Australia’s first multilingual government feedback platform.
Deliverables
Website
Campaign assets
Brief
You can’t build a multicultural Australia if you can’t communicate with the very people you’re building it for.
This was the conundrum facing the Department of Home Affairs as they approached the launch of their Multicultural Framework Review – a comprehensive report on how government policies could better support the futures of diverse Australians.
The department was seeking feedback from over 30 communities across the country. Many of those communities had a long history of being unable to voice their opinions on issues affecting them. The largest barrier preventing them from having a say? Language.
Here’s where CultureVerse – Think HQ’s dedicated multicultural communication’s arm – stepped in. Our challenge was to create a digital submissions platform that could not only speak different languages but could accept, translate and interpret feedback from a range of community members. On top of this, we needed to ensure multicultural communities understood the significance of the review and were keen to participate.
Joining forces with the Think HQ technology team, we delivered an Australian first – a technical solution that would allow the first ever multilingual submissions to a government review. Our goal was to ensure that no voice remained unheard, and that every community could play an integral role in shaping the policies that affected their lives.
We recognised the need to ensure that communities were aware of the review and understood its significance, encouraging their active participation.
Execution
A versatile submission platform
Our submission platform included 33 in-language information pages and forms aimed at giving every community member a chance to submit feedback. The forms didn’t just accommodate different languages; they catered to a range of submission formats. Users could share their thoughts through video, audio, documents, or written text. Each submission used their dialect of choice and catered to both left-to-right and right-to-left languages (e.g., Arabic).
The magic of multilingual drupal CMS
Our choice of Drupal CMS was pivotal in bringing the technical solution to life. This highly efficient system allowed us to create a URL architecture with international language codes for each form, ensuring that translations were seamless.
Machine learning for real-time translations
In a world of rapid interactions, we knew the importance of real-time translations. To achieve this, we integrated the AWS machine learning translation (ML translation) API into our platform. This innovation enabled immediate translations of submissions, which were safely stored in the back end. It also expedited our CultureVerse team’s work, as they could quickly review translations, ensuring accuracy and preserving the true essence of each submission.
Spreading the word
Promoting the Multicultural Framework Review was not limited to technical solutions alone. We recognised the need to ensure that communities were aware of the review and understood its significance, encouraging their active participation. To achieve this, CultureVerse raised awareness through targeted outreach to our nationwide network of multicultural leaders, organisations, multicultural media and key stakeholders.
Outcome
The Multicultural Framework Review campaign is well on its way to bridging language barriers and ensuring the voices of diverse communities are heard and valued.
The campaign’s email open rate exceeds government benchmarks, indicating strong interest. Preliminary results also show strong engagement, with a total of 787 submissions to date, including 126 in-language submissions.
