Building a model of collaboration to help communities age well

Collaborative networks involving state and community sector partnerships are increasingly central to all areas of Australian social policy. This includes the ageing field, where the major policy framework, the National Strategy for an Ageing Australia, emphasises that 'the responsibility for meeting the challenges of population ageing lies not only with the Commonwealth Government but with other levels of government, with business, with communities and with individuals' (2001: 2). However, far less is known about how to achieve effective collaboration across such diverse partnerships, and what ensures successful policy outcomes. In this presentation, we discuss the findings from the first stages of an ARC Linkage grant aimed at developing and implementing a model of local collaboration to enhance the community’s capacity to age well. We explore how models of successful collaboration are conceptualised in the literature; and how these models resonate with the experiences and perceptions of key stakeholders in healthy ageing in Queensland communities. The paper presents the institutional features and operational strategies identified for use in fostering, strengthening and sustaining a collaborative approach to ageing policy. These will then be used to build collaborative capacity to address the challenges of ageing and develop policy and practice initiatives that are valued by older people themselves