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The LDAT Checklist

Whether this is your first Local Drug Action Team experience, or you’re well versed in reducing alcohol and other drug harms in the community, it’s always good to have a grasp of the basics.

We’ve created this quick checklist to help guide you on every step of the process to making a difference in your community.

Community Consultation

The best way to help a community is to work within it.

Knowing who to talk to, how to engage them and getting to know the issues first-hand is important and has the added benefit of encouraging participation from across the community once your program is up and running.

Talking to people in your community lets you get to the bottom of:

  • where the issues stem from
  • potential solutions ideas and how they can be rolled out
  • the role of the community in preventing further harms.

You’ll find more information on our Consultation page.

Community Action Plan

Once you understand the issues, you need to come up with a plan - and with knowledge, resources and determination everyone has the power to make a positive difference to their community.

Your Community Action Plan (CAP) is an essential part of the LDAT program, and it acts as a roadmap, taking you from ideas to creating meaningful change.

All CAPs are reviewed and assessed by independent members of an ADF panel, but don’t worry, you’ll have support from an ADF Relationship Manager to help you put your plan together.

A few things to start with are:

  • Detail is key - Your CAP needs to show you’ve thought about the important stuff like target audience, activities, objectives, and steps towards success
  • You will have plenty of help - In addition to the Hub resources, your Relationship Manager will guide you through the CAP process. Once submitted, you may receive further feedback, with clear, actionable ways to improve your plan
  • Get set for success - The planning and successful delivery of at least one CAP is a requirement every Local Drug Action Team must meet as part of the funding, and it ensures your program remains effective, efficient and evidence-based.
Your Community Action Plan (CAP) is an essential part of the LDAT program, and it acts as a roadmap, taking you from ideas to creating meaningful change.

Implementing your plan

Once you get the green light, it’s important to remember that the devil is in the details.

You’ll need to provide regular updates to your Relationship Manager on the activity you’ve undertaken, either monthly or as requested.

This reporting is an important part of the process. It allows you to assess the effectiveness of your activity, refine focus on day-to-day tasks, identify areas where you can improve and stay motivated to support your community.

Evaluating and sharing your success

So you’ve completed your activity, but did it work?

With the right data you can find out.

You’ll want to see how you’ve performed compared to your objectives, examine any key findings you can apply for next time and understand the challenges, insights and lessons.

In addition to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation’s reporting requirements, LDATs are also encouraged to share their success. The Community Hub has an excellent resource with information on how to do this through social media and through traditional media.

For more information and to keep up to date with the latest news on minimising alcohol and drug harms, sign up to our newsletter.

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