A project of the Australian Government's Living in Harmony Initiative

• Living in Harmony project survey

Project partners

• Centre for Research on Social Inclusion, Macquarie University
• Australian Government's Living in Harmony Initiative through its Partnership Program
• Three local Councils: Ashfield Municipal Council (NSW); Griffith Council (NSW); and City of Canning (WA)

The Community Harmony Initiative

The Australian Government's Living in Harmony Partnership Program develops national projects that work towards improving social cohesion and community harmony, and generating better understanding, respect and co-operation among people of different backgrounds. The Program encourages projects that promote harmony and address issues of racism in the community.

The premise of the Living in Harmony Partnership Program is that inclusiveness and social cohesion across different cultural groups are as important as recognising differences between cultural groups. What, then, does this mean in practice, what programs have been developed to achieve it, and what are the challenges and innovative possibilities for new initiatives in the Australian context?

The Building Neighbourhood Community Harmony Project

The Building Neighbourhood Community Harmony Project, funded under the Living in Harmony initiative, is a partnership with the Centre for Research on Social Inclusion, Macquarie University.

The Project involves a 10-month action research strategy investigating local community harmony initiatives. It examines the role of local government in building sustainable community across and between different cultural communities, and seeks to develop innovative new models for promoting community harmony at the local level.

Background to the Project

Despite a sophisticated local literature on racism, detailed Australian debate on strategies to foster intercultural cohesion is still in its infancy compared to developments in Europe and the United Kingdom.

Nevertheless, recent research in the area of community harmony has emphasised the importance of local initiatives that go beyond one-off 'multicultural festival days' and that strive, instead, to foster exchange at the level of everyday interaction. The current Project stems from research conducted by Dr Amanda Wise entitled 'Contact Zones'. This two year in-depth qualitative study investigated the factors contributing to racism and intercultural discomfort between Anglo-Celtic senior citizens and recent Chinese migrants in the Sydney suburb of Ashfield.

Some of the findings of this study included:

• Age and social isolation were key factors feeding racism and interethnic discomfort amongst Anglo elderly.
• There was a distinct lack of opportunity for ethnically different local residents to get to know one another.
• There was a general discomfort with cultural difference and lack of knowledge and understanding of different cultural practices. Most significantly, cultural differences in manners played a large role in producing tension between groups.
• Lack of language skills among new groups created a major barrier to communication and interethnic exchange.
• Feelings of exclusion and isolation were high among Anglo-Celtic elderly. Many missed the neighbourhood support provided by local shopkeepers they could interact with, and felt that the celebration of multiculturalism locally equalled a devaluing of their historical contribution. They felt a sense of symbolic exclusion, and there were few places in the local suburb they felt they belonged to. They were deeply affected by the speed of change to the local landscape (in particular in relation to shops).
• There was a distinct lack of trust between groups, lack of cross-cultural civic participation.
• There was also resentment among first wave migrant residents of various backgrounds -especially Greek and Italian - about the recent changes in Ashfield brought by the recent wave of Chinese migration. They expressed similar feelings of discomfort and exclusion to the Anglo-Celtic elderly.

Project aims and principles

The Building Neighbourhood Community HarmonyProject builds on this previous research. It takes as its starting point the fact that:

• High levels of intercultural social capital are central to building community harmony; and
• Local government is well positioned to develop programs to advance these aims.

In investigating trends in community harmony initiatives, developing new models and assessing their application in local Australian contexts, the Project addresses three questions:

• How do we 'manage' intercultural togetherness where it already happens?
• How can we foster productive togetherness, and what capacities need to be built?
• How do we create a sense of belonging to local areas amongst diverse residents?

The focus of the Project is not on one-off events such as an annual 'Multicultural Festival', or formal exchanges between small groups of people who are already the 'converted'. Rather, the initiatives developed will focus on:

1. Accessing and influencing the widest possible audience, while remaining local and focussed on face to face interaction.
2. Impacting the everyday lives and practices of residents, in order to ensure depth and sustainability of outcome.
3. Focusing on face to face interactions and exchange, not just 'fixing' representations.

Project components

The Project has six components:

• The establishment of Community Harmony Working Groups in 3 Local Government Areas. Groups will comprise representatives from the respective local communities, Council and local community organisations, and will form the local base for the overall project, and will inform the development of research and strategy development.
• A needs assessment of local intercultural relations, through qualitative research.
• An audit of local government initiatives with regard to community harmony throughout Australia, in order to identify 'best practice' community-based strategies.
• Developing suggestions for new, locally relevant community harmony strategies.
• Recommending specific strategies for promoting community harmony that are tailored to the needs of each of the three partner councils across Australia. Each project will have a different demographic focus: seniors; women; youth; etc.
• Establishing a pilot project in Ashfield around the theme of 'shops & shopkeepers' and their role in creating a sense of community belonging, with a particular focus on senior citizens.

Building capacity

The strategies to be developed for the Project will focus on building the following capacities:

• 'Everyday' relationships between cultures, contact and exchange between new migrants and longer term residents, in the process working to undermine negative stereotypes.
• Intercultural capacity and cross-cultural empathy among local residents by, among other things, building competency in everyday cross-cultural manners & customs.
• 'Interethnic social capital' , by developing trust between various cultural groups, learning and belonging among local residents, producing supportive neighbourhoods, building intercultural networks and enhancing civic participation across all cultures.
• Discussing and solving differences and reducing tensions between different cultural groups.
• Developing ways to 'manage' togetherness in shared contexts, such as cultural events or where facilities are shared by more than one group.
• Through the concept of 'place-sharing', building a sense of belongingto the local area by developing strategies around place identity and the use of public and symbolic space.

The programs to be piloted will target the following 'contact zones':

• Intercultural Neighbouring: Fostering exchange, support and friendship between ethnically different neighbours.
• Intercultural Shopping: Enhancing the role of ethnic shopkeepers as facilitators across difference.
• Celebrating Together: Finding ways to celebrate and participate in each other's religious and cultural festivals, and encouraging the exchange of gifts and food with those of other religious or cultural backgrounds.
• Helping Together: Creating spaces for members of different groups to work together for a common (charitable) end.
• Networking Together: Creating spaces for dialogue, linking between ethnically different groups.
• Place-Sharing: Creating diversity friendly suburban centres, as places that foster belonging amongst diverse residents, old and new. This will include suggestions for place revitalisation, festivals, public art and cultural programs, and town centre design.

Outcomes

National Outcomes

• Evidence-based, replicable cutting edge community harmony models.
• Website featuring community harmony project examples.
• Downloadable 'tool kit' for local councils and community groups.

Outcomes for Local Council Partners

• Opportunity to be a 'showcase council' with national profile.
• Proposals for cutting edge community harmony strategies tailored to the local context.
• Evidence base through research into quality of cultural relations.
• Sustainable structures such as 'Community Harmony Working Group'.

This project is proudly supported by the Australian Government's Living in Harmony initiative. The Living in Harmony initiative aims to promote community harmony. It recognises that, whatever our backgrounds and beliefs, we are united as Australians and want to live in a country that is free of racial intolerance. For more information on the Living in Harmony initiative, visit www.harmony.gov.au