VicHealth was established as an independent statutory authority by the Victorian Parliament under the Tobacco Act 1987. It was the first health promotion body in the world to be funded by a tax on tobacco, tasked with undertaking innovative, evidence-based, and thought-leading work that promotes good health and helps prevent chronic disease. VicHealth partners with communities, government agencies and organisations across health, sport, arts, food, education, social sector, and the media to share expertise and insights and bring global best practice approaches to Victoria – to drive lasting, positive health and wellbeing outcomes for all Victorians.
A learning partnership began with Jess and Lucia working shoulder-to-shoulder with the Impact and Research team to devise an impact measurement framework that could cater for a systems transformation approach. We started by learning more about the practice of systems transformation itself and exploring what would be expected to shift in the first few years. In December 2023, we found several frameworks that helped us conceptualise how change is expected to happen. Through a series of workshops, VicHealth teams developed global theories of change for each of the three societal systems. Deliberately, they were built ‘big and loose’, with an understanding that these were starting assumptions of what needed to shift to transform these systems.
The next phase was to iteratively build the organisational impact and evaluation framework. We layered the framing using three spheres – control, influence and aspiration – to ensure that measurement was pitched at the right level.
This was truly a team effort, with many parts of the organisation engaged. The result was an impact measurement framework that includes measuring and learning about “systems ways of working” and tracking system shifts against five conditions we believe hold the systems in place. To support evidence-based decisions, we also developed novel approaches to collecting against, including impact logs, contribution analysis, and media monitoring.
“We’ve had an inclusive process the whole way which means that VicHealth staff and the board understand and have embraced the Framework. We’re excited to see it come to life as we start to test out new ways of gathering information data and learning, and we look forward to working with our partners as we expand our application of the Framework.”
What makes this project so unique is the way we work together – we call it a learning partnership – which moves away from the traditional client-consultant paradigm and enables all stakeholders to bring their expertise to the table. This highly collaborative process creates two-way learning where feedback from the organisation becomes valuable knowledge to inform adaptation.
We look forward to seeing how the learning partnership and framework supports VicHealth in their inspiring systems-minded work. Are you curious to learn more about learning partnerships? Reach out to us!
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Clear Horizon acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Custodians of the land and acknowledges and pays respect to their Elders, past and present.
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