1. Home
  2. Our Work
  1. Home
  2. Our Work

Creating healthy local communities is more important than ever, and children and young people are eager to work with their council toward positive change.

Councils have a critical role in developing and activating local change to ensure all children and young people have the opportunity to grow up active, socially connected and healthy.

Through the VicHealth Local Government Partnership, we are supporting Victorian councils to create meaningful change within their communities.

This page is for council staff who want to get involved.
 

What you’ll find on this page:

How can my council get involved? 

With expert partners, VicHealth has created health promotion modules for local government which highlight opportunities for impact when councils and young people work together.  

All Victorian councils can access our local government health promotion modules.

Councils can:

  1. Apply to become a fast-track council for enhanced implementation support from VicHealth through our annual intake (details below)
  2. Explore the modules at your own place (subscribe for access via email)

 

1. Apply to be a fast track council

Expressions of interest now open!

Councils who join the VicHealth Local Government Partnership as a fast-track council gain access to the module implementation support package, including:

  • Dedicated funding opportunities 
  • Access to the Community of Practice 
  • Capability and capacity building

    Expressions of Interest for the 2022 intake of the VicHealth Local Government Partnership fast-track are currently open.

    When do they close? Monday 14 November 2022.

    Where do I get more information?

    Head to our 2022 fast track intake page for:

    • A recording of the 2022 intake information session where we answered council questions about the intake
    • Detailed guidelines on how to express interest

     

    2. Stay updated for future VLGP opportunities

    Join our VLGP email subscriber list and when there are new opportunities, we'll be in touch.

    Subscribe here

    Who are the fast-track councils?

    Learn more about background of the VicHealth Local Government Partnership (VLGP) and our current fast-track councils on this separate webpage.

    What are the health promotion modules? 

    The health promotion modules are toolkits – they provide practical guidance, how-to-guides for taking action and links to additional resources, templates, and case studies. This is all to inform the planning and implementation of health policy and practice change for your council.

    The modules are designed to provide options for you to choose the recommended activities that best suit your council, community size and starting point – ensuring that you can make an impact within your community.  

    The modules consolidate the practice knowledge, experiences and research developed over VicHealth’s many years working in close collaboration with local governments and other expert partners.  

    These modules encourage councils to prioritise the health, wellbeing and safety of children and young people and to prioritise healthy changes through the spaces, services and strategies within councils’ remit.  

     

    The different modules 

    There are 3 types of health promotion modules:    
    Hand holding cubeFoundation
    module    		 Three cubesCore
    modules         		Space rocketStretch
    modules
         
    • Leading the way – engaging young voices for change
    • Building active communities
    • Creating connected and supportive communities
    • Building better food systems for healthier communities
    • Strengthening tobacco control at a local level
    • Increasing alcohol harm prevention at a local level
    • Promoting everyday creativity at a local level
    • Foundation modules
      focus on supporting engagement of children and young people's voices in council planning and enabling their continued involvement in the implementation of policy and practice changes.
    • Core modules
       provide the best practice policy and implementation guidance for councils in 3 priority areas to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people.
    • Stretch modules
      are suited to councils ready to expand into broader health and wellbeing topics and create holistic and engaging community environments.

    Hand holding cubeFirst 2000 Days Supplement

    Provide the best practice policy and implementation guidance for councils in 3 priority areas to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people.

    Impact streams  

    These modules include impact streams that address priorities in Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plans 2021-25 and enable Victorian local governments to amplify the voices of children and young people through the creation of healthy communities.  

    Impact streams represent the areas where councils are ideally placed to make changes that will have a sustained impact on the health of their local community.  

    These modules have been designed to include options that suit councils and communities of varying sizes and capacities – from councils activating a particular impact stream for the first time through to councils ready to take up ambitious systems-level change. 

    Foundation module View more

    The Foundation module provides the basic building blocks to help develop staff capabilities and skills in children and young people led engagement and planning. 

     

    Leading the Way – Engaging Young Voices for Change 

    This module enables councils to build capacity and capability in engaging with and empowering children and young people to share their experiences to create a healthier future. The module provides practical ways to engage and co-design with children and young people in council activities. 

     

    Impact Stream: 

    Better solutions shaped by children and young people 

     

    Core modules View more

    The Core modules provide implementation guidance for councils in 3 priority areas, to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people. 

    These modules focus on creating better access to healthy food and drink options, increasing active opportunities and building more connected and supportive communities. 

    Building Active Communities  

    This module incorporates a range of activities, processes, and changes that councils can make to increase children and young people’s physical activity in the community. This includes activities on designing neighbourhoods that promote physical activity and running programs that increase participation by children and young people who face greater barriers. 

    Impact Streams: 

    • Increasing active travel opportunities to and from school (previously known as Walk to School)
    • Including walking and bike riding in council strategies  
    • Creating opportunities for all Victorians to be active  
    • Including gender equity in council sport and recreation policy 
    • Empowering and enabling women to get active through local promotion of This Girl Can – Victoria 

     

    Creating Connected and Supportive Communities 

    This module enables councils to deliver benefits to and reduce barriers for several groups and communities who usually face barriers to participation as well as designing programs and policies that promote mental wellbeing. 

    Impact Streams: 

    • Co-designing with young people for better community wellbeing 
    • Building proud and inclusive communities 
    • Addressing social determinants of mental wellbeing 

     

    Building Better Food Systems for Healthier Communities 

    This module will strengthen the capacity of councils to create local and healthy food systems and give children and young people opportunities to actively engage in the issues and solutions. 

    Impact Streams: 

    • Creating thriving local food systems 
    • Embedding healthy food and drink options in council owned and operated places 
    • Using healthy rewards and sponsorships in community activities 
    • Enabling healthy partnerships 
    Stretch modules View more

    The Stretch modules are best suited for councils ready to expand into broader health and wellbeing topics and create holistic and engaging community environments.   

    These modules focus on creating stronger preventative measures and reducing harm in relation to alcohol and tobacco products, while also focusing on promoting creativity and the arts at a local level. 

     

    Strengthening Tobacco Control at a Local Level 

    This module will strengthen the capacity of local councils to increase smokefree environments in their communities and see improvements across a broad range of health outcomes.  

    Impact Stream: 

    Adopting tobacco control actions to protect children and young people 

     

    Increasing Alcohol Harm Prevention at a Local Level

    This module will strengthen the capacity of local councils to prevent and minimise alcohol-related harm, creating safer and healthier communities in their municipalities. This module is to be used in conjunction with ‘The Art of Community Alcohol Management: What local government can do to prevent and minimise alcohol-related harm’.

    Impact Stream:

    Adopting alcohol harm prevention actions to protect children and young people

     

    Promoting Everyday Creativity at a Local Level

    This module will support councils to increase opportunities to engage children and young people in creative activities that also promote their health and wellbeing.

    Impact Streams:

    • Increasing equity in creative strategies
    • Embracing opportunities for children to inform creative programs
    • Improving opportunities for young people to lead creative programs 
    First 2000 days View more

    Supporting a healthy first 2,000 days for all Victorian children 


    The VicHealth local government health promotion modules are having a First 2,000 Days update! Councils can create healthy communities for children in their first years of life with a suite of ‘first 2,000 days’ focused implementation actions and guidance. The new and updated actions will provide ideas, recommended resources and information to amplify the needs and priorities of young children and their families through council policy, facilities and services. 
     
    As part of this update, we have included ‘families’ as a third group in some of the impact stream and minimum deliverables. This is in recognition of the need to include parents and other caregivers as part of these actions.   
     
    The 35 new and 3 updated actions across the core and stretch modules will be available in December 2022.