About Local Voices
Community rewards
Rio Tinto's Commitment
Voices from the heart
of your community
Voconiq Local Voices is a unique community engagement
program developed over 10 years within Australia's leading
science agency, CSIRO.
The Local Voices 'pulse' survey is now closed.
Thank you to everyone who completed the Local Voices 'pulse' survey in September & October. Our team is busy analysing the data and look forward to sharing the insights with the community soon.
The next survey is scheduled for early 2023.
If you are new to Local Voices and would like to receive an invitation when the next survey opens, please register below. You are welcome to join Local Voices at anytime:
Join Local Voices
Voconiq Local Voices is a unique community engagement program developed using research conducted by Australia's national science agency, CSIRO.
Rio Tinto has engaged Voconiq to conduct a three-year analysis of community attitudes to the company's operations. This gives communities neighbouring the operations an opportunity to express their views and experiences inside the company, helping to inform the company's decision-making.
Each time a survey is completed, a donation is made to local community groups of your choice. It's our way of thanking you for your time and insights and supporting those groups so that they can continue their great work in the community.
Local Voices will provide the communities neighbouring Rio Tinto's operations a way to express their views and experiences directly to the business, and help them engage on the issues that matter most to these communities. While Rio Tinto may not be able to solve every issue raised, it will be better informed on the things that matter most to your local community.
So have your say about what's important to you, and your community can benefit.
Haven't registered yet?
Participate to unlock rewards for local community groups and have your voice heard. It's quick and easy.
We support the communities we work in through the Voconiq Local Voices Community Rewards Program. This allows eligible community groups (such as schools, charities, and not-for-profit clubs and organisations) within the region of the study to nominate for donations. *Terms & conditions apply
Every time a survey is completed, community members can assign a donation to one or more community groups registered with Voconiq Local Voices in their area.
Your voice can help the community groups you care about!
Meet the reward groups
Nominate reward group
Claim community rewards
Rio Tinto's commitment
Rio Tinto continually works to understand the social context in which they operate and to build this understanding into their business planning. Over the past three years, feedback from the community has helped them understand where they are doing well and where there may be opportunities to improve, and as such are looking forward to continuing to receive this feedback through Local Voices. By giving communities regular and independent opportunities to say what's on their mind, Rio Tinto is better placed to respond to and address issues as they arise.
"We really value regular feedback from the community through the Local Voices program which has already helped to inform and guide our work with communities in the Pilbara. We want to be a valued local company and our host communities to know that we are listening to what they have to say and that they have a voice."
General Manager Communities and Communications, Ainslie Bourne.
Turning insight into action
Rio Tinto values regular feedback from the community through the Local Voices program, which has already helped to inform and guide their work with communities in the Pilbara. The business wants to be a valued local mining company and build strong local communities and we're helping to do this by providing a voice from within your community.
"Following the feedback received last year, we committed funds to develop a new state-of-the-art childcare centre in Tom Price, extended our sponsorship of the West Pilbara Turtle Program, and provided support packages to the City of Karratha and the Shire of Ashburton to assist economic stimulus initiatives."
Together with Rio Tinto, Voconiq is seeking to revitalise and expand Local Voices and looks forward to continuing the Local Voices initiative across the Pilbara.
What you've told us
Thank you to those who shared their feedback in the September 'anchor' survey. The results are in! Jump on to our community dashboard to explore all of the results specific to your own town:
View survey results
Meet our local reward groups
Like, Follow, Share
What is Voconiq Local Voices? Collapse
Local Voices is a specialised service offered by Voconiq which captures a full spectrum of opinion at a grassroots level around an industrial operation. It is a way for organisations to conduct a long-term regular analysis of community attitudes to the company's operations in and around specific communities. It gives the communities neighbouring the operations a voice that is being heard by the company and is helping to inform business decision making.
A detailed 'anchor' survey (or baseline) is conducted to understand the key trust drivers in the community, followed by regular 'pulse' surveys to track changes over time. Surveys can be completed online, on mobile, pen and paper, or through brief phone interviews.
In addition, every survey can help earn money for local not-for-profit groups through the Voconiq Local Voices Community Reward Program. Every time a survey is completed, community members can assign a donation to one or more community groups registered with Voconiq.
What is Voconiq? Expand
Voconiq is a data science, research and community engagement company that bridges the gap between communities and the companies, industries and governments that work within and alongside them. Voconiq was established in 2019 to accelerate more than a decade of research on the nature of relationships between communities and those that work alongside them.
What is the approach? Expand
Voconiq delivers a community survey and engagement approach that helps companies, industries, and governments to understand what matters most to community members and how to develop stronger relationships with communities. Community attitude data is collected over time, analysed, and provided back to our customers and community members in a format that is accessible and useful. The process provides an avenue for our customers to actively address issues that are important to communities.
Why do companies seek information from the community? Expand
Organisations want to better understand the communities they work with, to improve relationships and build trust, based on a mutual understanding of the impacts and benefits of the industrial activities they undertake.
Which communities are being surveyed? Expand
Community members from local areas surrounding the company's project are invited and encouraged to participate. We aim to reach as many community members as possible within these areas. The aim is to ensure that a diverse sample of community members participate.
How often do the surveys take place? Expand
The frequency of surveys varies depending on the company. A detailed 'anchor' survey takes place at the start of the process. 'Pulse' surveys then take place at regular intervals, typically either monthly, quarterly, or biannually.
