CIV Newsletter - July 2010

Update from CIV Co-ordinator

Nationally, it is an exciting time for community indicators. The Australian Bureau of Statistics is preparing to release the new Measuring Australia’s Progress (MAP) Report and work is afoot to establish national dialogue for an Australian Development Index. At the same time, Nobel Prize winning Economist, Joseph Stiglitz, is touring the country talking to Economists about, amongst other things, the importance of moving from measuring productivity to measuring community wellbeing – a challenging and historical moment for all.

Across the states and territories, new community indicator projects are emerging. The NSW state government has commissioned a feasibility study to consider a CIV for NSW and Queensland is well on the way to having a CIQ.

CIV supports this work and is partnering with others on the development of a national network of community indicator network of practitioners and researchers to share lessons and ideas across Australia.

Updates on many of these developments will be reported at the upcoming NatStats Conference and associated preconference meetings in Sydney in September. Details about NatStats can be found at the National Statistics Service.

On the international front, CIV continues to be looked upon as international best practice and has recently been selected by the United States Government Accountability Office as a best practice case study to inform the development a new project on key indicators that will update and expand upon a comprehensive report on key indicators released in the US in 2004. Click here for more details.

Welcome Athena

Athena has recently joined CIV from St Luke’s Anglicare. Athena was the Senior Program Manager of the Community Capacity Building Unit. As part of her role she was responsible for delivering training and mentoring in a Strengths Approach to Community Building. Athena is an experienced trainer, facilitator, manager and practitioner in Community Development processes that work with communities strengths to identify and plan for aspirational outcomes. Athena is passionate and curious about how social justice principles play out in practice. A key interest is to explore ways that equip the workforce to empower and strengthen a sense of place, belonging, aspiration and diversity in communities. Athena is excited about the resource of CIV to communities and the supporting workforce. Athena is looking forward to designing and implementing a dynamic training program for CIV. The training program will have a focus on equipping communities and their supporters in ways that will contribute to the improvement of citizen engagement, community planning and policy making.

CIV Data Releases

New CIV data have been released for a number of indicators throughout 2010 and a summary of these data releases and measures is provided below.

Life Expectancy – Male and Female Life Expectancy
Child Health Assessments – Key Ages and Stages M&CH Visits
Breastfeeding – Children Fully Breastfed
Crime – Recorded Offences against the Person/Property
Family Violence – Recorded Incidents of Family Violence
Household Waste Generation – Non Recyclable Garbage
Household Waste Recycling – Recyclables and Green Organics and Nonorganics
Participation in Citizen Engagement – Female Local Councillors

Many of the indicators included in CIV are based on existing administrative data sources and these data sets need to be collated and processed by administrative agencies before they are released to the public. Once these data are released by these agencies, they are updated and included in the CIV database. Members will be notified of any new data releases as they occur in forthcoming newsletters and data release enquiries can be directed to Dr Melanie Davern who is the CIV Data Manager and Analyst.

Update on the VicHealth Indicator Survey

The VicHealth Indicator Survey (2010) will collect data on a range of VicHealth priority areas and will provide CIV users with a second time point on many of the items collected in the CIV Survey (2007). The Melbourne Social Research Centre have been commissioned by VicHealth to undertake a CATI survey later in 2010.

Did you know?

The happiest place in Victoria....The residents of Corangamite Shire reported the highest levels of life satisfaction and Subjective Wellbeing in Victoria in the 2007 CIV Survey!

Subjective Wellbeing is one of the most frequently accessed indicators of community wellbeing included in CIV and Corangamite residents and many others living in country areas are some of the happiest people in the state!

Visit from Mark Friedman, June 2010.

Mark Friedman developed a model for practice called Results Based Accountability (RBA) in 2005. RBA is a disciplined way of thinking and taking action that communities can use to improve the lives of children, families and the community as a whole. RBA can be used by agencies to improve the performance of their programs, and adapted to fit the unique needs and circumstances of different communities and programs.

Mark describes RBA as “starting with the end and working backwards, step by step to the means”. RBA is all about plain language, partnerships, moving from talk to action and using data to measure whether or not we are really making a difference.

