Community Indicators and Local Democracy Project

The Community Indicators and Local Democracy Project is at work in two local government areas in NSW, Waverley and Queanbeyan.

The findings of this project have now (2005) been incorporated into Waverley Council's Management Plan as measures of effectiveness.

Follow this link for Waverley Council's Management Plan (opens in new browser window)

Community indicators and Local democracy Project

What are community Indicators?

The project draws on the experience of the community indicator movement in North America. Community indicators are measuring systems designed and developed by community members themselves. Their aim is to build a three dimensional picture of the social and environmental health of particular communities, to help clarify and inform community priorities and strategies towards improving quality of life outcomes. Community Indicators projects are also community building processes because they bring together a range of interests and perspectives to consider and debate longer term implications of change. At the same time, they are a means of building community capacities because they enable the development of skills in measuring assessing and evaluating social and environmental data. These skills are usually restricted to 'experts'.

We are not simply transplanting these models into local government contexts in Australia. Australian local government, its scope and functions and the range of local interactions and political cultures that it encompasses, is quite different to the larger scale metropolitan governments found in the USA and Canada which were the basis of well known community indicators projects such as Sustainable Seattle.

Enhancing local democracy and local government

The community indicators and local democracy project is also concerned with enhancing deliberative decision-making processes at the level of local communities in partnership with councils. The two elements of our project - community indicators and local democracy - are integral to one another.

The indicators and the indicator process must be tailored to fit the specific character of the local communities they are designed to serve. The indicator development process itself emerges out of extensive research and consultation aimed at understanding the complex of local issues and concerns. This is essential to ensure that the subject of the indicators is relevant and appealing to a particular community.

Detailed surveying in Waverley and Queanbeyan show very different local interests and priorities. For instance, regional differences, environmental settings and local political styles and emphases have all worked to produce different community priorities and definitions of what constitutes a viable community. The following shows the most important issues by category in Waverley and Queanbeyan (obtained from open questions from roughly 500 survey respondents in each LGA)

Intensive background research is also a means of assessing the very specific character of local communities and the interface they have with local councils. In order to successfully initiate a meaningful and politically effective community process based around the development of indicators, there must be a well-developed awareness of what has shaped understandings of the local area. In different LGAs there are great differences in the 'sense of place', local priorities in terms of issues and aspirations, the range of groups and networks who compete to set community agendas, and established political styles of engagement with citizens.

The project has been designed to enhance existing participatory channels that have been developed in different council areas. For instance, in Waverley there is a well-developed precinct committee system that will be integrally involved in the indicators process. At the same time we attempt to broaden participation beyond the usual circle of activists and 'stakeholders', to enable the participation of individuals and groups not normally involved in the articulation of community goals and priorities.

What is deliberation?

Community indicators must be built on deliberative strategies and procedures which enable a shared process of assessing arguments and forming judgements about the common good. Deliberative processes aim to engage participants from the community in reaching a greater understanding of local government and policy-making contexts. Deliberative processes will be promoted by community indicator procedures which are designed to bring together a range of interests and viewpoints to assess aspects of the common good, and to formulate collective strategies through collaborative means. In other words, deliberation is more than the simple collection of opinions and positions which might be obtained from, say, a focus group on a specific issue. In depth examination of complex social and environmental problems and the means by which these can be measured and evaluated requires interactive learning processes and extensive negotiation. Community deliberation is based on an exchange of viewpoints and an acknowledgment of differences rather than on a calculation of numerically dominant viewpoints.

Community Indicator Panels

Community Indicators Panels are the core groups involved in developing indicators. They are comprised of around 15 citizens supported by facilitators and expert presenters when required. These groups will be chosen to ensure that they are broadly representative demographically. Just as important is ensuring that all participants are able to effectively and meaningfully take part. Attention needs to be paid to ensuring equality of access to information and the means to meaningful deliberation. Skilful facilitation will help to ensure an equality of participation in the working of the Community Indicators Panels.

Implementing Community Indicators

As at July 2001, we are negotiating the setting up of two Community Indicators Panels in Waverley. The challenge will be to develop this pilot project into an ongoing community based process to articulate the most important aspects of quality of life in the locality, and generate collaborative strategies to further these goals. The sustainability of these processes will also depend on how seriously policy makers are prepared to take the resultant community indicators as benchmarks to assess the long-term effects of their policies.

The Community Indicators and Local Democracy Project was funded by the Australian Research Council and participating local government bodies. The project also extends to two LGAs in Victoria - Moreland and Surf Coast.

The research was undertaken by Elton Consulting PO Box 1488 Bondi Junction NSW 2022
Ph. 61-2 9387 2600
Fax 61-2 9387 2557
Email: consulting@elton.com.au
http://www.elton.com.au

For further information

Contact	:	Director, Recreation, Community and Customer Services
Address	:	Waverley Council Bondi Road and Paul Street Bondi Junction 2022
Phone	:	9386 7799
Email	:	meredith@waverley.nsw.gov.au

WWW

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http://www.waverley.nsw.gov.au