Under the Council of Australian Government’s National Partnership Agreement on Preventive Health, $72 million will be made available over four years for the Healthy Communities Initiative, to fund the roll-out of healthy living programs focusing on poor nutrition, physical inactivity and unhealthy weight.  These community-based interventions will be managed via grants to local government organisations, with priority given to areas experiencing socio-economic disadvantage.


The Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing (the Department) is supporting implementation of this initiative through the development and funding of ‘soft infrastructure’ including a Quality Assurance (QA) Framework, the accreditation/registration of programs and service providers, a web-based information portal, and funding for selected healthy lifestyle programs to be delivered nationally.

Further information about the Healthy Communities Initiative is available at www.healthyactive.gov.au.

Communio has been contracted by the Department to develop the QA Framework in order to ensure that the healthy living programs accessed through the Healthy Communities Initiative are of a high standard and quality.

The Framework will outline standards, principles and an accreditation/registration/credentialing system for both programs and providers. A suitably qualified organisation or consortium will undertake the role of  accrediting programs and providers from January 2011.

The Framework is scheduled to be developed commencing December 2009 and be completed by May 2010. The Framework will be tested with Local Government Areas as part of its development in 2010.

The following diagram shows the process for developing the Final Framework

 

The Workshop consultation phase of the development of a Quality Framework for the Healthy Communities Initiative (HCI) has been successfully completed.  This process led to substantial change to the Interim Quality Framework/Principles/Standards.  

A Workshop Consultation Report – Executive Summary is available on the Communio website.   If a record of a specific workshop is required please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The resultant Healthy Communities Quality Framework is comprised of 3 parts including:

1. Local Government Area (LGA) Principles
2. Service Provider Registration
3. Program Assessment.

A number of resources have been developed to support the Framework consisting of:

Draft Healthy Communities Initiative Quality Framework including:

1.  Draft Local Government Area (LGA) Principles (Attachment 2)

2.  Draft Program Assessment Checklist (Attachment 3)

Draft Implementation Guide Service Provider Registration

In order to inform the final Quality Framework, stakeholder feedback and field testing by volunteer service providers on the Draft Framework Standards, Principles, Implementation Guide and Self Assessment process is now occurring.

The Workshop consultation phase of the development of a Quality Framework for the Healthy Communities Initiative (HCI) has been successfully completed.  This process led to substantial change to the Interim Quality Framework/Principles/Standards.