The Secret Life of the

Swan Alliance

Communities for Children is funded by the Department of Social Services

Who is the Swan Alliance?

“[Each agency] does some similar work but also some distinct work, so that brings a lot of ideas to the consortium; it brings strength in terms of the management... It gives a lot of power in terms of advocacy because they are 3 well respected, large organisations who could advocate; I think that is probably one of the biggest strengths of the consortium”

Where do we operate?

Bullsbrook

Ellenbrook

MidlandAltone

30 km

15 km

Communities for Children Facilitating

Partner

Funded by the Australian Government of Social Services

Our Community Paint the Swan REaD: Winner 2014 Children’s Week Award

Aboriginal Christmas Party preparations

The Beginning

“The commitment to work together has been a learning experience; normally you expect organisations like ours to be competing”

Original Intentions

• Create a child focus

• Find new and sustainable ways to address the complex needs

• A collegiate model, able to be replicated, of working with communities, including Aboriginal and CALD communities.

• A model of working as a single entity that increases the capacity to respond

• A governance structure that enables stakeholders to contribute

• Build on each agency’s local knowledge to create a strong presence in the region, recognising the degree of disadvantage

• Inform and influence the national agenda and government’s capacity to respond.

CEOs Thoughts•Collegial – raise issues and ideas and work through them

•Capacity to talk and connect collaboratively

•Respond to gaps in service delivery

•Advocacy

•Shared data outcomesOne National Organisation, One

State Org with National affiliation, State based with Early Childhood

speciality

Governance Structure

“Decision making is streamlined... it actually enables, it’s not a cumbersome structure”

Core Business

How we operate:

The Swan Alliance is structured to maximize meaningful community engagement. This ensures that service and program users have supported opportunities to input into how programs are designed and run (this includes young mums on our Community Committee).

Communities for Children:

Develop and facilitate a whole of community approach to support and enhance early childhood development and wellbeing for children from birth to 12 years.

Strategy 1:Family &

Child Connect

Strategy 2: Community & Schools Connect

Strategy 3:Services Connect

Swan AllianceCommunity

Strategic Plan

• Swan Family Connect: connecting families and services in 4 strategic ‘place’ based locations.

• Handover Centre.• Events and festivals eg NAIDOC

• CaLD families: conversational English• Recreational activities e.g. VSwans and

PCYC. 9 locations• Small Grants: building capacity

• Strong Fathers (Aboriginal)• Supported and attachment playgroups –

10 in total.• Home visiting: 5 programs.

Strategies

Debunking the Myth – a consortium can work

“The Leadership Team is excellent in terms of us working together, but I don't think the organisations realised the depth of commitment that's required to make it work. It’s pretty huge”

Success Factors • History of collaboration between

the three organisations

• Checks and balances across three organisations

• Diversity of organisations involved; complimentary

• Structure is Leadership Group; CEOs safeguard

• Organisations now more vested in Eastern suburbs

• Organised and professional EO, hardworking and passionate staff

Challenges • Initial steep learning curve in

establishing a shared understanding

• Alliance meetings – impost on busy work schedules

• Early years- not core business of all 3 organisations

• Ngala has greater responsibility but decision making shared – point of contention

• Limited community development knowledge and experience by some Leadership team members

• Identification of problems by individual Leadership members – concern this may undermine Alliance

Collective Impact?1. Common Agenda

– Communities for Children whole of community approach

– Strategic Plan2. Shared Measurement

– RBA and External Evaluator

3. Mutually Reinforcing Activities

– Community Partners, Joint Training, Collaborative Partnerships

4. Continuous Communication

– Via regular meetings, email exchange– Families and community members

represented on Committee and Leadership Group

– Regular yarning with Elders5. Backbone Support Organisation

– Swan Alliance

“I think the learning for me is, how much can we achieve if we work collaboratively and we can actually have a truly shared agenda, a common

vision and be working towards a common outcome”

The Way Forward

• Strategic Plan for each ‘place’ where all key stakeholders agree to a common vision and implementation agenda

• Seek commitment from local businesses, large philanthropic organisations, community groups and churches, extend representation from departments and NGOs

• Annual Report card – measuring our successes

• Improve communication strategy via website or social media

• Secure commitment of Ngala, Mission Australia and Anglicare to provide increased services beyond the scope of the Swan Alliance

“To have a bunch of community organisations come together as one alliance allows each organisation to share insights and ideas. It makes everyone more at ease knowing that we all are on one side and have the best interests of the community at heart” (Kara, Community worker)

Questions?

CLAN Home Visiting – Family Fun Day

Conversational English - Cooking