Posted: 17-07-2006
Welcome to the July 2006 newsletter of the Victorian Community Indicators Project (VCIP) which will complete its work, as planned, at the end of July. This newsletter provides an overview of key Project recommendations and key next steps. The newsletter also includes information about exciting work on the development of an international approach to wellbeing indicators.
First, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have contributed the VCIP process. The VCIP has been a highly collaborative undertaking and many people have contributed time, ideas, comments and expertise to the development of an initial framework of local community wellbeing indicators for Victoria. One of the key challenges for the project has been to strike the right balance between bottom-up and top-down approaches to the identification of indicators, with the key driver being the aim of strengthening local government planning and local democracy. The participation of so many people from across local government, state government and community groups has been vital to the success of the project.
The key recommendations of the Victorian Community Indicators Project are included with this newsletter as is the proposed initial indicator framework and data sets. The project team is currently completing a final report which will provide a full overview of project process and outcomes as well as the detailed rationale for the selection of indicators.
Establishment of Community Indicators Victoria at the new VicHealth Centre for the Promotion of Mental Health and Social Wellbeing, School of Population Health University of Melbourne
As you will note, one of the key project recommendations is the establishment of a new initiative, ‘Community Indicators Victoria’ to provide sustainable, long term infrastructure for the development and use of local community wellbeing indicators to underpin local community planning. I am pleased to be able to announce that ‘Community Indicators Victoria’ (CIV) will be based within the new ‘VicHealth Centre for the Promotion of Mental Health and Social Wellbeing’, currently being established in the School of Population Health at the University of Melbourne. I am also pleased to note that I have recently taken up the position of Director of the VicHealth Centre – which will help to ensure continuity between the work of the VCIP and CIV initiatives, drawing on the ongoing expertise of the VCIP team members and the many individuals and organisations who have contributed to the VCIP discussions. Overviews of the initial directions of CIV and of the VicHealth Centre are also included with this newsletter.
The first task of CIV is to produce an initial series of local government community wellbeing reports. I envisage these reports being available by the end of 2006 with further data added during 2007.
A new CIV web-site will be developed to provide access to the local community wellbeing reports and related information and resources, building on building on the existing VCIP website, www.communityindicators.net.au. This site will remain live will continue until the end of August, by which time, the new CIV site will be accessible. Subscribers to this E-newsletter will be advised of the new address as soon as it comes on line.
International collaboration to develop National Index of Wellbeing
An additional exciting development has been the emerging international collaboration between the VCIP team and researchers and policy makers in a range of other countries interested in the development of integrated wellbeing indicators. VCIP team members Mike Salvaris and Anne Langworthy recently attended the OECD-EU forum on ‘Measuring Wellbeing and Societal Progress’ held in Milan on June 19-21. Mike and Anne convened an international workshop attached to this event, brining together discussed the development of a common National Index of Wellbeing (NIW) to be used many of the key players interested in development of a new international approach to the measurement of wellbeing and progress. The outcome of the workshop was that the collaboration is ‘off the ground’ and is likely to include 8–10 countries including New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Bhutan, Sweden, Brazil, Norway and East Timor. Finland, Iceland, and Denmark are also considering joining the collaboration in the near future. In this newsletter, we have included the workshop paper that guided the discussion as well as an OECD paper providing a useful history and overview of progress on the measurement of wellbeing.
Once again, many thanks for your interest in and support for the Victorian Community Indicators Project. I look forward to your continued involvement with Community Indicators Victoria in the future.
Professor John Wiseman
Director, VicHealth Centre for the Promotion of Mental Health and Social Wellbeing.
School of Population Health
University of Melbourne
Contact Name: Professor John Wiseman
Contact Email: jwiseman@unimelb.edu.au
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