Health Promotion,

BAEW - Achievements

Working together A strong partnership was developed amongst the agencies working together. New partners came on board and existing alliances were strengthened. The partnership shared goals, had a good mix of skills and experience, and a willingness to share resources. The project engaged well with primary schools but less successfully with early childhood services. This was likely due to the work loads of both staff supporting the project, and workloads of early childhood service staff. The project also involved the community in planning and decision making about how programs were run. This resulted in well attended programs and high satisfaction ratings from participants.
	A ready and skilled workforce By working together and sharing knowledge, ideas and skills; the project was able to strengthen the ability of agencies and workers to contribute to improving community health. Workers involved in the project also took part in a range of training and professional development activities that supported the work of Being Active Eating Well. The benefits of this will continue into the future, not only for promoting physical activity and healthy eating, but also for work around other health and wellbeing issues. Many workers involved in the project also joined the Kids – 'Go for your life’ professionals' network which meant they were able to attend forums and access great information and resources to help them do their job. A local forum was also held to promote and upskill workers and staff from primary schools and early childhood services about the Kids – 'Go for your life’ Awards program.
Getting Being Active Eating Well messages heard The healthy messages linked to the project were well received by the community. There was a relatively good awareness of the project and messages among the community at the conclusion of the funded project. Awareness, familiarity and support for the messages in the community were higher among parents whose children attended a school or service involved in the project, showing that the project made an important contribution. Linking with trusted state wide programs such as 'Go for your life' and 'Kids – Go for yourlife' worked well. The survey of parents showed greater familiarity with messages from the state wide campaign.
	Knowledge and skills for a healthy community Community-based programs such as Community Kitchens, Healthy Living in Australia, Playtime Buddies, Bizzy Bodies and Being Active Eating Well themed events were well attended and helped participants learn more about healthy lifestyles. Practical demonstrations and activities allowed people to put into practice new knowledge and skills. Some people involved in programs reported modest improvements in food choices and activity levels at home. They also reported sharing what they had learnt with family and friends. Things that helped pass on knowledge and skills included: Learning by getting involved in hands-on activities, especially for culturally and linguistically diverse communities Building Being Active Eating Well activities into existing programs such as the Dunkley after-school Club and Playtime Buddies playgroup
Creating healthy places for kids The Being Active Eating Well project fitted well with the goals of primary schools and early childhood services. Staff at participating schools and services put in a great deal of time and effort to support the project. Although no schools or services achieved 'Kids – Go for your life' award status during the project, many were making progress towards the award. The Being Active Eating Well Grants program for primary schools resulted in: Better access to opportunities for being active for students including installation of new footy goal posts and cricket nets, a roller door on a sports equipment shed, purchase of sports equipment for classrooms, a new athletics track, a new walking path and a dance program. Installation of new water bubblers. Formalising nutrition and physical activity policies to support long term changes.
	Strengthening community networks The Being Active Eating Well project’s main focus was physical activity and healthy eating, but programs were delivered in a way that also built strong communities by providing opportunities for making friends, fostering a better understanding of other cultures and linking people with other local services and programs.

BAEW - Initiatives
Partner agencies shared responsibility for implementing the action plan. A summary of each of the key initiatives follows. For more information and publications and or resources relating to key initiatives please click on the links below:

Healthy Living in Australia Program worked with culturally diverse communities in Clayton South and Clarinda. The program aimed to promote active lifestyles and healthier eating patterns for children and families by improving knowledge, skills and confidence. The program consisted of community engagement activities, workshops and forum and a peer education program.

Playtime Buddies used an existing supported playgroup to promote being active and eating well among families with preschool aged children. Sessions gave families the opportunity to take part in fun active play, healthy snacks, positive role modelling, and cooking demonstrations.

Bizzy Bodies was introduced to an existing after-school club and successfully created a focus on being active, having fun and enjoying healthy foods for primary school aged children (6-12 years) who live on the Dunkley Fox housing estate in Highett.

Community Kitchens are groups of people that come together to socialise and enjoy good food. The program develops confidence and skills in planning and preparing healthy and tasty meals on a budget.

Working with Primary Schools and Early Childhood Services
- Tai Chi for Kidz is a non-competitive and fun program to improve concentration, coordination, strength and balance. The program was trialled at Sandringham Primary School in 2009 and expanded to Clarinda Primary School in 2010.
- Ben and Molly Puppet Show is an innovative healthy eating puppet show for children aged 3-6 years. As a result of the demonstrated success of the program, project funds were allocated to produce an additional puppet show kit and training package. This allowed the expansion of the availability of the program to a second municipal area as well as skilling up early childhood staff to deliver the program, freeing dietitians to work on other healthy eating initiatives.
- Kids – 'Go for your life' Awards Program is a state wide initiative available to all Victorian primary schools and early childhood services and aims to make healthy eating and active play a positive, normal and easy part of every child's day. The award program recognises schools and services that provide a healthy and supportive environment. Being Active Eating Well supported the local delivery of the awards program.
- Being Active Eating Well Grants - participating primary schools were invited to apply for two rounds of small grants (up to $5,500) to create supportive environments for healthy eating and active play.
- Active Play Kits – an active play kit loan scheme was established to support families to increase active play for preschool aged children.
Active Play Program – Training was provided for Early Childhood Services staff around the importance of active play

