The Community Building Initiative
Overview
The Community Building Initiative (CBI) is a $10 million, four-year program that aims to strengthen small rural Victorian communities, and assist them to take control of their futures. It is managed by the Department of Planning and Community Development (DPCD), and provides funding and support for 19 diverse community projects covering 102 towns. The CBI was announced in 2005 within the Victorian Government's social policy statement 'A Fairer Victoria', a key aim of which is to facilitate new ways for government to work with the community.
The audit found that while the CBI management framework is sound and supports local ownership of projects, DPCD's approach to implementation compromised transparency and accountability for the use of funds and in some cases, prevented projects' progress.
DPCD adopted a flexible approach to managing the CBI to better support and simplify the way it works with disadvantaged communities. While a degree of flexibility is appropriate for empowering local communities, DPCD did not effectively moderate its ‘flexible’ approach with timely and appropriate intervention when needed, or through appropriately holding communities to account for the use of public funds. More timely action by DPCD could have improved local outcomes in cases where difficulties between project partners delayed progress.
Funding agreements with CBI grant recipients contain sound accountability mechanisms, however DPCD did not enforce them consistently which established an undesirable precedent in some cases of accepting and funding inadequate performance. These deficiencies prevented DPCD from effectively discharging its responsibility to enforce accountability requirements and to promote efficiency in the use of public funds.
DPCD developed an evaluation framework for the CBI at the outset of the program, but its capacity to provide meaningful insights into the impact of local projects is limited by its focus on activities rather than outcomes. It is further limited by the lack of regular monitoring and reporting on both the progress of individual CBI projects, and the performance of the CBI overall.
Notwithstanding these limitations, there is evidence the CBI has created substantial opportunities for participation and involvement in local decision making, for skills development and volunteering, and for leveraging funds from other sources. These are encouraging results, however further work is needed to explore their impact on achieving desired outcomes.