Sue West

Community Indicators in Action: Using Indicators as a Tool for Planning and Evaluating the Health and Wellbeing of a Community

Community indicators are summarized or aggregated statistics that include broad measures aimed at measuring the progress of a community but community indicator projects are often criticized for a lack of direct policy and planning actions. This chapter introduces Community Indicators Victoria, a community indicators project located within a southern state of Australia, and describes a successful collaboration with a local government authority in the development of a 4-year Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan. The chapter describes a practical case study example of how community indicators can be used to develop informed, engaged and integrated community planning.

The evidence: what we know about place-based approaches to support children’s wellbeing

The evidence summary begins by considering the importance of place. This leads to a discussion of why different approaches to services and service delivery are required, including a brief description of recent changes in the conditions in which families are raising young children and the complex social problems we face. Consideration is given to defining place-based approaches and their evolution in Australia, citing examples from the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), Canada and Australia. Key features and dimensions of place-based approaches explores the key features of place-based approaches in more depth and examines how the various Australian initiatives incorporate them into their models. The evidence of efficacy for place- based approaches is then reviewed, focusing on building community and interagency partnerships and place-based action planning and intervention. What evidence is missing? focuses on gaps in our knowledge and what we still need to learn about establishing collaborative partnerships and successfully implementing place-based interventions. The final section wraps up what we know about the key elements of place-based approaches. The evidence summary concludes that we are still at a relatively early stage of implementing place-based initiatives, and argues that none of the current Australian initiatives have incorporated all the key features. • This publication has been developed by the Centre for Community Child Health at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and The Royal Children’s Hospital as part of the Collaborate for children: scoping project funded by the Australian Government Department of Education. It summarises the evidence on what we know and are still yet to learn about place-based approaches to improve children’s outcomes. Over 12 months, the project investigated the Australian place-based landscape to understand how we can better promote children’s wellbeing through place-based initiatives. This publication is one of four key reports produced through the project. The reports are: The evidence: what we know about place-based approaches to support children’s wellbeing A snapshot of place-based activity promoting children’s wellbeing – who is driving, doing and supporting place-based initiatives Big thinking on place: getting place-based approaches moving The state of play in Australian place-based activity for children – a summary of project findings with recommendations for accelerating place-based efforts.

A snapshot of place-based activity promoting children’s wellbeing

This publication provides a snapshot of who is driving, doing and supporting place-based approaches to improve children’s outcomes. The snapshot is made up of two parts: Table 1: Australian child-focused place-based policies, leading practice in communities, research, and organisations and initiatives offering strategic coordination in place-based activity for children Table 2: Key organisations that support planning, implementation and research into place-based approaches to improve children’s outcomes The snapshot drew on existing resources and documents at the Centre for Community Child Health and was expanded with data from expert consultations conducted during the project (see Big thinking on place), in addition to feedback from the project’s reference group. Advisors from policy, practice and research reviewed the final publication. This publication has been developed by the Centre for Community Child Health at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and The Royal Children’s Hospital as part of the Collaborate for children: scoping project funded by the Australian Government Department of Education. It summarises the evidence on what we know and are still yet to learn about place-based approaches to improve children’s outcomes. Over 12 months, the project investigated the Australian place-based landscape to understand how we can better promote children’s wellbeing through place-based initiatives. This publication is one of four key reports produced through the project. The reports are: The evidence: what we know about place-based approaches to support children’s wellbeing A snapshot of place-based activity promoting children’s wellbeing – who is driving, doing and supporting place-based initiatives Big thinking on place: getting place-based approaches moving The state of play in Australian place-based activity for children – a summary of project findings with recommendations for accelerating place-based efforts.

