Supporting CALD communities during COVID-19

A statement from Brimbank City Council Mayor, Cr Georgina Papafotiou

We welcome any efforts from the State Government to increase engagement with multicultural communities to support them during the COVID-19 health emergency.

As one of Melbourne’s most multicultural communities, with almost 50 per cent of residents speaking a language other than English at home – Brimbank Council understands that engaging with CALD communities is more than providing translated materials and interpreter services.

While these measures are important, we also know directly reaching out to community in their own settings and meeting places has great success. Often this means working with community leaders to facilitate this outreach.

With some groups we utilise trained bilingual Council workers to help with education and training of CALD groups. Our bilingual workers also support some people of CALD background that may not be literate in their first language to assist in explaining important messages.

We believe this approach would be effective with important health messages concerning COVID-19.

Any measures to influence people’s behaviour like participating in health screening or testing needs to also take into account the range of factors that can impact on an individual’s decision making. These factors are often complex and can include things such as transport, cost, physical mobility, cultural and family norms, work and family responsibilities.

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