Skip to primary navigation | Skip to secondary navigation | Skip to content | Skip to footer

Access keys | Skip to primary navigation | Skip to secondary navigation | Skip to content | Skip to footer |

Be informed | Get involved | Stay connected | Share your knowledge | ConsultQld | About us

Community engagement showcasing events

• Brisbane Community Engagement Showcase 2007
• Brisbane City Council Showcase
  • Creative Democracy - Homelessness
  • Engaging communities using cultural processes - Chermside Community Hub
• Central Queensland Showcase
  • Devising and implementing the District Youth Achievement Plan for the ETRF Senior Phase of Learning
  • Integrated Area-Wide Management as an Approach to Landscape Management
  • Rolleston Coal Project
  • Yeppoon Western Bypass Road
• Emergency Services Showcase
  • Community Safety Project
  • Engaging Indigenous Communities
  • Local Ambulance Committees
  • Queensland Ambulance Service First Responders
• Goodna Outreach Showcase
• Hervey Bay Showcase
  • Australian Industry Engineering Manufacturing Network Ltd
  • Wide Bay Burnett Human Services Network
  • New prison in a new town
• Ipswich Showcase
  • Swanbank Community Reference Group
  • Community Hubs Project in Esk Shire
  • Ipswich Area Regional Disability Council (IARDC)
• Mackay Showcase
  • Mackay Highlands Coordinating Committee
  • Queensland Marine Academy
  • Mackay Childhood Injury Prevention Project
  • Mackay Alcohol and Other Drugs Community Partnership
• NRM Showcase
  • Review of Ministerial Advisory Arrangements
  • CHRRUPP Experiment and Future Options for Community Engagement
  • Community Involvement in Mary River Planning
• Queensland Police Service Showcase
  • Mareeba Truancy and Graffiti (TAG) project
  • Community Support
  • Mareeba Shire Council - Local Government view
  • Mareeba State High School - Community Education Counsellor view
  • Mareeba State High School - Education view
• Townsville Showcase
  • La Luna Youth Art
  • Minimizing Road Trauma
  • Speak Out 2003
  • Palm Island Community Youth Centre Consultation Process
  • District Youth Achievement Plan
  • Young Achievement Enterprise Education Program

Hervey Bay Showcase

Wide Bay Burnett Human Services Network (WBBHSN)

• Background
• What is different about this case study that shows how government, industry, and communities can better engage with each other?
• What are the key outcomes of the case study for government, industry, and community?
• What are the key learnings/insights about community engagement?
• What will sustain community engagement into the future in this case study?

---

Background

The need for a regional structure for the human service sector was highlighted in the Wide Bay 2020 Project, a regional planning exercise involving State and Local Government, major business, and community sector interest groups in the region.

The Wide Bay 2020 Project developed a Regional Growth Management Framework based on submissions from all sectors. Other sectors were able to produce coordinated responses, however the human service's sector was lacking integration and was represented in an ad hoc way. This was a catalyst in the early development of the network.

The WBBHSN remains an important community engagement coordination function in the region. There are four subgroups which develop policy and actions to address human service issues: These are:

• the Wide Bay Burnett Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Human Services Network;
• the Employment, Education and Training Consultative Group;
• the Social Planning Working Group; and
• the Wide Bay Burnett Youth Network.

The mission of the WBBHSN is to provide a peak forum for the human services sector in the Wide Bay Burnett that facilitates collaborative management and proactive planning and responses to the human service needs of our community.

What is different about this case study that shows how government, industry, and communities can better engage with each other?

The WBBHSN membership spans across Government, community agencies, community development workers and representatives in local areas. It is unique because it gives a voice to a sector that was previously unable to represent itself in an integrated way at a regional level.

Throughout its operation the WBBHSN has had a consistent core group with a long term view and commitment that supports ongoing activities. The long term visioning and expertise of the WBBHSN has promoted a positive culture to the development and use of technology for the benefit of the human service sector within the Wide Bay Burnett, and ultimately for the communities of the region.

One clear outcome for the community is the flow of accurate and relevant information as a result of combined technology. Good future planning and use of e-technologies such as referrals between services will further support the region in a way that will draw services together and enable communities to access a wider range of programs.

In taking a regional perspective the WBBHSN has successfully attracted funding to the region, developed innovative responses to the needs of the region, and provided a conduit for information flow between government and community. The WBBHSN is now seen as a highly marketable product for the region.

What are the key outcomes of the case study for government, industry, and community?

Outcomes for the WBBHSN, Government, and community include:

• attracting resources the region might not have otherwise received;
• the existence of the WBBHSN is 'not all about money' but a vested interest in providing information that leads to opportunities for the region;
• the recognition of the WBBHSN has built local ownership and pride in what has been/can be achieved;
• builds social capital through enhanced community capacity by building skills within the region; and
• has brought technology to the region and provides an 'edge'.

In creating networks that require intensive development and support, such as the Wide Bay Burnett Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Human Service Network, the WBBHSN has successfully produced a number of valuable resources for the region.

What are the key learnings/insights about community engagement?

In setting up the WBBHSN it was important to ensure that initial relationships were developed with existing networks at all levels but particularly at the regional level. It was imperative for the network to have established credibility and integrity to provide the voice for the human service sector in the region.

Community engagement from the WBBHSN perspective is a two-way activity. It is important that the information flow is in both directions and that all parties participate in a manner that allows and respects the need of each.

An element that the network regards as an important learning is that it takes time and patience to develop a network as successful as the WBBHSN.

In setting up the network some of the challenges faced included the need for a cultural shift from survival and parochial to collective and collaborative. This meant in some instances giving up individual 'power base' and engendering a regional view with a whole of community perspective.

What will sustain community engagement into the future in this case study?

Sustainability for the WBBHSN requires:

• that it survives periods without a paid co-ordinator;
• a central point of coordination/executive support that:
  • is driven by an agency (community or government);
  • the agency provides a level of objectivity;
• some support for its website - this is minimal support for administrative tasks;
• coordinated information flow; and
• development of a business plan as a means of supporting the points above.