What is your opinion on community-led decision making?
The Bega Valley Data Collective, a not-for-profit community association, has been overwhelmed by the responses received from the Measuring What Matters in the Bega Valley Community Survey. With over 300 responses, the survey identified our communities opinions on enhancing community wellbeing through informed, community-led decision making.
The survey objectives were to:
- Identify the level to which the community wants to be involved in local decision-making in the Bega Valley.
- Explore what matters to our community on issues that impact our collective wellbeing.
The information from the survey will be used by the Bega Valley Data Collective to shape how it can support our community by providing access to valuable local data.
“The Bega Valley Data Collective feels immensely proud when we see all the wonderful things that our community is doing to improve wellbeing and make the Bega Valley a healthier, more secure, sustainable, and prosperous region. Measuring What Matters in the Bega Valley will help support informed decisions that reflect our collective aspirations and values.” said President of the Bega Valley Data Collective, Mr Tim Whitaker.
Data shows that the volunteering rate in the Bega Valley is significantly higher when compared to other local LGA’s and NSW. Supporting volunteers to achieve their aspirations will improve our collective wellbeing:
Vice President Sarah Cooper says that “the future of the Bega Valley Data Collective looks bright with more people in our community becoming engaged with the Bega Valley Data Collective and its mission to provide equitable access to valuable data for our community that will enhance local decision making.”
The data shows volunteer participation rate is declining in all locations. Providing access to valuable data will help volunteers of community organisations continue their valuable work:
Measuring What Matters in the Bega Valley is an important initiative that supports community projects with the necessary data to make their funding requests more persuasive to agencies and government, it will also enable the community to track progress and share inspiring success stories about projects that are making a difference to wellbeing in the Bega Valley.
The community survey results show that the Bega Valley Community believe that access to data is important for community led decision making:
The survey also showed that people in the Bega Valley consider social and economic data as equally important:
You can view all the survey results in the link below and you can also view a recording of an online information session on the survey results at the end of this story.
Click here for a PDF with a presentation of the survey results
The Measuring What Matters in the Bega Valley Project is part of the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal’s (FRRR) Investing in Rural Community Futures (IRCF) program in partnership with the Bega Valley Shire Council. This project has been funded by the Australian Government.
“Strengthening capabilities for sharing resources and increasing the capacity of our community to leverage funding opportunities are both identified goals in the Community Roadmap that has been developed in partnership with the Bega Valley Shire Council and the NFP sector, both of these goals will be supported through this project.” said FRRR’s IRCF Program Manager, Carolyn Ardler.
