Parents, Families, Carers:
A Political Voice for Families.
Second National Conference,
Brisbane August 3-4
The Second Conference of the National Federation
of
Parents, Families and Carers will be held in
Brisbane
on 3-4 August 2009.
This year's theme is
A Political Voice for Families.
It will explore options
for developing a stronger political voice for families. The
paradox we face is
that families are the biggest social constituency in the country, but have
the
weakest organisation and the weakest political voice.
Families are routinely excluded from public policy
deliberations about
families; and excluded from what NGOs call the 'family
sector', the plethora
of service providers and research organisations which speak
about families
but rarely to or with families.
Why is it accepted that
indigenous people must be included in discussions
about indigenous people, but families can be systematically
excluded from
discussions about families?
Why is it that parents who formed most of our disability,
mental health,
childrens services and family support groups now often find
themselves
replaced in these entities by external 'experts'?
How can the Commonwealth get away with creating and
funding a peak body
called Families Australia which is run by service
providers to families, and
bars individual parents and families from voting membership?
A disability
peak body which barred people with disabilities from voting
membership
would be shamed into resigning.
Why is this so? How has it happened? And how do we change this so that
families trump
trade unions, farmers and big business and become the
strongest political
voice in the land?
Proposals are invited for papers,
workshops, action proposals or topics
which address these themes.
Click here
to submit your proposal.
CLICK HERE
to register.
CLICK HERE
for more information.
The inaugural conference of the Federation in 2008 was
the
first occasion on which parents, families and carers
from around Australia came
together across
disability,
mental health, ageing, child care, early
childhood
intervention, family support, education and health care
sectors.
Click here
to read about this conference and the
National Federation of Parents, Families and Carers.
Photo: Jenny
Shale, President, National Federation of Parents,
Families and Carers
Social Inclusion: What it is, and what it's not
Social inclusion is not primarily a matter of public policy, or even
primarily a
matter for NGOs and the community sector. But such is the
conceptual
confusion around the term at the moment,
one could be forgiven for thinking
it means ... whatever you might want
it to mean.
Professor Gail
Whiteford has been appointed to the position of Pro Vice
Chancellor
(Social Inclusion) at Macquarie University. What does a Pro Vice
Chancellor (Social Inclusion) do, you might ask?
Well, it might
involve trying to get a broad social mix of students at
Macquarie
University, which would presumably involve reworking the socially
exclusive private/public
polarity in secondary schooling and tackling the
ethnic/cultural ghetto-isation of Sydney's tribal communities. But
somehow
we think it unlikely that this is the Professor's brief. As
the Professor says
“whilst the
Federal Government has to be applauded for putting social
inclusion on
the national agenda, we need to be mindful of the ways in which
social
inclusion is implemented through policy and practice." She adds
that
“we have to allow for distinct social and cultural identities to
thrive and for
people to contribute in their own way”.
Now that we've
clarified that, note the instructive words of Elaine Henry, CEO
of The
Smith Family in commenting on the role of NGOs in facilitating social
inclusion: ‘Social inclusion is about NGOs building
networks..., sharing
research and best practice, and collaborating
rather than duplicating’.
To
which we might say, no, that is not what social inclusion is at all.
Little wonder, then, that the Commonwealth talks a lot about 'social
inclusion' but seems a little unsure about what it entails.
Here's
what we think at the Centre for Civil Society. Social inclusion is,
first
and foremost, a matter for individuals, families, neighbourhoods
and voluntary
associations in their daily decision-making. Individuals
and families may
welcome neighbours and strangers into their lives - or
they may not. A tennis
club may include people with disabilities, or
mental illnesses, or the socially
isolated - or it may not (Kingsville
Tennis club in Melbourne's west is a
brilliantly socially inclusive tennis club). NGOs may run formal programs to
enhance social inclusion, but the
value of formal programs is invariably
thinner and less sustainable than
inclusive practices on the part of
individuals, families and voluntary
groups in civil society.
Whether
a 45 year old man with a mental illness who is unemployed and
lives in
an unfashionable suburb is included in society and is part of the lives
of others will have a lot to do with friendships and kin connections and
relationships with shopkeepers, churches and sporting clubs. It will
have
relatively little to do with governments or NGOs. Even
collaborating NGOs.
For
most people, this is so bleedingly obvious it hardly seems worth
remarking upon. But it is plainly not obvious to many politicians,
policy
makers, NGOs, universities and academics. Why is this so?
CLICK HERE
to tell us your thoughts on 'social inclusion'.
