The Role of Storytelling in Place-Based Initiatives

‘The term ‘place-based’… is currently used to describe a range of approaches, from grant-making in a specific geographic area to long-term, multifaceted collaborative partnerships aimed at achieving significant change. In most cases, it is more than just a term to describe the target location of funding; it also describes a style and philosophy of approach which seeks to achieve ‘joined-up’ systems change.’

Lankelly Chase. (2017). Historical review of place-based approaches.

Place-based work has a long history in Australia.2 While there are many definitions of ‘place-based’ – such as that quoted above – at their core, place-based approaches are an attempt to move away from centralised methods to driving social improvement, towards collaborative, long-term approaches which span organisational boundaries and sectors.

Recognising that complex or “wicked” social problems cannot be solved through service-based programs, place-based approaches tend to be systemic. They seek to ‘bring about lasting change by altering underlying structures and supporting mechanisms which make the system operate in a particular way.’3 Place-based approaches also focus on empowering local leadership to convene a community-led agenda, which is reflective of the local context.

The systemic nature of place-based approaches means that traditional quantitative metrics for measuring success aren’t particularly useful

Because of these unique characteristics of place-based work, understanding and measuring change within and across these initiatives has been notoriously difficult. The systemic nature of place-based approaches means that traditional quantitative metrics for measuring success aren’t particularly useful.

In the report, ‘Commonwealth Place-Based Service Delivery Initiatives: Key Learnings project’, Wilks, Lahausse and Edwards explain, ‘the pursuit of the principles of ‘local autonomy’ and ‘flexibility’ makes it very difficult