The Victorian Community Indicators Project Working with local governments across Victoria to track a

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The Victorian Community Indicators Project
Working with local governments across
Victoria to track and strengthen wellbeing and
sustainability. Project overview and update
May 2005Further information
www.communityindicators.net.aujohn.wiseman_at_vu.edu
.au joanne.pyke_at_vu.edu.au
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VCI Project Origins

• Consolidating learning from diverse community
  indicator and community planning projects
• VicHealth commitment to work with local
  government to improve capacity for monitoring and
  promoting community health and wellbeing (nb.
  Leading The Way)
• Victorian Government commitment to integrated
  triple bottom line planning and reporting
  (Growing Victoria Together II)
• Renewed support for community strengthening and
  community engagement policies and programs
• Victorian Local Government (Democratic Reform)
  Act increasing local government focus on
  integrated community wellbeing plans, goals and
  progress measures,
• Local governments need for better local
  information and statistics to support increasing
  policy and planning responsibilities.

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VCI Project Objectives

• Agreed State-wide framework and process for
  development and use of community wellbeing
  indicators at local government level
• Sustainable system enabling councils and
  communities to use wellbeing indicators as tools
  for identifying priority goals and measuring
  progress in achieving them.
• Agreed set of core local wellbeing indicators
  plus complementary set of locality specific
  indicators.
• Sustainable system for collection, collation,
  reporting and use of local community wellbeing
  data.
• Strategies for improving community and public
  sector capacity for development and use of
  community indicators
• Mechanisms for linking local community indicator
  initiatives with State government actions to
  improve evidence base, integration and
  accountability of policy making and reporting

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VCI Project Team

• Professor John Wiseman, ICEPA, Victoria
  University (Team leader)
• Professor Mike Salvaris, ICEPA, Victoria
  University
• Ms Anne Langworthy, Centre for Regional Economic
  Development Swinburne University
• Adjunct Professor Hayden Raysmith, RMIT
  University
• Mr. Warwick Heine, Consultant and former CEO,
  City of Greater Dandenong
• Mr. Neil McLean, Australian Bureau of Statistics

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Community Wellbeing Indicators

• Are not an end in themselves, but a means to
  inform and focus action by communities and their
  governments
• Need to be widely accepted, conceptually sound
  and technically accurate
• Need to be part of an integrated approach to
  community engagement and community planning
• Are a measure of community outcomes - not council
  performance
• Can be used to inform choices about local
  government policy and investment priorities
• Can be used to inform processes for developing
  program objectives and evaluation criteria

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Community wellbeing indicators - some good
examples

• Canadian Wellbeing index
• www.atkinsonfoundation.ca/ciw
• Sustainable Seattle
• www.sustainableseattle.org/
• Newcastle Sustainability Indicators
• www.ncc.nsw.gov.au/about/sustainable/index.cfm
• Growing Victoria Together
• www.growingvictoria.vic.gov.au
• Port Phillip Sustainable Community Progress
  Indicators (SCPI)
• www.portphillip.vic.gov.au/scpi.html

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Actions so far

• Phase 1 Governance and Communications
• Steering and Reference groups
• Agreed workplan
• Partner Councils
• Brochure, presentations, web site, E news
• Phase 2 Stocktake and initial consultations
• Stocktake of relevant initiatives and lessons
• Initial draft framework (including possible
  domains, issues and indicators)
• Stakeholder consultations (including metro and
  regional forums)

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Steering Group and Reference group

• Steering Group Project team, VicHealth, MAV,
  VLGA
• Reference Group Above plus 4 x Local Government
  Reps, VCOSS, Leading the Way, ABS, DPC, DVC,
  DHS, DSE, DOI

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Partner Councils

• Informed by MAV and VLGA advice
• Mix of Metro/Regional/Rural
• Mix of advanced/less advanced
• Port Phillip, Wellington, Maroondah, Yarra
  Ranges, Wodonga, Bendigo, Hobsons Bay, Surf
  Coast, Moreland, Knox

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Victorian policy context recent important
developments

• Growing Victoria Together II (Refreshing
  Victorian Government issues and indicators)
• A Fairer Victoria Social Policy Statement
  (Emphasis on universal services plus targeted
  action to reduce disadvantage)
• Local Government and Community Strengthening
• (Local Government as key platform for community
  strengthening)
• Review of Local Government Plans (Increased
  importance of community plans)
• Local community indicators essential foundation
  for community strengthening and community
  planning

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Initial analysis of community indicators being
used by Victorian local governments

• Wide range of approaches, expertise and resources
• 43 Council Plans refer to integrated approach
  to indicators - TBL/sustainability etc.
• Variable links to Community Plans and Visions
• Hundreds of different indicators - broadly common
  domains social, environmental, economic,
  cultural, governance
• Community Satisfaction Survey used as key source
  of indicators by 51 councils

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Learning from local government forums and
partner councils about success factors

• Strong leadership Local and State Govt.
• Local community engagement and ownership
• Clarity about purpose (community outcomesnot
  council performance)
• Clarity about usefulness and relevance
• Capable of showing population group trends
• Availability of appropriate, affordable,
  longitudinal data
• Well integrated with planning, policy and
  programs
• Changing organisational culture and behaviour
• Capacity building and skill development

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Towards a local community wellbeing indicator
framework
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Domains

• Leading the Way
• Social (community, participation, safety)
• Economic (economic, industry, employment)
• Built/Physical (infrastructure, amenities)
• Natural (geography, air, water, vegetation)
• Feedback from Council Consultations
• Social
• Economic
• Built environment
• Natural environment
• Cultural
• Democracy and citizenship

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Steps from here

• Phase 3 (August-October) Consultation on Draft
  Issues Papers and Draft Framework and Strategy
• Issues Papers Community engagement Indicator
  options Local data issues and gaps Reporting
  options Planning and Policy integration
  Capacity building Sustainability issues
  (Governance and Resources)
• Draft Framework and Strategy Paper
• Note also initial work on Victorian Community
  Wellbeing Survey
• Phase 4 (October-December) Finalising agreement
  with key stakeholders on Framework and Strategy
  Checking and piloting LG resource requirements
  (-March)
• Phase 5 (January-June 2006) Detailed
  sustainability and work plan
• Final report to VicHealth June 2006

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Contents of final report

• Purpose and context
• Methodology (including Local government,
  community and State government engagement)
• Victorian Local Community Wellbeing Framework
• Agreed common domains, core indicators and data
  sets
• Suite of locality specific indicators of core
• Sustainable workplans including governance and
  resourcing for
• Engaging citizens and communities
• Collecting and analysing data
• Reporting
• Integrating indicator information and processes
  into planning and policy making
• Capacity building and skills development

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What actions are needed to ensure a sustainable
approach to the development and use of local
community wellbeing indicators including

• Engaging citizens and communities?
• Collecting and analysing data?
• Reporting on progress?
• Using indicators to inform and improve local
  policy development and planning processes?
• Using indicators to inform development of local
  program objectives and evaluation processes?
• improving the skills and capacity of local
  government staff, councillors and community
  members?
• Integrated governance and support mechanisms?