The Centre for Community Child Health (CCCH) brought together a group of international and Australian experts to discuss place-based approaches for improving the lives of children and families in Australia at a roundtable discussion on 22 March.

The aim of the event was to develop a shared understanding of place-based approaches, the effectiveness of communities as a platform for change and to identify the challenges of developing place-based models and possible solutions.

CCCH has been supporting communities to plan, implement and evaluate local initiatives to improve the lives of children and families for over a decade. The evidence suggests that policies that support place-based initiatives are most likely to result in robust and sustainable programs that make a lasting difference to the lives of children and their families.

A report based on the roundtable will be released in late April 2012.

Presentations from the roundtable are available here.

Find out more about place-based approaches in the CCCH Policy Brief – Place-based approaches to supporting children and families (PDF 324 KB).