Building Capacity & Engaging Communities
in Social Inclusion Initiatives
Julia Butler
64-year-old Sydney man’s body discovered in his Department of Housing
apartment
a year after he died…
Dead for a year!!!!!!
A community where everyone was included
regardless of their age or level of frailty.
A community where loneliness, isolation or
depression are no longer common issues for older
people.
A community where everyone values the wisdom and
contribution of older people
Imagine…
Do you think this man
would have gone unnoticed
if he was an included
member of the
community?
Introductions…
Julia Butler
Project manager of
Building Belonging Celebrating Inclusive Communities
Learning & Development Project Officer
UnitingCare Community Options
The Federal Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot has
proposed a national protocol for community care
providers to reduce the number of older people
dying alone at home without anyone knowing.
Government response to Death
The announcement came at the first meeting of the
Ministerial Conference on Ageing, which was
established by the Council of Australian
Governments (COAG) in March this year.
Government response to Death
Mrs Elliot’s proposal comes after the NSW Coroner
reported finding decomposed or decomposing
bodies on almost 300 occasions in 2006 and 283
times last year.
Government response to Death
The Minister said a decline in family support
structures means that community care providers
have to look at innovative ways of promoting
social engagement.
Decline in family support structures
“Providers of these services play an important role
in ensuring that any unexpected changes in a
client’s circumstances are identified early and
appropriate action is taken,” she said.
Decline in family support structures
The Australian Government’s vision of a socially inclusive society is one in which all Australians feel valued and have the opportunity to participate fully in the life of our society.
Governments Vision
Building Belonging Project: Context
2008
• The Federal Government committed to a greater focus on positive and active ageing – as part of its social inclusion and reducing social isolation agenda.
• Uniting Care Australia set aside $200,000 from a Commonwealth grant of $400,000 which has been provided to Uniting Care Australia to initiate projects that address social inclusion of older people.
•One of eight projects within Uniting Care agencies
The UnitingCare Network
The UnitingCare network operates throughout Australia.
UnitingCare is one of the largest providers of community
services in Australia, providing services to more than 2
million Australians each year.
The network employs 35,000 staff and 24,000 volunteers
nationally.
Without this incredible network , individual passion and
generosity of time and knowledge, the project would not
have been successful.
About UnitingCare Community Options
UnitingCare Community Options is a Victorian community service organisation that works with people of all ages and abilities.
We provide a range of services to older people, people with disabilities, and the informal carers that support them.
Our staff have been assisting people in Melbourne’s east since 1987 when we launched our first pilot for older people with dementia still living in the community.
We use a person-centred, strengths-based approach
We are auspiced by the Uniting Church and belong to the national UnitingCare network.
UnitingCare Community Options Services
• Our Vision: A Good Life for All
• Support 3266 participants and carers.
• Services include:
Information, case management, care coordination
and respite
Emergency, short or long term support
Linking people to community.
The Project
Celebrating Inclusive Communities
Building Belonging Project: Rationale
Project Vision
to build the capacity of local leaders across the
entire Uniting Care network to develop projects
that will address issues of social exclusion
among older people.
Anticipated Benefits:
• Build capacity and leadership development at the local
level
• Create a network of skilled practitioners in a common
methodology ie asset based community development
• Build a peer support network that can be used to
facilitate education of other peers
• Foster the development of a wide range of local projects
across the nation to address examples of social exclusion
Building Belonging Project: Rationale
Cosy Club
A story about connecting people with their gifts
Every single person has capacities, abilities, gifts and ideas, and living a good life
depends on whether those capacities can be used, abilities expressed, gifts given
and ideas shared.
Building Belonging Project: Action
• Attending ABCD conference in Newcastle
•Developed a training package
• Using a skilled and trained ABCD practitioner (Aged Focus)
Ted Smeaton of Inspiring Communities www.inspiringcommunities.com
• Established through the Uniting Church a network of supporters who assisted with the promotion of the project at a local level
•Built connections with Church and agencies at state level and used these also to facilitate promotion of the training
• Conducted 16 two-day workshops
• Across Australia: NSW, QLD, WA, SA, Victoria
• 215 participants
Building Belonging Project: Approach
Our Approach
Adapting and refining the internationally recognised community
development approach known as Asset Based Community
Development (ABCD)
Training community leaders – individuals in congregations and
agencies – in this approach
Encouraging its use in Australian communities who wanted to
engage more with the older people living in those communities.
• Came from a reaction to not being able to conduct workshops for very small groups in remote places
• Creation of ABCD DVD- first of its kind
But what about small congregations & communities
Introduction to ABCD
A story: The wise woman
Meaningful and lasting community change
always originates from within, and local residents in that
community are the best experts on how to
activate that change.
