Community Action Plan

Issues effecting the community that are supported by LDAT

• Alcohol and pregnancy/Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)
• Alcohol
• Other illicit drugs
• Non-prescribed pharmaceutical use
• Crystal methamphetamine (‘ice’)
• Stimulants (including cocaine)
• Cannabis
• Steroids.

Confirm your target audience

It is important to understand who is affected by the issues you have identified and who will directly benefit from your activity , so that it can be tailored and targeted appropriately. Different groups will have certain attitudes, behaviours and demographics that need to be considered and representatives should always be consulted as part of the development and delivery of the activity.

Age

• 0–5 years (parent)
• 6–11 years
• 12–17 years
• 18–30 years
• 30–50 years
• 50–60 years
• 60–70 years
• 70+ years

Location

• regional, rural and remote communities.

Priority population It is important to ensure at least one organisation within your LDAT (Lead or Partner) represents the priority group throughout the development and delivery of your activity, including the initial consultation phase. Priority populations are:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Gender Diverse and Intersex (LGBTI)
• Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD).

If the audience that your LDAT is targeting is more specific than the options provided in the Community Action Plan template (e.g. pregnant women; people who are unemployed) or unknown, then you can indicate this in your CAP submission.

Supporting resources

• Identifying alcohol and drug issues in your community
• Toolkits & Webinars
• AOD Lifecycle Planner

More tools

AOD Mapping Tool Facilitator Guide (PDF)

A guide to assist facilitators when using the Community Mapping Tool. Includes guidelines and a range of questions that can be used to investigate the identified community priority issues and unpack information from sessions to provide direction for the development of a suitable, evidence-based, community solution.

Community Action Plan Scoping Outline (PDF)

This planning tool will assist LDATs to write a Community Action Plan, by providing an easy to complete template where they can outline the issue, the target audience, proposed activity and identify the toolkits they will use to implement their CAP. The template also allows LDATs to document and connect objectives, steps, process and impact measures.

Your CAP should be based on activities that have been shown to be effective in preventing and minimising AOD-related harms.

Recognised activities include:

1. activity drawn directly from ADF Toolkits
2. activity supported by evidence-based information; e.g. parent education session
3. activity is supported by a solid evaluation plan to determine impact.

Further considerations

Consider the following questions when developing your CAP (and activity) to ensure it is a good fit with your group and local community:

• does your LDAT have the capacity to carry out the activity?
• do you have the resources (people, money, materials) available, or can you access them?
• what expertise does your group have? Do you need another Partner?
• who could you partner with in order to access additional skills and knowledge?
• what are the community’s strengths and challenges regarding alcohol and drug use?
• how can you leverage off the strengths of partners, and mitigate the challenges?

Supporting resource

• VicHealth Partnership tool
• Community consultation
• AOD Lifecycle Planner

Setting objectives for your CAP is an important part of the planning process to ensure the activity has a clear focus.

The most effective way to set up objectives is to use the ‘W x 5’ method – ask yourself the following questions:

• What do you want to happen?
• Who will it happen with?
• Why do you want to do it?
• When time frame (over 6 months)?
• Where (location)?

Then write and ensure the objective is SMART:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Action oriented/ achievable
• Realistic
• Timebound

Local Drug Action Teams are required to develop 2–4 objectives for their CAP, based on the priorities they have identified (i.e. issue, target audience, or approach), which may include community consultation and working with community partners).

Example objectives are included in each of the Alcohol and Drug Foundation’s suite of toolkits.

'Steps' refers to tasks that need to be completed to deliver your activity, e.g. further consultation, advertising, recruit participants, conduct training, event management.

You can include up to 15 steps.

For each step include who is responsible and the start and finish date.

We recommend including evaluation set up in the first or second step so it is not forgotten. This will help you keep your activity on track.

An outline of the main steps and resources required is provided in each of the toolkits.

You and your partners will need to consider all your income and expenditure lines.

Budget notes

Complete a budget table to explain what the funding will be used for.  This will help ensure your proposed CAP is value for money; planned expenditure is within the funding guidelines; and, you are utilising partners and other avenues of support (in-kind and other grants) to build sustainability.

A few tips to keep in mind:

• catering costs on average up to $15 per head
• include staffing in your total budget, i.e. the number of hours required and cost per hour per person
• make sure capital expenses over $500 are itemised and include a justification for the expense (you can add this as an attachment)
• do not include administration or overhead fees.

You can attach a more detailed budget at the 'Attachments' tab.

Note: All LDAT funds received must be acquitted at the completion of the CAP

The table for your budget is a guide only. You may need to add additional columns or rows if you have multiple sources of in-kind support, for example.

Supporting resource

• Funding Guidelines PDF

Measuring success needs to be set up from the start and done throughout the delivery of your CAP.

It is important to monitor and measure the success of your CAP activity, as it helps you see what went well, and what could be improved next time around.

There are a number of good evaluation measures that you could consider.

Process measures

These measures relate to your Community Action Plan processes and how your activity is being delivered. They help you to monitor whether your activity is going well or needs to be modified – before it’s too late.

Process measures focus on activity implementation (e.g. quality or satisfaction), reach (e.g. the number of target audience affected by the activity), and outputs (e.g. what is delivered). Outputs are usually described numerically, such as the number of events held or the number of attendees.

Impact measures

These relate to the difference your activity has made.

They are used to measure short and medium-term effects (impacts) of your activity. Impact measures help you to build a picture of your activity’s influence on individuals, organisations and communities.

The ADF recommends LDATs use the following:

• knowledge
• intention
• help seeking
• confidence
• attitude
• reach/participation.

You are required to specify at least two process and two impact measures for each CAP.

Find examples of tools and further guidance.

The ADF’s suite of toolkits also contains a range of other measures and tools. You may find these a useful starting point for developing your own.

Supporting resources

• Establish your measures
• Deliver & evaluate your CAP

Your Relationship Manager will be able to guide you in developing your CAP to ensure the activity will meet the needs of your community.

You can then submit your plan via the online platform for approval.

You may need to adjust your activity based on based on feedback you receive from the assessment panel.

Once approved, deliver your CAP activities, collecting your success measures as you go.

• Alcohol and Other Drug Lifecycle Planner
  • Use this planner to guide the development of a Community Action Plan that addresses local alcohol and other drug (AOD) issues, by addressing risks and building protective factors using the range of evidence-based toolkits.
• Toolkits
• Relationship Manager contacts

Printable reference

• Building Successful Local Drug Action Teams. A Practical Guide PDF

• Case Studies and Stories
• Articles
• Identifying local issues
• Community consultation
• LDAT Video: From Start to Finish
• Primary Prevention Video: Webinar understanding primary prevention