Transcript Urban Research Program Transport Research Capacity

Developing Indicators and Data Sets for Measuring
Community Capacity
Regional Social Impacts of Growth Forum
CQU, Mackay, August 21, 2007
Presented by
Geoffrey Woolcock
Urban Research Program
www.griffith.edu.au/centre/urp
Measuring Wellbeing and Social Progress
International and multi-national
developments
Australian state initiatives
Community Indicators Queensland?
Department of Communities: Developing
Indicators and Data Sets for Measuring
Community Capacity
Urban Research Program
www.griffith.edu.au/centre/urp
Measuring Wellbeing and Social Progress
www.oecd.org/oecdworldforum
http://www.communityaccounts.ca/communityaccounts/onlinedata/getdata.asp
http://www.tbf.org/indicators/
State of the USA
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/happiness_formula/default.stm
Urban Research Program
www.griffith.edu.au/centre/urp
Department
of Communities
safe, valued and empowered
communities
The Department of Communities Needs Based
Planning and Resource Allocation
Framework
Is designed to answer just 3 questions
Urban Research Program
www.griffith.edu.au/centre/urp
Department
of Communities
safe, valued and empowered
communities
NBPRAF Core Q&A

What is an outcome?


Who and where are our clients?


Change in the wellbeing of individuals, families and communities
attributable, in whole or in part, to an intervention or series of
interventions
Valid and reliable indicators of disadvantage, need and risk affecting
the wellbeing of individuals, families and communities
What are our interventions?

Best practice policy and services delivered to identified high need
populations-locations
Urban Research Program
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INDICATIVE NEED
- defined by analysis of
objective indicators incl.
SEIFA maps, surveys of
clients, comparison with state
measures and benchmark
data (if avail)
GAP ANALYSIS: Is
there a service or set of
services to meet this
potential need?
SERVICE SUPPLYdefined by analysis of
quantitative and
qualitative data
NEEDS BASED APPROACH TO PLANNING ANALYSES MEASURES OF NEED AND EXISTING SERVICE
SUPPLY IN LIGHT OF KEY PRIORITIES (local, regional, departmental and State Government) IN ORDER TO
MAKE DECISIONS ABOUT WHAT IS PRIORITY NEED AND WHAT CHANGES TO A SERVICE SYSTEM
ARE REQUIRED TO MEET THAT NEED
SERVICE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT CONTINUUM
No service
development
required
Quality
improvement
Scope expansion
Realignment
Increased access
through integration of
services
Reform
New service
COMMUNITY CAPACITY
to provide a service or set of services
Urban Research Program
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Department
of Communities
safe, valued and empowered
communities
COMSIS
Communities Statistical Information System - purpose built and
maintained by OESR for the department
A key tool and platform to progress, across the state, a core set of
common standards and information for identifying disadvantage, need
and risk
Urban Research Program
www.griffith.edu.au/centre/urp
Academic and Practice Literature Review
The focus of the project is the identification and review of
relevant, recent Australian and international :
Academic literature on the development of concepts,
definitions and indicators of community capacity; and
Practice literature on the development and application of
standards and measures of community capacity in the public
and private sector and the results of applying those standards
and measures.
Urban Research Program
www.griffith.edu.au/centre/urp
Developing Indicators and Data Sets for Measuring
Community Capacity
Chapter 1
Why Measure Community Capacity?
Project Overview and Goals
Scope of Review and Recommendations
Chapter 2
‘Unpacking’ Community Capacity
Chapter 3
Indicators of Community Capacity:
Development, measurement and evaluation
Chapter 4
Challenges and Opportunities
Implications
Implications
Implications
Implications
for communities
for government
for research
for partnership
Urban Research Program
www.griffith.edu.au/centre/urp
Initial findings/Decision points
Defining community capacity
Commonalities:
(1) The existence of resources (ranging from the skills of
individuals to the strength of organizations to access to
financial capital)
(2) Networks of relationships (sometimes stressed in
affective, sometimes in instrumental terms)
(3) Leadership (often only vaguely defined), and
(4) Support for some kind of mechanisms for or processes of
participation by community members in collective action
and problem solving. (Chaskin, 2001, pp. 292)
Urban Research Program
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Initial findings/Decision points
Conceptualising community capacity
Community
Capacity and agendas for change
Participation and partnership
Community capacity building as means and end
‘Is capacity valued, and thus appropriately measured, as capacity to
carry out specific tasks and solve specific problems, or can it be
useful to measure it more generically, as a feature of community
context in the same way as health status or demography?’ (Smith et
al. 2003, p. 24-25).
Program specificity versus community problem solving
Inter-organisational capacity versus community capacity
Context and local applicability
Urban Research Program
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Initial findings/Decision points
Measurement challenges
First, there is a lack of consensus as to what community
capacity means or how it is characterized. Second,
consequently there is limited research on which indicators are
valid and reliable for the measurement of community capacity.
Third, unlike measures of individual health status (e.g., blood
pressure), community capacity appears to reflect a broader
“community” or population level that is more complex than just
the sum of measures at the individual level.
(Kwan et al., 2003, p. 24)
Urban Research Program
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Key findings and outcomes
Measurement and Indicator Exemplars
John Wiseman, Warwick Heine, Anne Langworthy, Neil McLean, Joanne
Pyke, Hayden Raysmith & Mike Salvaris. (2006). Measuring Wellbeing,
Engaging Communities. Developing a community indicators framework
for Victoria: The final report of the Victorian Community Indicators
Project (VCIP).
G. Thomas Kingsley. (1998). Neighbourhood Indicators: Taking advantage
of the new potential. Working Paper. Chicago, IL: American Planning
Association, October 1998.
Urban Research Program
www.griffith.edu.au/centre/urp
The Victorian Community Indicator Project filter criteria test both individual
indicators and the overall indicator framework:
Each indicator
Is relevant and valuable to the community
Is grounded in theory (expert endorsement)
Measures progress towards sustainability/community vision
Is likely to give information about the future/early warning
Is measurable (good data available at LGA level or reasonably confident that it will be available by
end of 2007)
Can be measured over time/show trends. Is regular (contingent on data source; eg, the Census)
Can be disaggregated by population groups
Can be benchmarked against relevant jurisdictions (State as a default, potentially ‘like’ council
groupings or national/international where relevant)
Is methodologically defensible
Is unambiguous/clear – resonates with the general population
Is realistic – collection methodology or data access, reporting and so on
Applies to all Victorian LGAs (metro, provincial and rural groupings like councils)
Is supported by consultation feedback
Is consistent with other key government/local government indicators
Urban Research Program
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The Victorian Community Indicator Project filter criteria test both individual
indicators and the overall indicator framework:
Overall suite of indicators
Are conceptually sensible (consistency with project aims)
Have a balance of objective and subjective measures
Have a limited number of indicators (each indicator may
have more than one measure)
Are relevant to resource allocation.
Urban Research Program
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http://www.civ.net.au/welcome_to_community_indicators_victoria_civ
Urban Research Program
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Next Steps
Challenges and Opportunities
Implications for communities
Implications for government
Implications for research
Implications for partnership
Urban Research Program
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A Scenario to Avoid!
Urban Research Program
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