Trying Hard Is Not Good Enough – Results-Based Accountability

After writing about weasel words, engagement, collaboration etc as well as how governments get feedback from rate/taxpayers I see there is to be a workshop in Results-Based Accountability (RBA), run here in Vic by Community Indicators Victoria.

We are told that RBA is

“a disciplined way of thinking and taking action that can be used to improve the quality of life in communities, cities, states, territories and nations…(it) can also be used to improve the performance of programs, agencies and service systems.”

How Does It Work?

RBA starts with ends and works backwards, step by step, to means. For communities the ends are conditions of well-being for children, adults, families and the community as a whole, such as

• Residents With Good Jobs
• Children Ready For School
• A Safe Neighbourhood
• A Clean Environment

Laudable…do-able?

Dealing With Past Frustration

We have all witnessed ‘all talk and no action’ scenarios, so the RBA approach that gets all parties from talk to action quickly is certainly attractive.

RBA has been developed by Mark Friedman American sociologist and author of “Trying Hard is Not Good Enough: How to Produce Measurable Improvements for Customers and Communities” available from Trafford press.

Mark Friedman directs the Fiscal Policy Studies Institute (FPSI) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and has provided training and consultation on Results Accountability in over 40 US states and internationally in countries including Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway. Mark will deliver the June 15 Workshop.

Local Government Victoria And Mark Friedman

Mark Friedman has been invited to discuss with Victorian Councils his experiences in performance measurement and reporting. This event will take place on 16 June.

Event Details

When Tuesday 15 June 2010
Registration 8.30am > Start 9.00am – 4.pm
Venue Graduate House, 220 Leicester Street, Carlton, Melbourne
Cost $375.00 (incl GST)

About Community Indicators Victoria

To receive a registration form please email swest@unimelb.edu.au

Community Indicators Victoria (CIV), hosted by the McCaughey Centre, is a collaborative project involving academics, government, and community groups, and support from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The purpose of CIV is the development and use of local community wellbeing indicators as the basis for informed, engaged and integrated community planning and policy making.

Research projects associated with Community Indicators include:

* Development and use of Community indicators
* Health and wellbeing indicators for children and adolescents
* Mental Health Promotion Indicators
* Aboriginal Concepts of Child Health and Wellbeing

Any feedback from those who may have attended previous workshops?