Stakeholder surveys
CLIENT: HOUSE WITH NO STEPS
WestWood Spice has been involved in the development of both the 2007 and 2010 strategic plans for House with No Steps, a major provider of services to people with a disability in NSW and now in Queensland. This included stakeholder surveys of employees, clients and families, funders and collegiate organisations as part of the planning process, and on both occasions, the resulting plan has been seen as a major driver of success, growth and innovation for the organisation.
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CLIENT: NSW DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
School Learning and Support Pilots
WestWood Spice was engaged by the Department to evaluate the success of the trial School Learning Support Program (SLSP) in the Illawarra and South East Region in 2010. The SLSP is designed to provide better support for students with additional learning needs, and to build the capacity of teachers to meet these needs. The evaluation involved a critical analysis of the effectiveness of the SLSP and its implementation; an assessment of the impact of the SLSP on stakeholder groups; and recommendations as to how the SLSP could be improved. Evaluation methodology included surveys of school principals, SLSP teachers and parents; focus groups; one-on-one interviews and two principals' forums.
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CLIENT: NATIONAL RELAY SERVICE OUTREACH
As part of its ongoing contract with the Australian Government to increase awareness and acceptance of the NRS amongst users and potential users, WestWood Spice has conducted extensive research into levels of awareness and acceptance of the service by various user groups. This has involved significant stakeholder consultation including stakeholder surveys, interviews and focus groups.
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CLIENT: HOUSING NSW
Connecting Older Tenants Project
In 2011 WestWood Spice conducted an evaluation of the success of the Tenant Connect Service - a service which Housing NSW contracted the Australian Red Cross to deliver for a four year period. Key priorities of the service were to establish older persons' precincts in major housing developments to strengthen social networks and reduce isolation, and improve older tenants' access to support services. Nine pilot projects were evaluated, each of which had a number of discrete activities and range of outlet locations. Examination of project self-evaluation documents and reports, telephone interviews with key project and funder personnel was undertaken as well as the conduct of a half-day workshop to discuss findings to date and receive input from a number of 'expert' informants. The draft final report was presented four weeks after the tender was awarded.
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CLIENT: FaHCSIA
Indigenous Communities Baseline Mapping
WestWood Spice was engaged to conduct research to provide an overview of government investments in 29 Indigenous communities across Australia and to assess the extent to which the services and infrastructure were comparable to non-Indigenous communities of similar location, size and needs. The service areas were recreation and culture, social security and welfare, employment services, transport services, youth services and emergency services. In carrying out this project we:
- Recognised that a tailored approach to each state and region would be needed.
- Dedicated a consultant to each state in order to explore state-based program and regional issues.
- Provided an important baseline snapshot of specified services in 29 remote communities.
- Drew summary conclusions about matters which influence the baseline picture.