Social
Enterprise Coalition Sydney Roundtable June 16
Ten years ago, the term 'social enterprise' was largely unknown. The phrase
'community enterprise' was used, and had been around since the 1980s: in
North Melbourne, for instance, the Macaulay Community Enterprise Network
had been operating locally since 1989. In 1997 the publication of Charlie
Leadbeater's The
Rise of the Social Entrepreneur changed the landscape
considerably, and
networks of social entrepreneurs and social enterprises
emerged soon after around the globe. In Australia, the Social Entrepreneurs
Network was formed
in 2000.
Since then, the term 'social
enterprise' has been used and abused beyond
recognition. Some academics now use the term to refer to any
NGO,
including charities and philanthropy organisations. A charity
like The Smith
Family now calls itself a 'social enterprise' - the word
'charity' seems to have
become kind of old-fashioned for the image-conscious managerial class who
now run our NGOs and fits uncomfortably
with community-sector notions of
'rights' and 'universal entitlements'. Governments, for their part, are now busy
throwing
money at employment-creation initiatives,
and 'social enterprise'
seems a smarter label to attach to these than 'job creation
schemes' or
'make-work' exercises that are now regrettably back in
favour.
To cap off the bastardisation of the
social enterprise concept, the big end of
town has been encouraged to think that its corporate
models and ways of
working are now highly sought after by entrepreneurs in the social
sector -
and this at the very time when the spectacular global failure of these models
has
plunged the world economy into financial crisis that has required
massive
bailouts from ordinary taxpayers to avert a full-scale meltdown.
Thanks,
but no thanks.
Where does this then leave the field
of social enterprise?
The field remains important, but it
requires a leadership from practitioners
and their peers who can distinguish between a social
enterprise and a
charity and a government program. That leadership is
currently absent.
Nature abhors a vacuum, and into the vacuum have stepped a
number of
governments and philanthropists and 'high net worth'
individuals (read 'well-
dressed executives bored with corporate greed') with money to throw
around.
The social enterprise field requires
its own leadership, drawn from its own
ranks. A roundtable discussion on creating this leadership
will be held in
Sydney on June 16.
Expressions of interest
are invited in participating in this roundtable. It will
run from 12.30 to 2.30 over lunch in the Sydney CBD.
For the purpose of framing the
discussion, the following six Discussion
Points have been drawn up:
1. The social enterprise sector in Australia lacks a peer-generated
leadership and a public voice. The
UK Social Enterprise
Coalition
provides
a good working model for the creation of a leadership and voice.
2. A social enterprise is a
financially independent, market-based business
for a social purpose. It may be for- profit or
not-for-profit. A venture that is
dependent on government or philanthropic or charitable
funding is not a
social enterprise.
3. An Australian
Social Enterprise Coalition will be a leadership vehicle and
voice for social enterprises. To represent the full scope of
the sector, its
Leadership Council will comprise two representatives from
each of:
a. cooperatives and mutuals
b. for-profits with a social purpose
c. community sector ventures for a social purpose
d. indigenous businesses and social enterprises
e. rural community businesses and social enterprises
f. environmental businesses and
social enterprises
g. consumer empowerment businesses
4. The
Coalition will be a leadership vehicle and voice, not a provider of
services or member benefits or employment. It will therefore have a
lean
structure with thick participation, a membership with no membership
fees,
and a voluntary leadership with no paid staff.
5. The Coalition will advocate against government
interference in the social
enterprise field. It will speak against government funding of
social enterprise
since government money conflicts with and undermines a
genuine
entrepreneurial ethos and financial independence. Australian
and
international experience shows that regulatory reform rather
than handouts
are more important in creating a favourable operating
environment for social
enterprise.
6. The
Coalition will also advocate for a key role for social enterprise in
the
break-up and reform of service delivery structures in health,
ageing,
education, housing, indigenous affairs, community services,
rural affairs and
environmental innovation.
CLICK HERE
to express an interest in participating in the roundtable
discussion, or if you can't attend, an interest in
participating in this project.
Ian
Hickie Reforming
our dysfunctional health system
Ian Hickie is Executive
Director of the Brain and Mind
Research Institute at the
University of Sydney. He laments
the Rudd Government's inaction on health reform:
"Real
health reforms need to ensure that all Australians
get better care, particularly outside of our hospitals.
Further, the whole system needs to embrace innovation
and sustainability. Innovation is clearly lacking in the old
Soviet-style state health services.
...serious health reform is on hold
until the Government receives its
truckload of reports on productivity savings, health
financing options, health
system reorganisation, preventative health care and primary
care reform.
Consequently, we will move to the
2010 election burdened not only by the
same problems that led the Prime Minister to make his bold
promises in
2007 about a national health takeover but by a range of
additional
recession-induced pressures that have not yet been taken
seriously by this
Government."
