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)

emmanuel.gauci@ucco.org.au

julia.butler@ucco.org.au

http://abcdasiapacific.ning.com