilitated a community workshop to gather ideas to inform the future redesign of the Bendigo Art Gallery, with a particular focus on accessibility and education.
Participants discussed what is/is not working, how they would like to use the facility in future and advice to designers to create their “most wonderful idea of a gallery”.
Bayside City Council DAIAC Review
Bayside City Council engaged MosaicLab to independently review its Disability Access and Inclusion Advisory Committee (DAIAC) in February 2022 as it was nearing the end of its 12-month pilot term.
The review process included desktop research, stakeholder interviews, a sense-making workshop and final recommendations to continue with a DAIAC and explore ways to refine its terms of reference.
Developing Glen Eira’s Asset Plan
We worked with Glen Eira City Council to design and deliver a deliberative engagement process to capture the community’s feedback on the way council manages assets like roads, drainage, buildings and facilities and open space.
The three-stage process included online and paper surveys, the formation of a community panel who met over three sessions in May and a final review of the recommendations made by the group on the draft Asset Plan 2022-2032.
Bayside Community Panel: award-winning
NEWS FLASH! Bayside City Council won the Best Practice and Innovation in Council Plan Development Award at the LGPro VIC Awards in May 2022. Congratulations!
In early 2021, we designed and facilitated a community panel process to gather feedback and input to Bayside’s four-year Council Plan and 10-year Financial Plan. Under the Victorian Local Government Act 2020, councils have to undertake deliberative engagement processes for long-term strategic planning.
The 2021 experience built on the work of council’s previous community panel in 2020 to inform the Bayside Community Vision 2050. Bayside was one of the first Victorian councils to put in place a Community Vision under the new Act.
The most recent community panel of 31 members met five times online between April and June to explore, discuss and deliberate on both plans.
HOMES VICTORIA COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
We’re proud to be part of the team of consultants working with Homes Victoria on the North Richmond revitalisation project.
We’re facilitating a community engagement process that is all about connecting and engaging with residents and key stakeholders around the question "How can we create a safe, connected, thriving North Richmond community?"
Over four sessions in April, we heard residents' lived experiences and their hopes for the future of the precinct. Further ‘Speak Out’ sessions will be held in May.
Mornington Peninsula Shire Citizens’ Panel
We’re helping Mornington Peninsula Shire with its 2022 Citizens’ Panel, established to further develop the Community Vision that was created in 2021.
The 44-person panel will meet nine times throughout the year to discuss a range of important and challenging issues facing council.
Using extensive feedback and ideas gathered from the community as part of last year's Community Vision work, the 2022 panel will provide new feedback to council this year, with the aim of helping it to make better and more informed decisions.
“Our faith in democracy and people is shining through right here.”
“This process is impressive by itself.
We’re actually participating in real democracy.”
Yarra Valley Water CITIZENS’ JURY
MosaicLab supported the Yarra Valley Water Citizens’ Jury through more than 1000 hours of discussion between February and April 2022.
This was the remit at the heart of their discussions:
“With the challenges of climate change and population growth in mind, the quality and reliability of water supply and sewerage services are critical needs. Clear communication and transparency are essential to empower and inform users to access resources in a respectful, equitable and sustainable way. How can water and the environment be protected and respected, for and by, present and future generations?”
The jury will present their recommendations for solving this challenge to the YVW Board, to inform their price submission for 2023 to 2028.
Read our case study about a similar citizens’ jury process from 2017
Institute for Sensible Transport online workshop
MosaicLab worked with the Institute for Sensible Transport to bring together representatives from the South East Councils Climate Change Alliance to consider the Electric Vehicle charging station roadmap for Melbourne.
We designed and facilitated an online workshop for 45 people, including breakout discussions to capture ideas and insights. This feedback resulted in 12 recommendations that will inform the next draft of the roadmap and further shape planning for the EV future.
