Measures of Australiaʼs Progress 2010

From Wikiprogress.org

(Redirected from MAP 2.0)

Jump to:navigation, search

MAP 2.0

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) first published Measures of Australia's Progress (MAP) in 2002 and MAP was most recently published in 2010.

In 2011, the ABS is carrying out a community consultation about whether MAP continues to be relevant and provides information on the issues Australians care about. The consultation process is being referred to as MAP 2.0.

The ABS is asking individuals and panels of community leaders and experts to provide guidance on the development of progress aspirations outcomes and measures.

Specifically, the ABS wants to find out the goals and aspirations Australians hold for national progress in four areas social, economic, governance and environmental, along with what outcomes and measures will indicate we are moving towards these aspirations.

The feedback collected will be used by the ABS in developing a statistical framework that will guide the process of measuring progress.

MAP 2.0 Blog

As part of the consultation, the ABS launched the MAP 2.0 Blog. It provides a way for the public to contribute to the consultation. The blog also contains posts by prominent Australians who talk about what progress means to them. This posts are designed to stimulate public interest and discussion.

'Progress Pie'

As part of the consultation, the ABS has been collecting the goals and aspirations that other initiatives have developed. These projects may not have statistical measures associated with them, but they aim to set out the important aspects of life and important goals. The 'Progress Pie' tool is designed to give people an idea of the different types of goals other projects are articulating. It also provides links to these other initiatives.

Consultation model

The consultation is being modelled on the feature article written for MAP2010 called Future Directions in Measuring Australia's Progress.

The article outlines a model which is intended as a starting point to assist discussion and guide a program of consultation. The ABS hopes that by getting people from all walks of life to have a conversation about progress will put it in a stronger position to measure what people care about.

To know whether Australia (or any society) is progressing, it is useful to understand where, or what future the society hopes to progress towards. For this reason, the model above shows three main areas of interest

Aspirations - broad goals that reflect what Australians care about
Outcomes - more specific goals that demonstrate progress these aspirations
Measures - how we check to see if Australia is moving towards these outcomes.

For example, a broad aspiration could be to maintain/improve biodiversity. A specific outcome could be to reduce the number of specifies that are thretened. And a measure could be to track the number of thretened species and see if progress is being made in this area.

In the model above, Australia is separated into different arenas of progress so the different issues and aspirations associated with each arena can be considered clearly. The four arenas are:

social
economic
governance
environment

Some aspirations might span several arenas. For example, the desire for equity, which might relate to the social, governance and economic arenas, or sustainability, which might relate to both economic and environmental arenas.

A final aspect of the model is the arrows. These indicate a range of relevant relationships such as support relationships, for example, governance factors such as legislation may support social aspirations. The arrows also indicate areas where "trade-offs" might occur, for example, some researchers claim that a focus on economic growth may be a barrier to environmental sustainability or increased leisure time for family and friends.

Key Consultation Questions

As part of the consultation process, the ABS is asking some questions to get people thinking and generate discussion around the topic of measuring Australia's progress. The answers to these questions will be used by the ABS to develop a final framework and approach.

What are the key dimensions of "Australia" that need to be considered in measuring Australia's progress?
How should progress be defined?
What are the key aspirations of Australians in the areas of social, economic, governance and environmental progress?
What concrete outcomes most effectively demonstrate progress towards these aspirations?
What trade-offs should be identified for consideration and/or measurement?
What measures or indicators best describe the extent of that progress and the effects of those trade-offs?