CLICK HERE
to read the full text of this article.
Social Innovation Camp
Wanted: five system-changing innovations
Australia's first Social
Innovation Camp will be held on October 2, 3 and 4.
The Social
Innovation Camp concept was developed
in the UK by the Young Foundation, and has been used
successfully to harness and develop ideas for social
innovation. The concept is that innovators present their
ideas in an intensive two or three day forum to a panel
of financiers, marketers, designers, IT gurus, and
entrepreneurs to explore development and application
possibilities.
A selection process precedes the
Camp, so that 4 or 5 ideas for innovation
are brought forward for intensive treatment. Resources and
networks
accessed during the Camp will hopefully continue afterwards
through to the
application stage.
This first Australian Social Innovation Camp will
restrict its 'social' brief to the
fields of health, education and social support, for the sake
of manageability.
It is hoped that up to five ideas will be brought forward to a
panel of up to 100
people.
One of the five has been selected already - Siegfried Drews' portal for self-
management of supports in disability, aged care, mental and
chronic illness
(see below).
CLICK HERE
to
express an interest in the Camp, either as a prospective
innovator, or as a prospective panelist.
CLICK HERE
for information on the UK Social Innovation Camp.
Siegfried Drews: A Portal for Self-Directed Services and
Personal
Budgets
Siegfried Drews is a retired
Melbourne industrial
insurance executive, and husband and carer to Mardi,
who has Motor Neurone Disease.
Over the past three
years, Siegfried has developed a technology platform to
support the planning, logistics, administration and
reporting functions
associated with supporting his wife's
care.
The result is a portal through which Mardi's carers can be
employed,
rostered and paid electronically, other supports and services
can be
budgeted, purchased and accounted for, and her public funders
can view the
flow of people and money as they wish. The portal integrates
planning,
budgeting, financial transactions, reporting, and local
networking (if required)
in a format applicable to children and adults in disability,
chronic illness,
mental health, aged care and education.
The
portal is currently being trialled in two settings. Expressions of interest
are invited from organisations wishing to partner in the
technical refinement
of the portal and its adaptation for multiple uses throughout
the human
services.
CLICK HERE
to express your organisation's interest.
Street by Street: Community building, one street at a time...
In every street and neighbourhood, there is an
isolated elderly person, and a person living
with a disability, and a new settler wanting to
communicate and develop connections with
locals.
And in every
street and neighbourhood, there are people wanting to make
connections with others and offer support in simple and
practical ways.
We think we can
put these pieces together, street by street.
UnitingCare Wesley in Adelaide has developed a neighbourhood
support
program called
In Your Street. It 'aims to foster the development of caring
communities by linking up people who live in the same street
or nearby. The
focus is on practical helping tasks which can relieve
isolation and make the
difference between someone remaining in their own home or
needing to move
into more supportive accommodation', such as:
-
Taking the bin in
and out
-
Hanging washing
-
Getting a few items
from the shops
-
Getting mail from
the letter box
-
Calling in for a
chat
-
Practising language
skills
The
Centre
is developing a national project called
Street by Street
which will
replicate this model in towns and suburbs around the country.
It will be
workshopped and developed at the
Natural Neighbourhoods. Real
Communities
Conference in Melbourne on June
22/23.
Our
Street by Street Project
aims to turn this around. We would like to hear
from organisations around the country interested in
partnering with us.
Click here
to express your interest.
Circles of Support: Social
cohesion, one person at a time ...
Circles of Support/Circles of
Security are a key strategy to make
social
inclusion work for people with disabilities, people with
mental illnesses, vulnerable children and families, young
people in foster care, single young parents, and others
struggling with social isolation. By building an intentional
circle of support around a person, comprising friends,
neighbours, family, shopkeepers, drivers and support
workers, real connections and communities can be built.
However, many organisations
often find it difficult to develop functioning
circles. Most
agencies don’t have enough volunteers and prospective
participants to draw upon from their own networks.
We
are
planning to develop a
national facilitation and coordination project for
Circles of Support/Circles of Security. This will be workshopped and
developed at the
Natural Neighbourhoods. Real
Communities
Conference in Melbourne on June
22/23.
Click here
to express your interest.
Natural
Neighbourhoods, Real Communities: National
Conference
22-23 June Melbourne
CLICK
HERE to register
for this national networking
and development conference for people interested in
building and strengthening natural neighbourhoods
and real communities.
The conference
will develop several initiatives for
national development and
coordination of key strategies. These
(so far)
include:
-
Street
by Street (neighbour to neighbour social
support) on a national scale
-
Circles of Support/Circles of Security
development and coordination
-
KeyRing
Neighbourhood Supported Accommodation
Networks
-
Newcomers networks
Read
the Program Here
Daniel Donahoo,
a young father and
author of Idolising Children, 
will be one of our keynote speakers. Daniel lives in Castlemaine in
central Victoria, and will lead us in exploring the critical
question
'If
it takes a village to raise a child, where are our villages?'
