Australia: Drug and Alcohol Reduction Plan for the Griffith Aboriginal Community

Assignment name: Drug and Alcohol Reduction Plan for the Griffith Aboriginal Community Country: Australia Location in country: Griffith, NSW Name of Client: Miyagan Aboriginal Development Association Date: February – June 2007
Narrative description of Project:

Assai was engaged by the Miyagan Aboriginal Development Association (MADA) to work with the Griffith Aboriginal community to develop a Drug and Alcohol (D&A) Reduction Plan, that when implemented would significantly reduce the consumption of drugs and alcohol by the Aboriginal people of Griffith, NSW.
The Plan therefore needed to:
  • Belong to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community members and therefore involve the whole community in development and delivery;
  • Be realistic, with achievable goals actionable by both community and service providers;
  • Build on previous lessons learnt; and
  • Complement existing or already developed plans.
By means of a consultative process that brought together MADA, the Griffith Aboriginal community, Australian and State Government service providers, and local non-profit organisations, Assai led the development of a realistic Plan with achievable goals actionable by the aboriginal community members and other stakeholders.

Description of actual services:

Assai advised the MADA on the recommended approach to the development of the Plan, namely a consultative forum bringing together all key stakeholders. Assai facilitated two workshops attended by representatives of all key stakeholder groups: the first, using the strategy mapping approach, to develop vision for the Plan and agree the expected outcomes; and the second to prioritise the stakeholder outcomes and develop actions to deliver the prioritised outcomes.
The output – the D&A Reduction Action Plan – set out:
  • the vision and stakeholder outcomes
  • prioritisation of stakeholder outcomes
  • the strategies to deliver outcomes of the highest order of priority
  • the actions to be undertaken to implement each strategy
  • the resources required for each action and the target date for completion
In addition, the D&A Reduction Plan set out for each outcome area a ‘quick impact project’ or QIP (pronounced ‘quip’) to be able to deliver high impact, positive change in a short amount of time making use of resources/assets that were ‘in hand’. The Plan also set out the process by which the Plan would be reviewed to assess progress on the delivery of the desired outcomes.