L.CON.2405 - Review of the producer consultation program structure and governance

Summary

Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) commissioned ACIL Allen and Hardman Communications to assess whether the Producer Consultation Program (the Program) is fit for purpose (appropriate) and effective and efficient in delivering outcomes for producers and MLA.

As part of this review, we examined multiple documents relating to the Program’s structure and function (process and communication mechanisms) and spoke with 50 stakeholders involved in the Program. The Program was assessed against a set of best practice principles, and we reviewed the processes and communication mechanisms used by other Research and Development Corporations (RDCs) to identify lessons that could be learned.

Objectives

This project set out to deliver an assessment of the producer consultation program by assessing the governance, planning processes, stakeholder communications and finance against agreed standards to assess current arrangements against alternatives and risk.

Key findings

The project delivered a report that reviews and compares the producer consultation program against other MLA consultation programs and other RDC's consultation programs along with surveys and interviews of engaged producers in the existing consultation program. The project was broken down into six stages, which were completed over a 12-week period: Review design, program mapping, desktop review, stakeholder consultation, analysis and validation and reporting.

The producer consultation program was found to be fit for purpose for delivering outcomes to producers and MLA. The Program is considered by stakeholders to be delivering value for money and is in line with best practice principles of being inclusive, having shared ownership, flexibility and adaptability, leverages a reversal of expertise, is iterative, well communicated and helps establish trust.

The program review identified 

• The need for more clarity on:
  • the Program’ intent
  • the terminology used in official documents
  • the terminology used colloquially
  • the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved.
• The need to examine ways to make the process more responsive.
• The need to make information and feedback more targeted and accessible and more clearly communicated.

Based on these key findings, four recommendations were proposed to MLA to consider (Refer Table 1).

Benefits to industry

MLA's producer consultation program allows producer-raised priorities to be developed into research, development and adoption projects. Review of this program is essential to ensure it is still delivering value back to producers and wider industry.

MLA action

MLA will follow up on recommendations from the final report. An online summary of this report will be shared on the MLA R&D reports website.

Future research

Outcomes of the review have provided recommendations and potential improvements to the existing program. The outcomes will help MLA understand if there are ways to increase the value for money, ensure that producers feel consulted and that all statutory funding agreement requirements are being met.