Editorial - Stronger Families Learning Exchange
Stronger Families Learning Exchange Bulletin No.6 Spring/Summer 2004 p.2
This is the sixth Bulletin in this series and it will be the last in this format. The Stronger Families Learning Exchange (SFLEX) is an important part of the Australian Government's Stronger Families and Communities Strategy and has generated a raft of valuable learnings at a number of levels and for a range of audiences.
At an individual project level, families and communities have benefited from the participative approach taken by projects within the Strategy and in particular by the designated Stronger Families and Communities Strategy projects. At an organisational level projects have reported many ways they have benefited from the opportunity to use action research to enhance their practice. They have been able to record and reflect on the impact of their project on the communities with whom they have worked. Many of the earlier projects have developed evaluation reports which have assisted in their sustainability.
This edition continues to feature its snapshots of projects - some of which are just beginning their action research and evaluation work, and others that have been longer established and able to reflect on their journey so far.
Much of the work and insight generated by the projects is available on the Stronger Families Learning Exchange website www.aifs.gov.au/sf. Look for the Learning Exchange icon. Initially much of the useful information generated by projects was part of a restricted part of the website. As time went on, we realised that many other community-based projects would be interested in gaining ideas and insights from those projects we were working with. Projects themselves were very happy for access to be made easier so that local family and community networks were able to easily access the site.
Many projects are now working on developing models that they believe have wider application, and some projects are presenting those models at conferences and workshops and in journal articles. In this Bulletin the Barnardos Illawarra Community Development Partnership presents the model they have developed to understand the sorts of interventions necessary to create positive development change for families and communities in housing estate based communities. Their model considers both the stresses and strengths that communities and their members have to work with.
At SFLEX we are also concentrating on consolidating the mass of data, information, stories, learning and wisdom we have collected into digestible, useful, practical publications aimed at informing both policy and practice. The article in this Bulletin outlining our concept of participatory evaluation provides a summary of a fuller set of guidelines we expect to be available in the near future. As this part of our role in the Strategy draws to a close we are reflecting on the model of working with an action research training and support team and how the most valuable aspects of that model might be incorporated into the current strategy. Of course we would be very interested in any feedback from our readers.
Over the three years we have been operating the input into the Bulletins from the Stronger Families and Communities Strategy projects has gradually been building. In this edition it is fantastic to see that several projects have contributed substantial articles in addition to the regular project updates.
