Busy, but not always effective

A collective of community-based children’s service groups from a regional centre approached us because they knew that although they were ‘busy’, they may not always be working in the most effective way possible.

They were keen to understand what opportunities there were to work together, share resources and better leverage their various skills and capabilities.

As part of this process, they wanted to understand best practices in other locations and opportunities to strengthen their governance.

Stakeholder Consultation

We combined community workshops with one-on-one interviews with key staff and volunteers at the range of child service providers in the local area. This provided us with a strong understanding of the issues and opportunities, as well as stakeholder suggestions about potential strategies to work more effectively.

Best Practice Research

We combined desktop research with case studies of similar early years service providers in other regional centres that had adopted a collaborative approach, including those who were co-located.

Strategic, Governance and Operational Guidance

To support the group move forward with clarity, we provide a comprehensive set of guidelines for consideration to help them adopt new ways of working to avoid duplication, and utilise resources and infrastructure across groups.