Urbis Think Tank
Urbis wins Australian Evaluation Society Award
The Award was announced at the international conference dinner, and described as “one of the most remarkable pieces of work I have ever seen” by David Roberts, Chair of the AES Awards Committee.
The evaluation of the Victorian Bushfire Case Management Service was undertaken in 2009-10, and was jointly nominated for the Award by Urbis and the client, the Victorian Department of Human Services.
In making the nomination the client said “the evaluation was conducted with a high level of professionalism by Urbis. The quality of the interaction between DHS, as the commissioner, and Urbis was high, as were the interactions between Urbis and bushfire affected people, professionals delivering the VBCMS and key stakeholders.”
This is a great example of Urbis’ public policy work, which is described as having made a “valuable contribution to the literature about ‘what works’ in supporting people after a high impact emergency. It provides a sound basis for other Australian and international jurisdictions to establish, implement and operate an effective and efficient case management service.”
The recommendations made by Urbis had significant influence on the development of the case management model for future emergencies in Victoria.
The team included Melbourne and Sydney based team members, expert advisors and specialist sub consultants: Claire Grealy, Duncan Rintoul, Jessie Connell, Rebecca Wilkinson, Karen Olver and Kristen Murray. Expert advisors Chris Healy and Dr Gail Winkworth.