The state of play in Australian place-based approaches for children

Executive summary Overview Increasingly, governments, philanthropy, practitioners and communities in Australia have recognised place-based approaches as a means to tackle disadvantage and address the complex problems faced by children and families in today’s society. However, there is a perceived lack of cohesion in describing place-based approaches as well as limited coordination across policy, practice and research in designing, executing and supporting place-based initiatives. In response to these issues, the Australian Government Department of Education funded the Centre for Community Child Health to examine the Australian place-based landscape and consider: the evidence for place-based approaches to improve children’s wellbeing current place-based activity promoting children’s wellbeing across Australia issues and opportunities for accelerating Australian place-based approaches. Overall, the project sought to answer whether place-based initiatives to promote children’s wellbeing could be better supported by a national effort to stimulate knowledge exchange, collaboration, dialogue and learning between policy makers, researchers, practitioners and communities. This final report, The state of play, draws from and summarises three key publications produced by the Centre for Community Child Health during the project: 1. The evidence – summarising what we know about place-based approaches. 2. A snapshot of place-based activity – documenting who is driving, doing and supporting place-based initiatives in Australia. 3. Big thinking on place – outlining expert-identified issues and opportunities for getting place-based activity moving. This report provides recommended action to accelerate place-based efforts to improve children’s wellbeing and address inequalities in Australia, based on project findings. The evidence A literature review was undertaken to bring together the latest research on place-based approaches, stimulate thinking and to help craft a common way of talking about ‘place’. This report provides a brief summary of the evidence that is expanded upon in The evidence. It focuses on the following key questions: • What are place-based approaches? • How do they work? • What is the evidence of efficacy? • What evidence is missing? A snapshot of activity A ‘snapshot of activity’ was developed to better understand who is driving, doing and supporting innovative or well-known examples of place-based approaches in Australia. It was thought that this information offered the greatest value to the sector and would help to identify organisations or initiatives supporting, or with the potential to support, the strategic coordination of place-based approaches. This report documents the key findings that are expanded upon in A snapshot of place-based activity. Big thinking on place We listened to 23 experts across policy, practice, research and philanthropy to understand the issues and opportunities for accelerating effective place- based practice to improve children’s wellbeing. Consultations revealed a number of issues or gaps that were perceived to diminish the effectiveness of child-focused, place-based initiatives in Australia, and a series of solutions were offered by participants in response to these issues/gaps. • This publication has been developed by the Centre for Community Child Health at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and The Royal Children’s Hospital as part of the Collaborate for children: scoping project funded by the Australian Government Department of Education. It summarises the evidence on what we know and are still yet to learn about place-based approaches to improve children’s outcomes. Over 12 months, the project investigated the Australian place-based landscape to understand how we can better promote children’s wellbeing through place-based initiatives. This publication is one of four key reports produced through the project. The reports are: The evidence: what we know about place-based approaches to support children’s wellbeing A snapshot of place-based activity promoting children’s wellbeing – who is driving, doing and supporting place-based initiatives Big thinking on place: getting place-based approaches moving The state of play in Australian place-based activity for children – a summary of project findings with recommendations for accelerating place-based efforts.

Big thinking on place: getting place-based approaches moving

Executive summary Increasingly, governments in Australia have recognised place-based approaches as a means to tackle disadvantage and address the complex problems faced by children and families in today’s society. While many place-based initiatives have generated rich learning experiences and positive results, too often lessons have not been broadly shared and mistakes have been repeated. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a better coordinated practice, policy and research agenda could substantially increase the impact of place-based approaches across Australia. With this in mind, leaders in place-based practice, research, policy and philanthropy were engaged in in-depth consultations to explore and identify issues and opportunities for advancing Australian place-based reform. What follows is a summary of the contemporary needs of policy makers, funding bodies, academics and practitioners in designing, delivering and researching approaches to support children and families in ‘place’. Issues and opportunities for practice, research and policy a more rigorous and coordinated research agenda exchanging knowledge on what does and does not ‘work’ advocacy and leadership on place-based initiatives. A common theme expressed through the consultations to address the above issues was collaboration. A network or mechanism to bring together people was advocated, for two main reasons. These were to: advance strategic leadership and coordination on place-based issues, with specific attention given to the co-production of policy and a coordinated research agenda exchange and/or build knowledge, particularly in relation to identified practice skill gaps. Conclusions The consultation findings reveal a need for stronger leadership and advocacy on child-focused, place-based initiatives in order to effectively respond to specific and universal issues in policy, practice and research and to advance place-based thinking and action. A national place-based network, involving policy, practice, research and philanthropy, would be an appropriate mechanism to support leadership and advance activity. A convenor is required to facilitate such a network. Network activity should be guided by an action plan, developed in collaboration with network members, to address priorities identified in this report. Participants identified many issues across practice, research and policy that were perceived to lessen the effectiveness of child-focused, place-based initiatives in Australia. These included the need for: new skill sets to deliver place-based initiatives advancing expertise in collaborative practice and co-production with families evaluation for learning and impact This publication has been developed by the Centre for Community Child Health at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and The Royal Children’s Hospital as part of the Collaborate for children: scoping project funded by the Australian Government Department of Education. It summarises the evidence on what we know and are still yet to learn about place-based approaches to improve children’s outcomes. Over 12 months, the project investigated the Australian place-based landscape to understand how we can better promote children’s wellbeing through place-based initiatives. This publication is one of four key reports produced through the project. The reports are: The evidence: what we know about place-based approaches to support children’s wellbeing A snapshot of place-based activity promoting children’s wellbeing – who is driving, doing and supporting place-based initiatives Big thinking on place: getting place-based approaches moving The state of play in Australian place-based activity for children – a summary of project findings with recommendations for accelerating place-based efforts.