Refugee participation: connecting consultation to service decisions
Updated: Oct 4
Before inviting people to another consultation, an organisation should be able to explain what decision is open and who can act on the advice.
That is the starting point of my written contribution on making refugee and culturally diverse participation count in service decisions. The task is not simply to bring people into a discussion. It is to make the route from their knowledge to a decision clear, supported and accountable.
This builds on existing work. The Refugee Council of Australia’s 2023 Refugee Participation Pledge report addresses refugee leadership, accountability and sustainable resourcing. UNHCR’s 2023 European NGO consultation report also records recommendations for sustained participation and support. These are reference points, not evidence that any particular Australian organisation lacks these arrangements.
1. Make the decision clear before seeking input
Explain what is open to change, what constraints apply and who has authority to decide. Involve refugee-led organisations and people with relevant lived experience in shaping the questions, not only answering them.
For example, a consultation about a mental health referral pathway should identify who can change that pathway and how contributors will remain involved. Asking about the pathway without identifying the decision-maker leaves the next step unclear.
Be equally clear about the contribution being sought. A person offering a personal perspective is not automatically representing a whole community. An agreed representative role has a different purpose and responsibility. Neither should require one person to speak for everyone from a refugee or culturally diverse background.
The practical question is: can a contributor explain what their input could influence, and who is responsible for responding?
2. Resource participation and the organisational response
Agree payment for contributions and preparation, reimburse expenses, and plan interpreting, accessible information and suitable ways to participate. Provide preparation and support appropriate to the task. People should be able to choose what personal experience they share.
The budget also needs to account for the organisation’s work after the meeting. Someone needs time to consider the advice, consult the relevant decision-makers and act on what is agreed. Funding a consultation without allocating capacity for the response leaves part of the work unplanned.
Training can help managers practise receiving and responding to advice, or help community participants prepare to contribute. Learning can support this work alongside the authority, staff time and resources needed to act on what is heard.
Support should strengthen refugee-led participation. It should not make formal qualifications, institutional language or professionalisation a condition of being heard.
The practical question is: have we resourced both the contribution and the work required to respond to it?
3. Show what happened to the advice
Agree when and how contributors will receive a response. For each material recommendation, record the decision, the reason, the responsible role and the next step.
Keep an agreed change separate from a completed change. Where an issue is outside the organisation’s control, explain that boundary and what, if any, next step is available. Give contributors a way to correct how their input has been represented.
Attendance tells us who took part. To assess influence, also ask what changed, what remains unresolved and whether contributors recognise their advice in the response. Reporting back is part of the participation process, not an optional courtesy after it.
The practical question is: can contributors follow their advice from the discussion to the decision and, where change is agreed, into practice?
Start with one forthcoming service decision
My recommendation is for interested service providers and refugee-led organisations to apply these commitments to one forthcoming service decision. Use existing governance arrangements where appropriate, rather than assume another group or framework is needed.
An advisory group, a co-design process and a designated lived experience role are different arrangements. Each needs a clear purpose and connection to authority. The aim is not a particular organisational structure. It is a traceable path from contribution to decision and action.
Watch the Consumer-Led Conversations recording
In September, I co-presented the National Mental Health Consumer Alliance's Consumer-Led Conversations as the WA representative in its Multicultural Affinity Group. The session shared work on culturally responsive mental health systems and participation, alongside the Rural and Remote Affinity Group's work on advocacy and involuntary treatment. Watch the recording.
How LEXs can help
Through LEXs, I provide consultancy on participation, lived experience governance and how advice reaches decisions. I also provide training and workshops for organisational leaders, practitioners and frontline teams, and carers, families and communities. Training can be commissioned directly or included in consultancy where the brief calls for both.
To discuss a participation or governance question, contact michael@lexs.com.au with a brief description of the decision or arrangement you are working on.
About this contribution
This article develops a written contribution prepared for the RCOA and UNHCR service-provider consultation hosted by the Multicultural Services Centre of WA on 12 October 2026. It presents my professional perspective, not the views of refugee communities or organisations where I hold other appointments.
Michael Elwan is a Perth-based Accredited Social Worker and Founder and Director of Lived Experience Solutions (LEXs).
Sources
Refugee Council of Australia (2023). Implementing the Refugee Participation Pledge.
UNHCR (2023). Regional Consultations with NGOs in Europe, pp. 4, 5 and 11. This is a European consultation report, not an assessment of Australian services.
Related workforce learning
Staff supporting refugees and people seeking asylum also need practical ways to recognise and respond to distress. I contributed as an Advisory Group member and provided feedback during user testing for Everymind's Supporting Refugees and People Seeking Asylum in Distress. This free online training is designed for NSW community and health workers, including settlement, housing, legal, employment and mental health services. It takes approximately 2.5 to 3 hours and can be completed at your own pace.
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