Making abstract concepts like community wellbeing and resilience tangible

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Background

Madeline Hines is the Executive Officer of AVCL, a regional not-for-profit delivering place-based leadership and capacity-building initiatives across Northeast Victoria and the Southern and Border regions of NSW. AVCL works alongside local communities to strengthen individual and collective capacity, create space for local action, and build confidence to lead change.

Better understanding of regional wellbeing

Madeline first encountered the Early Insights dashboard at a Shepparton forum hosted by the Gardiner Dairy Foundation, where Professor Jacki Schirmer from the University of Canberra presented findings from the Regional Wellbeing Survey — a key data source for the dashboard.

Professor Schirmer also leads the Early Insights for More Resilient Communities project. When she demonstrated the dashboard, Madeline immediately saw its potential.

“I saw how valuable the dashboard was and was keen to use it in a community forum we were planning in the Snowy Valleys later in the year,” Madeline said.

Credit: Alpine Valleys Community Leadership (AVCL)  workshop in Gundowring

Turning complex lived experiences into action

“What we find most valuable about the dashboard is that it makes abstract concepts like wellbeing or resilience tangible,” Madeline explained.

“It helps us turn complex lived experiences into something actionable — not just at the community level, but for program design, funding applications, and even policy conversations.”

“It shifts the conversation from assumptions to evidence, while still leaving room for local interpretation.”

AVCL often draws on specific resilience indicators, such as confidence in community leadership and local availability of tradespeople, as practical starting points for discussion — especially when designing place-based capacity-building initiatives.

Giving communities access to their own data

In late 2024, AVCL hosted a community forum in Batlow exploring how innovation could boost local capacity to withstand dry times. A highlight of the workshop was introducing the Early Insights dashboard to community members, giving them direct access to their resilience data.

“The dashboard’s findings served as guideposts for discussion,” Madeline said. “They helped people reflect on what resonated with their experiences, and where further action might be needed.”

Expanding the dashboard to expand impact

“I’ve been promoting the dashboard at every opportunity. For the future, it would be great to have a user-friendly toolkit to help communities explore and understand their own data and indicators.”

Madeline said, “I’d also relish a version of the dashboard that includes Victoria. That way, we could use it for all the communities we work with, not just those in New South Wales.”

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The Early Insights for More Resilient Communities project is a collaboration across Southern NSW Innovation Hub, Charles Sturt University, Australian National University, University of Canberra, and University of Wollongong.