On June 15th this year Community Indicators Victoria (CIV) invited Mark to run a 1 day RBA 101 Course that was designed to equip people with an understanding of the RBA model and how by using RBA you can produce measurable improvements for clients and communities.

60 people from the NGO, government and business sector came together at Melbourne Universities Graduate House to explore the concept and applications of RBA with Mark.

One participant eloquently described the best part of the training as, “the simplicity of how to make a difference”

CIV members are encouraged to watch this space for further information about RBA courses in the coming future. If you would like to learn more about RBA check out www.resultsbasedaccountability.com or contact Athena Williams

National Developments: The Australian National Development Index (ANDI)

A coalition of Australian leaders, led by Tim Costello and Fiona Stanley, met in Melbourne recently to discuss the proposal for an Australian National Development Index (ANDI). The idea for ANDI came from a meeting at the 2020 Summit on Strengthening Communities and Supporting Working Families held in April 2008.

The broad vision and goals of the proposed National Development Index are:

to enable Australians to share in the highest wellbeing status by identifying, developing and publicizing measures that offer clear, valid and regular reporting on progress toward that goal and the wellbeing outcomes Australians seek as a nation, and specifically:
to build a foundation to articulate a shared vision of what really constitutes sustainable wellbeing;
to measure national progress toward, or movement away from, achieving that vision;
to understand and promote awareness of why society is moving in the direction it is moving;
to stimulate discussion about the types of policies, programs, and activities that would move us closer and faster toward achieving wellbeing;
to give Australians tools to promote wellbeing with policy shapers and decision makers;
to inform policy by helping policy shapers and decision makers to understand the consequences of their actions for Australian wellbeing;
to empower Australians to compare their wellbeing both with others in Australia and those around the world; and,
to add momentum to the global movement for a more holistic way of measuring societal progress.

The ANDI will be modeled on ‘The Canadian Index of Wellbeing’, a successful project that engaged communities across the nation in defining how progress and wellbeing should be understood and measured.

The network leading the ANDI will report on their progress in Sydney in September. CIV will provide updates through this newsletter as they become available.

In the Spotlight - Your Stories

We are calling out to hear from you how indicators and data have mobilized your community.
Practitioners, planners, policy makers and academics are searching the CIV website seeking stories about how community wellbeing indicators and data are being used by local communities. We are currently working on three case studies which we will publish on the website soon and we looking for more. We are keen to hear…
How CIV indicators are being used;

in a planning process,
for policy development,
to engage communities,
in program design.

Please remember you don’t have to write the case study we will work with you. If you would like to share your story and lessons from your experience email us on civ-info@unimelb.edu.au and we will give you a call.

Did you know?

Being socially included is defined as being able to have the resources, opportunities and capabilities needed to learn, work, engage and have a voice.

A number of the indicators included in the Federal Government’s Social Inclusion Board’s Report ‘How Australia is Faring’ are available through CIV. CIV is able to customize these data and collate them into a Social Inclusion Indicators report based on Local Government Area on a fee for service basis.

Results Leadership Group (RLG) 5 cities in 5 days tour.

RLG is an American based consulting and training company that has developed the ‘Results Scorecard’ to support the implementation of the RBA framework. Recently NSW Family Services Inc has joined with RLG to open an Australian office for the RLG to be known as RLG:AU.

To find out more RLG and RLG:AU are running 2 hour workshops across 5 cities in Australia. Please see the following dates and times:

Monday 23 August 2010 - Sydney - The Sebel Surry Hills - 10am - 12pm
Tuesday 24 August 2010 - Canberra - Novotel - 10am - 12pm
Wednesday 25 August 2010 - Melbourne - The Sebel & Citigate Albert Park - 10am - 12pm
Thursday 26 August 2010 - Adelaide - Mercure Grosvenor Hotel - 10am - 12pm
Friday 27 August 2010 - Brisbane - The Sebel Suites Brisbane - 10am -12pm

Please RSVP to Robbie Passmore at robbie@resultsleadership.org

For more information on RLG:AU please go to http://www.resultsleadership.org