Click
here for more information or to
express an interest in presenting a
proposal for networking.
CLICK
HERE to register.
Charities: Would you give money to these
people?
Have you been stopped at a railway station recently by a
group of hip twenty
year olds collecting money for the
Red Cross or the Wilderness Society or
Oxfam?
Like us, you probably thought they were
volunteers, enthusiastically giving
their time to make a difference. "Isn't it
great to see young people
contributing like this", you might have thought, as
you searched for your
credit card.
The thing is, they're not volunteers.
They're paid by the hour. There are four
agencies in Australia that supply
collectors like this to the major charities
who, apparently, can't get
volunteers anymore. And so the agencies take
their cut from your donation, as
well as the collectors' wages, on top of the
advertising agency contracted to erect
those billboards and produce those
tear-jerking internet and radio ads.
It's a shame, but little grey-haired
big-hearted ladies who work for nothing are
hard to get these days. The
Australian Red Cross, which once had a
network of volunteers in every town and
suburb now says these 'street
collectors' are its most 'lucrative' form of
fundraising.
We think this practice of hiring
back-packers and students to pretend to be
volunteers stinks. We'd like to put
pressure on the charities to stamp it out.
Email us with the charities you
come across that are in this let's-pretend-
we-have-volunteers game. We'll
compile a list on our website. Those we
know of to date include:
-
Australian Red Cross
-
Oxfam
-
PLAN
-
World Vision
-
The Wilderness
Society
-
Australian
Conservation Foundation
-
The Fund for Nature
-
Medecins sans
Frontieres
CLICK HERE
to send through your additions to the list, or your
views on this
topic.
Self-Directed Services: Brisbane Seminar
17 June
Self-Directed Support and Personalised Budgets in Qld
Wednesday 17 June 2009 9.30am - 4.30pm
Queen Alexandra House, 347 Old Cleveland Rd Coorparoo
For further information contact Kym McCallum 07 3211 5700
or email
kymmccallum@cru.org.au
After the Global Financial Crisis: National Summit.
October
Phillip Blond from the UK will be the key speaker at
a National Summit in
late October this year this year on policy directions
After the Global
Financial Crisis.
Its focus will be on integrating economic and social reform
in a communitarian/mutualist framework.
Stay tuned for further
details.
Individuals and organisations interesting in
participating in the organisation of this event should
contact Vern
Hughes.
AGM Season 2009: Call for
nominations
If you've been considering
putting
yourself forward for election to a
board or committee in your not-
for-profit this year, we want to
hear from you.
We are particularly keen to hear
from people interested in nominating for election to the
following boards:
-
Australian Credit Union
-
Carers Victoria
-
National Seniors
-
Australian Unity
-
Mental Illness Fellowship Victoria
-
Autism Victoria
-
Carers ACT
-
Education Credit Union
-
Carers SA
-
RACV
Complete this
AGM Expression of Interest Form
to express your interest
or to tell us your views on organisations you believe need a leadership
challenge.
Tell us too if you want to assist others who are nominating,
through moral or practical support.
Click
here for more information.
Volunteer
Three
roles available with the Centre for Civil Society
The Centre for
Civil Society is experiencing huge growth in the scope and
scale of its activities. If you are looking for a volunteer
role that is
intellectually stimulating and practically challenging, we
want to hear from
you.
We have three roles for which we are
seeking to appoint volunteers.
Applicants are invited from all states and territories, for
varying time
commitments.
-
Events Organiser
-
assisting in the organisation of forums and
conferences
-
Writer -
mentoring and support is available in writing
news and opinion pieces on various topics which
fit the Centre's agenda
-
Administrative Assistant -
assisting in various administrative, financial
and database management tasks
If you have an interest in any of
these roles, please send a CV and the
names of 3 referees along with a covering letter on your
interest in the work
of the Centre to Liz Stewart at
info@civilsociety.org.au
Respect. Empower.
Include: Organising by Federal Electorate
Participants will
gather in each of our 150
federal electorates and work together, online
and in groups, to secure their
federal MP's
support for our agenda of respect,
empowerment, and inclusion.
CLICK HERE to register
in your
electorate (there is no cost).
On registering, participants will be connected to an
online forum in their
electorate, and will receive access to resources and
guidelines for local
activity.
CLICK HERE for more information.
Today, in a speech to the Open University, I set out our
August 3/4 2009:
A Political Voice for Families.