KAINGA ORA VIRTUAL FACILITATION TRAINING
MosaicLab delivered virtual facilitation training to staff from Kāinga Ora, a public housing and development agency based in New Zealand. The training sessions have brought together people from all over Aotearoa and aim to empower Kāinga Ora’s national, community engagement and partnership teams with knowledge, skills and confidence in facilitating effective conversations in a virtual environment.
We are providing a highly tailored, active learning program that ensures Kāinga Ora staff are prepared and practiced in most scenarios. The skills being shared will help the team work more closely with their communities for better shared outcomes and inclusive decision-making.
COLIBAN WATER COMMUNITY PANEL
We’re working with Coliban Water on the community engagement elements of its 2023-2028 Pricing Submission.
MosaicLab has designed and is facilitating a comprehensive engagement process that supports Coliban Water and its customers to grapple with and prepare for future water supply and demand issues including built structures that are aging and a climate getting drier.
To help inform Coliban Water’s next pricing submission, a community panel made up of 36 independently-recruited customers has been assembled to consider the question:
“How does Coliban Water prepare for tomorrow while being fair to customers today?”
AUSGRID COMMUNITY PANEL
MosaicLab has designed and is facilitating a comprehensive deliberative engagement process for Ausgrid, the largest distributor of electricity on Australia’s east coast.
This includes online and face-to-face sessions and area-based deliberative forums with customers from the Newcastle/Hunter, Central Coast and Greater Sydney regions.
Ausgrid has developed a framework for engaging customers and stakeholders during the development of a draft price proposal for 2024-2029.
A key part of this framework is the Voice of Community Panel, which allows Ausgrid to speak directly with their customers.
This panel is made up of 60 community members. Find out more about who is in this group in the diagram on the right.
The panel will help answer the question:
“How should Ausgrid plan for the future while being fair to today's customers?”
Read more on Ausgrid’s project website or watch the video.
11 TRANSFORMATIVE LOCAL GOVERNMENT DELIBERATIONS
Local government engagement is entering a new era.
During 2020 and 2021, MosaicLab was honoured to support 10 Victorian councils transform the way decisions are made and ‘bring democracy alive’ as part of the implementation of the new Local Government Act.
We designed and delivered 11 deliberative engagement journeys, which had a profound impact on councils, communities, decision makers and participants.
These processes have directly shaped the future of 10 municipalities which, collectively, are home to 21% of the Victorian community.
The experience also sparked major attitude shifts for participants on a range of measures, including perceptions of democracy and trust in local government.
“This has been one of the most amazing experiences of my adult life. I genuinely feel honoured and privileged to be involved and I’d even say my faith in democracy has been restored.”
CONNECTING DURING DISRUPTION - ONLINE WORKSHOPS
In response to the challenges many teams faced as a result of disruptions due to COVID-19, MosaicLab saw a clear need to support organisations transitioning to a remote-based workforce and equip them with the tools they needed to collaborate, be productive and keep motivated.
In May 2020, MosaicLab worked with community health agencies, state and local government to design and deliver five, two-hour online team strategy sessions.
The sessions drew positive feedback from the 53 participants who appreciated the opportunity to come together to pause and reflect, define what success looked like to them and identify ‘tailwinds and roadblocks’ to achieving their ideal ‘working from home’ environment.
Among the session outputs were action plans and approaches to help the teams continue moving forward.
BAYSIDE 2050 PANEL - MOVING FROM IN-PERSON TO ONLINE
The Bayside 2050 Community Panel was established to guide future decision making by the Bayside City Council. The panel was to meet and deliberate face-to-face. However, following their first session together, held the day after the Prime Minister declared a state of emergency in response to COVID-19, the process was revised.
Deliberations were transitioned into a digital format, and the panel met online throughout May. The group met to plan for the future of Bayside, discuss the challenges faced by the community and develop a shared understanding of what is important.
The broadly representative panel considered ideas and priorities gathered from the broader community in late 2019 to help shape a new Bayside 2050 Community Vision. The vision will establish the values, priorities and aspirations for Bayside in the future.
“It’s been a really big learning curve and I’ve really enjoyed it.
