September

CEO’s Message
Issue 3/ 2012
Wintalyka
Stop Press!
Hi all,
Les MacDonald
How do we let both our supporters, the community at large, and the politicians and bureaucrats,
know how important are the services that we provide in building and sustaining our communities?
That is the question that we, at the association, have been trying to come to grips with, as we
realized that, unless we could do that more effectively we ran the risk of being marginalized by the
economic rationalists who seem to have taken over public policy in this country for the last forty
years. They take the view that unless you can exchange the goods or services that you provide in
a commercial transaction for money, you are simply not performing a role of sufficient importance
to be taken seriously. That is a conceit peculiar to our age and is driven largely by the Benthamite
belief that only in such transactions can human needs be met. We, of course, know differently, but
as the national debate has been dominated by such absurdities for such a long time it is difficult to
have our voice heard.
That is why we are currently, in NSW and Queensland, pursuing a major narrative research
project that is designed, for the first time, to assess the impact of the important things that we do,
rather than hewing to the rationalists line of just measuring inputs and outputs. What we want to
understand is what are the outcomes for the clients, the volunteers, the families and the community
of the services that our 35,000 volunteers and hundreds of staff around NSW are providing.
By outcomes I mean how have we changed the lives of these people and has our service
provision really met their needs for a more inclusive and more fulfilling life. This research is vital
in developing a knowledge base that will enable us to argue effectively with the hardest headed
bureaucrat and the most evasive of politicians.
We all know, through reams and reams of anecdotes, that we have this kind of influence on
people’s lives, but we have no basis on which to argue convincingly unless we can produce
research evidence that unequivocally confirms that. We have shown the initial results of this
research at our recent state conference and have discussed it with both State and Federal
Governments. They have expressed great interest as they know also that the pressure is on them
to gain some greater understanding of how effective they and we, are in meeting community
needs. Meals on Wheels are again leading in the development of such important community
conversations. I will keep you up to date on progress.
Les
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nswmealsonwheels.org.au