What will the surveys ask? Expand
The surveys aim to find out about community attitudes towards issues such as (but not limited to) the effectiveness of particular company community investment programs, and potential impacts related to their operations (for example, dust, noise, blast vibrations, etc.), along with employment, skills training and development initiatives. The survey also focuses on the nature of the relationship between community members and the company.
How long will the surveys take to complete? Expand
Following a brief registration process, the Pulse Surveys should take just 5 minutes to complete. The Anchor Survey is a more detailed survey, taking approximately 20 minutes to complete. The results of the Anchor Survey determine the items included in the Pulse Surveys.
Can the surveys be completed via tablet or mobile device? Expand
Yes, the surveys can be completed on any device able to access the online survey platform. The survey is rendered according to the screen size of mobile device. Most modern mobile browsers will be compatible with our mobile surveys, which includes: iPhones, iPads, Android phones and tablets, Windows phones, BlackBerry and more.
Can the surveys be completed in other ways? Expand
Yes, before a program of work is started the most appropriate way to conduct surveys is assessed and the approach adjusted accordingly. Please contact Voconiq to discuss your needs further.
Can the surveys be completed multiple times? Expand
The survey can be completed on the same device more than once, by design. Our systems are designed to allow multiple entries into the survey from the same computer or device so that multiple people can complete the survey from the same public machines (for example, from the library or other public computers). This is critical to ensure equitable and inclusive access to community members who may not have their own computer or internet (or struggle using such things at home).
However, the issue of multiple survey entries from a single individual potentially skewing the data is something that we take seriously. Our data processing is sophisticated and flags every instance of an additional entry from the same device, as well as flagging similar results from multiple different devices (where, for example, the same individual has completed the survey from multiple different devices). The system alerts us to perform additional checks on these responses (which include both an inspection by a data scientist and via advanced statistical processing). Where multiple responses are deemed to be from the same individual, surplus responses are disregarded and removed from inclusion in the survey results.
In addition, we design our surveys to enable us to provide a deeper insight or understanding of complex issues – the weight of responding or proportion of responses that are supportive of an issue is only one part of the results delivered to the industry(s) that contract us. Of greater interest will often be the average ratings within different groups and how they differ.
Are the surveys confidential? Expand
Voconiq has a strict ethics framework that protects the rights of participants. All data are maintained securely, and no personal information or information that would enable identification of individuals is made available to the organisation or any other party. Participant confidentiality is assured. All Voconiq processes comply with or exceed the requirements of the Privacy Act 1988.
Within Voconiq, participant personal information and their survey response data are kept physically separate and only accessible by a small number of senior project members. All other parties, including the commissioning organisation, receive an aggregated summary of responses by the community, not the raw data.
What happens to the survey data? Expand
Voconiq will analyse the survey data collected and provide the information back to the communities and to the company in a format that is accessible and useful. The company receives the summary of data collected in each local region so they can track how well the operation engages with communities neighbouring their operations.
The aggregated data may be used for the following:
• to identify and understand drivers of trust and acceptance of the organisation in community engagement activities, and in various company communication materials and reports
• to inform future decisions and activities of industry and policy makers
• to produce reports and scientific papers
• in a broader program of Voconiq research that aims to understand the relationships between mining and communities at different levels over time.
How will the company respond to the information from the surveys? Expand
Organisations commit to use this data to achieve outcomes that matter to their communities. The survey data will also inform the company's community engagement approach, and development within the local region.
What are the incentives to register with Local Voices? Expand
When participants complete a survey, they receive 'tokens' which they can allocate to one or more eligible not-for-profit community groups that have registered with Voconiq. Following each Pulse Survey, Voconiq will send an update to all community groups telling them how many tokens they have accrued and their donation value.
Which community groups are eligible for rewards through the incentive scheme? Expand
Community groups that are eligible include schools, charities, and not-for-profit clubs and organisations operating within the local region.
Full eligibility criteria are available here.
What happens if someone wants to stop participating in the Local Voices surveys? Expand
Participation is completely voluntary, and participants can stop at any time without any consequence. While retracting data is not possible once results are published, participation can be withdrawn at any time, without prejudice, penalty or having to provide a reason for the withdrawal.
What happens if someone decides they would like to participate in Local Voices, but they didn't participate in the Anchor Survey? Expand
This is ok, community members can join Local Voices at any time. Voconiq will send a link to the Pulse survey that is underway at that time and will continue to send invitations when each Pulse survey is available for completion until you tell us otherwise.
Are there limits to how many tokens we can accrue? Expand
No. There is no limit to the number of credits any one community group can accrue.
How do I know how many tokens my community group has accrued? Expand
Authorised representatives for each community group are sent regular updates on token accrual and balance at the end of each survey collection period. While Voconiq does not disclose how much each community group accrues, we do promote the overall value of donations for each location and company.
How does a community group claim a donation? Expand
Donations will either be made at the end of the survey collection period or when a community group decides to submit a claim. For cash donations, community groups simply submit an invoice to Voconiq for the amount owed. Details on how to submit a claim are available on the relevant project page. Payment will be made within 30 days of submission through the portal. Further information will be sent through to registered community groups.
USA Phone 1 (800) 815-7030 (toll free)
Email localvoices@voconiq.com
Address Level 6, 25 King St,
AddressBowen Hills Q 4006 Australia
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