I hope that we’ve done well and contributed enough for future generations.”
BAW BAW SHIRE COUNCIL - FULLY ONLINE DELIBERATIVE PANEL
“The process felt cutting edge in how it was facilitated. There were so many different opinions and emotions to manage, but the facilitators made the whole process seamless and flawless, and we achieved the outcome. ”
In response to expansion in Warragul, Baw Baw Shire Council undertook a review of car parking in the town, an issue that had been highly contentious for a number of years.
MosaicLab supported council with the design and facilitation of a short-form deliberative process involving a cross-section of residents, exploring answers to this question: how can we make the most of our current parking and plan for future parking needs?
All panel sessions had to happen online, given that they were held in the middle of 20202. Despite the virtual environment, the facilitation team were able to meet the core elements of a deliberation.
The output from the panel formed the basis of a council decision about a range of parking matters such as parking restrictions, the need for a new multi-storey car park and parking overlays.
IGEM BUSHFIRE INQUIRY - COMMUNITY MEETINGS
MosaicLab facilitated community meetings as part of the independent inquiry into the 2019-20 Victorian Fire Season being conducted by the Inspector General for Emergency Management (IGEM).
Seven ‘face-to-face’ meetings were run across regional Victoria before sessions were transitioned online in response to COVID-19. Ten online workshops are now being delivered for remaining locations, bringing together remotely-based participants from multiple parts of the state.
It’s vital that the Inquiry considers the views and experiences of the Victorian community before, during and after the fires. Adaptation of the sessions, while still ensuring a supported space for open feedback and sharing, has been essential to ensure this important conversation continues.
“It’s always good to hear from different people and it’s great that these are still happening even with current circumstances, as it is important for recovery.”
DELWP LEADING ENGAGEMENT TRAINING
MosaicLab supported the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) to build engagement skills and capacity in internal leaders. When COVID-19 started impacting Australia, we rapidly transitioned our planned face-to-face course into an interactive, online format.
The session, which involved 16 leaders from across the department, integrated methods and tools such as digital polls and surveys, small group ‘breakout’ discussions and delivery of electronic resources and materials.
“The online facilitation and instructions... were really clear and made a difference for the participants (gave them confidence)...
And the content from the original training module translated really well.”
PHILIP ISLAND WILDLIFE PLAN
MosaicLab ran a webinar and online workshop for a range of stakeholders as part of a project to develop the Phillip Island Wildlife Plan.
The webinar component of the session sought to both inform stakeholders about the work undertaken to date. Participants also identified existing activities that supported strategies in the plan. The workshop then supported the group to collaboratively identify actions that would help deliver the plan.
Originally planned as a face-to-face session, this workshop adapted to an online format in response to COVID-19. Participants worked together - both in small ‘breakout’ rooms and as a whole group - to learn, share perspectives and develop a way forward towards implementation.
“(I appreciated) the flexibility to move to an online workshop with little effort from my perspective.
Actually eased some of the workload related to logistics (such as) venue, catering etc.”
HORSHAM CITY TO RIVER CO-DESIGN SESSIONS
MosaicLab facilitated an online engagement co‐design process for the development of a community engagement plan on behalf of the Horsham Rural City Council. The engagement process is part of a landscape design project for the riverfront precinct.
In place of one full day, face-to-face workshop, MosaicLab delivered multiple, two-hour online sessions (four with the full project team and two with a smaller group).
Sessions included integration of a range of online tools including Zoom and Google Docs to support collaborative group development of a community engagement plan in a digital format.
“The best part of the experience was having ‘breakouts’, the fast pace, having (MosaicLab’s) expertise in the room, the smoothness of the IT and the positive contributions from the group. It went fast and was satisfying.
We’ve moved and matured the approach to engagement... and encouraged true collaboration for the next phase.”
looking for A DEEPer DIVE?
Go to our Case Studies page to learn more about some of the interesting, and sometimes challenging, processes we have designed, delivered and facilitated.