Healthy Message Campaign
A healthy message campaign was run to raise awareness of important project messages. The project adopted key healthy messages from the Kids – 'Go for your life' program and developed some new messages. Activities included social marketing training for workers, development of project newsletters; production of sets of healthy message display banners; library story time kits and using resources such as posters, fact sheets, displays and booklets as well as developing a healthy eating resource for families with children 1-4 years of age. Healthy messages were embedded into all programs. For more information about the Being Active Eating Well initiatives please refer to the final project report available under Publications and Resources.
BAEW - Publications
The Being Active Eating Well Project produced a number of publications. We have made many of them available for download here. Further reports and social marketing materials are available by contacting our office This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 8587 0103.
Funded initiatives Final Reports
Being Active Eating Well
The Health Promoting Communities: Being Active Eating Well project was a Go for your life initiative aimed at increasing physical activity and healthy eating. The Kingston Bayside Primary Care Partnership was funded by the Victorian Department of Health and Department of Planning and Community Development from July 2007 until June 2010 to implement the project. The project was one of six funded community demonstration projects across Victoria.

The project involved working with residents, schools, early childhood services, local agencies, community groups and businesses to support physical activity and healthy food choices with a focus on children aged 0-12 years.

The project was delivered in the communities of Clayton South in the City of Kingston and Hampton East, Highett and Sandringham in the City of Bayside (with a focus on public housing communities). These two local government areas are located in the Southern Metropolitan Region of Melbourne.

A range of programs and activities were delivered within the communities to support healthy choices around being active and eating well.

They included:
- Provision of several community based programs to share knowledge and build skills within the community
- A healthy message campaign to increase awareness of Being Active Eating Well messages
- Provision of training and resources for health professionals and staff from primary schools and early childhood services
- Support for primary schools and early childhood services to create healthy places for children
- Making positive role modelling a part of all programs
Snapshots of the major initiatives provide more detailed information about the different programs that made up the Being Active Eating Well project. The achievements of the program ranged from strengthened partnerships and a more skilled workforce through to improved eating and physical activity behaviours in the community. A number of reports and resources are available on our website or by contacting our office.
Capacity building
Through effective leadership and partnership, our Health Promotion Committee aims to improve the health and wellbeing of the communities within our catchment and advocate for integrated health promotion within our partner agencies.

Our current work will focus on:
- Developing an orientation kit and recruitment process includes a communication strategy to improve connections with the broader community and stakeholders
- Provide opportunities for the workforce of member agencies to increase their skill in the delivery of best practice integrated health promotion

In March 2010 a needs assessment was conducted by the Inner South East Partnership In Community Health (ISEPiCH). Results indicated a large proportion of organisations were requesting a ‘toolkit of solutions for food security issues’ to enable them to deal with food insecure individuals. A Food Security and Nutrition Working Group was formed and the 'Food Security Toolkit' project was launched to assist these agencies. The project aimed to increase workforce capacity of local organisations in addressing food insecurity through the development of resources to be included in a Food Security Toolkit.

The toolkit was pre-tested with a variety of key stakeholders within the Inner South East region who were in contact with food insecure individuals. The different demographics of each local government area (Glen Eira, Port Phillip and Stonnington), resulted in conflicting views regarding each of the resources contained in the toolkit. Building workforce capacity, through the provision of resources, is a sustainable method of decreasing the prevalence of food insecurity amongst vulnerable individuals.

The Food Security Toolkit is designed to assist in:

Identifying clients who are at risk of or experiencing food insecurity
Recognising the contributing factors to food insecurity
Directing an individual to appropriate services which will help to address the contributing factors

Before downloading and using the resources below, you may find it useful to read the background pamplet Your food security toolkit explained which outlines the various resources and how they can be used.

What is food security? Identification tool	Food Security Risk Assessment Tool	Barriers to food security Poster

Improving food access Referral pathway booklet	Improving food access Referral pathway poster

Money Matters Pamphlet	Movin' and Consumin' Pamphlet	Learn Cook Grow Pamphlet

Health Hurdles Pamplet	Community Connections Pamphlet	Ehtnic Eats Pamphlet

Butt out the Binge Pamphlet

Our work

Our work is guided by the program logic of the Department of Health and Human Services. To best meet the needs of our community, we work together with our partners in a regular catchment planning process to identify strategic priorities.

Most of our work is carried out under the 3 main program areas of, Prevention, Service Coordination & Integrated Care and Community.
Social inclusion
A sense of belonging is crucial to good mental health. All our initiatives aim to be as inclusive as possible of all members of the community.

We are currently working together with a range of partners to improve health literacy knowledge and practice within the SMPCP catchment.

Past initiatives have included:
- Westall Bookswap and Storytime project.
- Flouro Friday mental health awareness
Questions? Like to get involved?

We would love to hear your feedback, ideas and questions please contact Health Promotion Partnership Lead Tracey Collins on 8587 0338 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.