Investigators
Lynne Millar, Renee Teal, Patricia Lewis, Hannah House, Jade Bondonno, Emma Charlton, Francis Mitrou
Project description
The Early Years Partnership is a 10-year (2018-2028) partnership between the WA State Government (Departments of Communities, Health, and Education), Minderoo Foundation and The Kids Research Institute Australia as the evidence and evaluation partner. The Partnership is overseen by a Board with Independent Executive Co-Chairs and representatives from the State Government, Minderoo Foundation, and the Commissioner for Children and Young People. The implementation of the Partnership is led by the Department of Communities. The Australian Government supports the Early Years Partnership via the Connected Beginnings Program.
The Partnership includes four communities experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage and with high proportions of developmentally vulnerable children. The partner communities are in metropolitan, regional, remote, and very remote areas. They include Armadale West, Central Great Southern (including Shires of Katanning, Kojonup, Gnowangerup and Broomehill-Tambellup), Derby (including Mowanjum and Pandanus Park) and Bidyadanga. Each selected community is a critical partner, involving local leaders and community members, and service providers from the government and non-government sectors.
The Early Years Partnership aims to improve child wellbeing and school readiness in four diverse Western Australian communities and, in doing so, learn what it takes to create lasting change to improve outcomes for all WA children. The implementation activities in each community are being monitored and evaluated by the Department of Communities.
The Kids Research Institute Australia is leading the outcomes evaluation of the Partnership. It is guided by the Developmental Evaluation Framework. Developmental Evaluation (DE) is designed to evaluate innovation and complexity within top-down, bottom-up approaches to facilitating change. DE is particularly useful when adapting an effective project, program, strategy, policy, or other innovative initiative to new conditions in complex dynamic systems. As ideas and innovations are taken from elsewhere and developed in a new setting, DE provides guidance on the effectiveness of these in the new settings. The Early Years Partnership allows for and encourages innovation in thinking and in strategies to address priority areas for action through employing the try, test and learn philosophy making DE an appropriate framework for the evaluation.
Partners
- Minderoo Foundation
- WA State Government (WA Departments of Communities, Education and Health)
- Central Great Southern (including the Shires of Katanning, Kojonup, Gnowangerup, and Broomehill-Tambellup)
- Bidyadanga Aboriginal Community
- Armadale West
- Derby (including the communities of Mowanjum and Pandanus Park
Supporting Partner
- Commonwealth Government (via Connected Beginnings)
Local Connected Beginnings Partners
- Badgebup Aboriginal Corporation
- Bidyadanga Aboriginal Community (La Grange)
- The Champion Centre
- Ngunga Group Women’s Aboriginal Corporation
External collaborators
- The Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Children and Families Over the Life Course
Funders
- Minderoo Foundation