Researchers: A/Prof Margaret Kelaher, Dr Mark Lock, Ms Hana Sabanovic (University of Melbourne)
Funding: Lowitja Institute and Australian Research Council
Project summary: A great deal of time and resources is devoted to planning processes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health but despite this very little is known about the relationship between planning processes and implementation. The importance of engaging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the development of policy and planning has been recognised in the National Indigenous Reform Agreement (NIRA) and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health National Partnership Agreements (HNPAs). Despite this there are no benchmarks that define appropriate participation or planning approaches within the agreements. Developing this area of knowledge is critical given that a lack of consideration of community values is both a major limitation in health policy analysis and a major contributor to failed policy reform both in Australia and internationally.
This project builds on work we have conducted examining the planning processes underlying the implementation of the first part of the HNPA. This work focussed on understanding the structure of and relationships between forums/committees involved in implementing the HNPA. It reviewed the plans and used social network analysis to understand the links between forums/committees in terms of membership and patterns of communication. In this project we aim to develop the evidence base defining best practice in the engagement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in policy and practice. The project will build on the approaches of the first project by using social network analysis to understand the relationship between organisations involved in planning at different levels and the effects of this on program implementation. It will particularly focus on State and Territory planning committees at state/territory level and at regional level. These committees provide a critical link in the implementation of agreements with COAG and regional planning processes. This will enable a multilevel approach that ensures that the different ways that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation is actualised at different levels of government can be taken into account.
Progress: Completed in 2014