Toowoomba Intersectoral Forum Workshops

Posted by: Queensland Compact Secretariat
Department of Communities

Four workshops will be conducted during the Toowoomba Intersectoral Forum on 11 May 2010:

Workforce sustainability in regional and rural service networks
Connection to the Queensland Compact and Queensland Compact Action Plan 2008-2010:  The Queensland Compact Governance Committee (CGC) has committed to reviewing the range of workforce development and volunteering initiatives currently underway within government departments and the sector by 30 June, 2010. Once this review is completed, gaps will be identified and strategies to respond to the gaps to better meet the needs of Queensland’s workforce will be recommended to the CGC for consideration at its July meeting. As part of this project, a survey tool will be developed which could form the basis for discussion at the workshop.

Some issues that could be addressed in the workshop include:

  • key issues impacting on organisations recruiting and retaining staff and volunteers in the South West Region
  • workforce development and capacity building initiatives underway in the region
  • current gaps in workforce development and capacity building impacting the region and how this might be addressed to improve workforce sustainability.


Output and performance measurement in practice
Connection to the Queensland Compact and the Queensland Compact Action Pan 2008-2010:  The Queensland Compact Action Plan includes a commitment to move towards streamlined and meaningful performance reporting based on:
a)    improved alignment of government measures of human service outputs
b)    the use of automated processes for lodgement, analysis and dissemination such as the Online Acquittal Support Information System (OASIS).

Workshops convened as part of the Brisbane Intersectoral Forum held in September 2009 began to explore key issues to be addressed when streamlining performance measurement. The Department of Communities is now leading a significant piece of work to strengthen output funding.

Some issues that could be addressed in the workshop include:

  • what is output funding?
  • what are the benefits and risks for NGOs in moving to output funding and reporting?
  • what it would take for organisations to begin to report against a common set of defined outputs and not on inputs.

 

Effective regional relationships and stronger relationships between the region and central offices
Connection to the Queensland Compact and the Queensland Compact Action Pan 2008-2010:  The Compact Action Plan includes a commitment to foster best practice engagement with the sector in policy development and planning. As part of this commitment, the CGC has committed to developing a Community Engagement Statement which articulates the Committee’s commitment to engagement, confirms principles, establishes priorities, describes behavioural indicators of effective engagement and encourages good practice. A draft of this statement will be available for discussion at the workshop.

Some issues that could be addressed in the workshop include:

  • the importance of relationship building and communication within and across service provider networks
  • strategies for more effective relationship building and communication within the region and between the region and the CGC/Compact secretariat
  • how to embed strategies/have agreement about what sorts of things will be communicated and how this will happen
  • how sector staff/organisations can become involved in government strategic planning
  • how people on the ground can feed into policy development
  • sector input regarding funding priorities  
  • “What is critical to an effective relationship?” and “If that’s what is important, how do we make change and move forward to create more effective relationships?”
  • how can the CGC’s Engagement Statement be applied in local/regional processes to foster better engagement?

 

What it means to embed the Compact
Connection to the Queensland Compact and the Queensland Compact Action Pan 2008-2010: 
The Compact is a whole-of-system, whole-of-state agreement. The CGC acknowledges that it must not become a south-east Queensland-centric initiative. Local and regional service groups must apply it if widespread improvements are to be achieved. The CGC has developed a Communication and Embedding plan which identifies strategies to embed the principles and commitments of the Compact in the systems and processes of organisations. This plan, or elements of it could be used as a discussion prompt.

Some issues that could be addressed in the workshop include:

  • how the compact can assist service delivery in every day practice
  • what does the Compact say, what does it mean?
  • what does the Compact mean to people on the ground, and how is it meaningful? How can it become tangible?
  • what are people doing in the regions to embed the Compact and how it is helping? How are they linking it into their organisation’s every day practice?
  • how does the Action Plan drill down to a grass-roots level?
  • how can Compact messages and information be disseminated to make it more meaningful?

Register here.