The Sector Sustainability Project (SSP) got underway in July this year, following the ACT Governments response to the Counting the Costs: Sustainable Funding for the ACT Community Services Sector Report which was released in February 2023.
The SSP is a co-led partnership between the ACT Government and Capital Region Community Services to find practical ways to ensure funding adequately reflects the real cost of services, as well as the impact of increased demand.
Sector sustainability has been a reform focus since 2021 for both non-government organisations and ACT Government directorates responsible for human services policy, program, and funding.
In the first six months, the SSP is starting to turn the recommendations from the Counting the Costs: Sustainable Funding for the ACT Community Services Sector Report into practical actions to strengthen the sustainability of human services in the ACT.
Capital Region Community Services co-lead Susan Helyar, along with ACT Government co-lead Fiona May both agreed that working with the community peak bodies, large and small non-government service providers, and ACT officials from across government has been valuable to find tangible opportunities for sector sustainability.
Ideas, insights, and materials have been shared across informal dialogue sessions and workshops that are helping to identify and inform a suite of tools to be developed that can support fully costing services.
Together, non-government organisations and Government leaders are tackling long standing sustainability challenges including improving the efficiencies of funding arrangements between ACT Government and the sector.
As a project, the co-leads have also established an evaluation approach and are demonstrating what can happen when government and the sector partner to deliver in a new way.
Find out more about Sector Sustainability
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Page updated: 02 May 2025