Building Belonging Project: ABCD methodology
Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) is an approach to community development which seeks to identify and develop existing strengths (assets) in the community.
This approach challenges the traditional approach of solving urban problems which focus on funding service providers and agencies to respond to deficiencies in communities.
These community assets include:• the skills of local residents• the power of local associations• the resources of private, public and non-profit institutions• the physical and economic resources of local places.
These form the building blocks for community-based projects to address local needs.
The Asset-Based Community Development Institute (ABCD) is
co-directed by John L. McKnight, director of community studies at
Institute of Policy research,Northwestern University, and
John P. Kretzmann, an IPR senior research associate.
Visionaries of ABCD Institute
Kretzmann and McKnight demonstrated that community assets are key building blocks in sustainable urban and rural community revitalization efforts.
They revitalised the age old methods of buildings communities by looking at skills, talents & assets.
Visionaries of ABCD Institute
Communities have
Deficiencies and needs
Individuals &
Communities have
skills and talents
Glass half empty or the glass half full
Building Belonging Project: Participants
• 20% were from Uniting Church congregations
• 38% were community workers
• 26% were aged care workers
• 20% came from a range of other organisation and roles, such as, GP networks, local government, retirement village, pastoral care, management
• 54% aged 51 to 74 years, another 2% 75 years plus
• 42% aged 26 to 50
• 8% spoke a language other than English
• 74% were female, 26% male
Building Belonging Project: Impact
To measure the effect of this training we devised an evaluation process that collected information before, immediately after and some 3-6 months post the training.
Based on the following
1. Participants knowledge base
2. Participants attitudes
3. Capacity building
4. Initiating change
5. Projects
Building Belonging Project: Impact
1. Participants’ Knowledge Base
• reinforced ideas they already had on the issues covered,
• provided new information to use in their communities.
• For those au fait with ABCD, built on concepts and principles
• validated and reinforced knowledge they had gained intuitively
and consolidated into a framework
• provided inspiration
• provided completely new knowledge and ways of thinking
Individuals
Associations
Institutions Stories
Local Economy
Physical Space
My Community
A simple Assets Map
A Personal Assets Map
GIFTS OF THE HEAD
GIFTS OF THE HANDS
GIFTS OF THE HEART
Personal Assets Map
(Things I know something about and would enjoy talking about with others, e.g., art, history, movies, birds).
(Things or skills I know how to do and would like to share with others, e.g., carpentry, sports, gardening, cooking).
(Things I care deeply about, e.g., protection of the environment, civic life, children).
Building Belonging Project: Impact
2. Participants’ Attitudes
• majority (98%) agreed that ‘the social isolation of older people
is an important issue in Australia’.
• more participants came to see the issues of the social isolation
as less complex and difficult for their organisation to handle
(42% - 57%)
• more participants felt empowered (42% - 53%)
• greater recognition of the value of informal responses (45% to
70%)
• recognition of the value of strengths-based approaches and an
increasing belief in their ability to apply this approach to social
isolation (45% - 78%)
Building Belonging Project: Impact
3. Capacity Building
• Greater insight and knowledge• Connections and networking• Motivation and inspiration• Reinforcement of previous ideas or knowledge• Skills in applying a strength-based approach• Positive strategies and skills regarding managing staff and facilitating aged care programs
“I saw different strategies for facilitating my staff to get more relevant activity programs underway in the community”.
“[I now] better understand the … different ways of working through concerns that people may have - [i.e.] looking at things from a different angle.”
Building Belonging Project: Impact
4. Initiating Change
57% have begun to implement ideas from the workshop in their communities.
Building Belonging Project: Impact
5. Projects
Choirs
Events based around meal
Gardening groups Discussion groups based on topics or issues of interest
Training courses
Networking
Balnarring Community
Farming Pine Trees: A story about listening
Learning Conversations
Current questions Alternative Questions
How do we best support older people?
How do we assess older people’s problems?
How do we support isolated older people?
How do we encourage older people’s contribution to the community?
How do we identify the strengths & abilities of older people and how do we match the assets of older people with the assets of the community?
What are the passions of older people, and where is the energy that sustains those passions that requires our attention and nourishment to benefit our whole community?
Building Belonging Project
Sustaining the energy
Interactive DVD and training handbook
Train the Trainer program
Linking the DVD to YoutubeGoogle: youtube: UCA older people
Linking into the ABCD community in Australiahttp://abcdasiapacific.ning.com
Go to the peopleLive among themLearn from them
Love themStart with what they knowBuild on what they have
But of the best leaders when their task is done
The people will remark“We have it done it ourselves”’.
(Lao Tze)
http://abcdasiapacific.ning.com