What We Do
Our Work
OUR GOALS
This is just the beginning.
We are in the early stages of developing this new way of working so that we can drive meaningful change in the next 10 years.
The Investment Dialogue’s focus on children recognises the importance of collaborating on prevention and early intervention, as we know that investments to support children have the best chance of making long-term intergenerational change.
Further details on our vision, commitments and focus areas can be found in our Working Together Agreement below.
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Working Together Agreement
A commitment between Government and philanthropic partners to a long-term collaboration to improve the wellbeing of children, young people, and their families, by working with communities to reduce intergenerational disadvantage in Australia.
PDF 225KB
LOCATION
Our partners are based around the country.
One of the fundamental commitments of the Investment Dialogue is to be community-led. The Investment Dialogue includes government and philanthropic partners who invest in community organisations across Australia.
The Investment Dialogue will work together in a shared learning culture to enable communities build solutions that respond to local need.
OUR JOURNEY
Advancing Shared Goals on Kaurna Country
On 15 November 2024, leaders from philanthropy, government, and community convened on Kaurna Country in Adelaide for the second roundtable of the Investment Dialogue for Australia’s Children. Hosted at the Living Kaurna Cultural Centre, this gathering provided a unique opportunity to listen deeply to community voices and identify actionable pathways to improve the wellbeing of children, young people, and families while addressing intergenerational disadvantage in Australia.
Key Outcomes of the Roundtable
During the roundtable, participants reflected on IDAC’s progress over the past year, including the implementation of the Working Together Agreement and the establishment of the Community and First Nations Leadership Councils, as well as the Place and Data Working Groups. A major highlight of the event was the endorsement of the Investment Dialogue for Australia’s Children Strategic Framework, which will guide the initiative’s efforts through three strategic portfolios: place, early years, and young people.
To advance these goals, participants formed 10 key agreements that will shape future collaboration:
- Strengthening partnerships through the Strategic Framework and aligning efforts with government priorities.
- Broadening engagement by inviting state and territory governments and additional philanthropic partners to join the Dialogue.
- Establishing the IDAC Social Impact Investment and Advisory Working Group to support projects under the Government’s $100 million Outcomes Fund.
- Supporting community-led change in up to 50 communities by 2030, with a focus on place-based initiatives and systems reform.
- Increasing philanthropic funding for place-based change and aligning investments with government programs for greater impact.
- Designing mechanisms to coordinate community engagement and investment, ensuring local decision-making and streamlined support for communities.
- Partnering with communities to co-design innovation zones, enabling systemic reforms to address barriers to intergenerational change.
- Developing resources to improve access to community-level data, informing place-based approaches with relevant evidence.
- Establishing an Early Years Working Group to support innovative early learning models and integrated services, particularly in underserved areas.
- Beginning discussions to shape a dedicated portfolio for supporting young people, with further development planned for the next roundtable in 2025.
Our Focus Area
How we are turning dialogue into action
We recognise a collaborative and long-term approach is needed to ensure all children and young people across Australia can fulfil their potential. We believe this requires a different way of working and strong, enduring partnerships between key stakeholders, including between communities, philanthropy, and government.
The Strategic Framework will guide dialogue and collaboration between community, government and philanthropic partners
Place
We will partner with communities to work differently and create the conditions for change in place…
- Support community and First Nations-led place-based initiatives across the readiness scale from seeding to amplifying change
- Put data into the hands of communities to promote local planning and solutions, and support First Nations data sovereignty
- Develop the enablers for place, including supporting local leadership, shared decision making and coordinated investment
- Foster the ecosystem and networks needed to drive cohesive, enduring and impactful approaches to working in place
Early Years
…while working to ensure children experiencing disadvantage thrive in their early years…
- Empower parents and caregivers to better access the resources and education to support children
- Support early childhood initiatives which centre First Nations ways of knowing, being and doing and pride in culture
- Develop inclusive child and family centered early years systems with interconnected ECD and holistic ECEC models
- Catalyse development of a high-quality workforce in child facing services
- Shift public mindsets to recognise the importance of the early years
Young People
… and sustaining gains, minimising harm and drawing on the strengths of young people to achieve positive intergenerational change
- Support children in their middle years to thrive, including supporting First Nations approaches and innovation in the education system
- Support young people to navigate life transitions including to secondary school and into adulthood
- Experiment with new ways of holding systems accountable and creating fit for purpose systems for young people experiencing harm, including through elevating the voices of young people
- Experiment with rebalancing investment into prevention to decrease demand on tertiary services
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Strategic Framework November 2024
Collaboration through the Investment Dialogue for Australia’s Children seeks to draw on the unique strengths of community, government and philanthropy.
PDF 365KB
Communities leading the way
Examples
Many local communities are already leading the way with innovative and effective approaches and programs, prioritising better co-ordination and co-operation among service providers, based on the unique needs of those communities, to achieve greater success for children and families.
While the Investment Dialogue is still in its early stages of development, there are already strong community examples of how this collective way of working delivers powerful results for children and families.
Here are a few examples of great work already happening, shining the way for us.
