Powering Up Communities to Deliver Local Wellbeing
Powerdigm, the consulting arm of Inspiring Communities, worked with Western Bay of Plenty District Council (WBOPDC) and its strategic community sector partner SociaLink to shape this project.
Taking a case study approach has enabled us to shine a light on six different locally-led initiatives doing amazing things to enable wellbeing in their part of Aotearoa. Their insights were brought together with our own to provide new framing and advice for how councils (and others!) can more effectively support and partner with key local ‘anchor’ organisations in their communities.
We hope that the learning and provocations in our Think Piece stimulate further thinking about collaborative community-led approaches and further experimentation of different ways to support and work with local communities, both in the Western Bay, and throughout Aotearoa.
Impact Stories – Understanding the impact and ingredients of success
This report offers an analysis of the successes and impacts of two temporary community hubs
developed and hosted by Kāinga Ora in Tāmaki Makaurau between 2020 and 2023. Ōwairaka
Community Hub on Richardson Road ran from April 2021 to 31 September 2022 and the Pop Up
Hub on Vincent Street ran from April 2022 and to 31 May 2023 with groups able to use the space
for some weeks after that.
Centring equity and place-based approaches in systemic transformation
This paper was co-produced by an international community of practice Inspiring Communities is part of. Our four organisations each support place-based transformation in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. We come together regularly to share our work, find common ground in many challenges as well as discovering many new ideas and sources of inspiration.
We are:
Collaboration for Impact, Australia
Tamarack Institute, Canada
Inspiring Communities, New Zealand
Place Matters, UK
Make the Move – shifting how the public sector works with communities
Our report calls on public servants to change their ways if they want to see real results.
Responses to recent flooding caused by extreme weather events and Cyclone Gabrielle have again demonstrated how, in times of crisis, it is communities who are well placed to respond to people in need when resourced to do so. However, three years on from the start of COVID-19, while the Government may be ready to adopt ideas about community-led development, change is slow and the public policy system is not well set up to enable localised approaches.
We decided to write Make the Move to map the critical path required for radical change in the way our public policy system works. It is a practical resource for leaders in central and local government agencies, to help them make the shifts required to create the conditions for locally-led change. It is our response to communities and changemakers who share with us their ideas about what can really make a difference.
Community, hapū and iwi leaders tell us they are pleased that the government is wanting to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi and embrace the important role communities play in helping tackle complex problems. But these same leaders are also overwhelmed by the demands from government to engage and consult on issues of concern without creating the conditions for that to take place in a way that works for communities.
For example, we heard this from one iwi leader:
Demand on us as an iwi right now is absolutely at onslaught levels. Here are just some of the matters we are being asked to work on right now: education sector transformation, health transformation, resource management act transformation, urban planning approach transformation, environmental policies in huge volumes, Three Waters Reforms, climate change reforms, refugee settlement, Oranga Tamariki transformation back to Iwi, social and affordable housing issues, poverty responses needed right now, continued COVID and welfare response, roading, a 50-year development plan, Marine and Coastal Area regulation changes, Charities Act changes, Government offices being bought to our town. All of these require iwi engagement and consultation and that is just what’s on top this week!
If we say no to being involved then our interests and rights are not considered and we are absent. If we are absent, any implications for our rights and interests… our environment, our whenua, our assets, our people… are also absent, and we will miss our chance to be considered. I am really very concerned (and aggrieved actually) that we may be prevented from being able to lead and/or participate the way we should and the way we deserve to be able to do.
This kind of pressure on our community leaders is not OK. This story shows how the public policy system is not well set up to enable localised approaches. We are not arguing that communities should lead policy processes rather that people create positive outcomes in a place and need to be included in decision making. A community-led approach is practical. It allows for ‘learning while doing’ and requires flexibility to change tac when needed. This approach is hard to apply in a public policy system that has rigid rules and low tolerances for risk.
Our current system was designed in a different era, with different assumptions, expectations and rules. It can no longer operate effectively in our changing context. This presents people working in government with an opportunity, to evolve the way they approach their roles and responsibilities now, in order to shape a more ethical and sustainable future.
The resulting 29 recommendations grouped under four insights are from change-makers who work at the intersection of public policy and community development.
Be the Change – Funding and Equity
Be the Change is a resource distilled from the kōrero that we have heard from across the community and funding sectors over the last two years and more. It centres the stories and experiences of the Dunedin community and offers the ‘how to’ of funding for change and equity.
DUNEDIN COMMUNITY BUILDERS
The Review into the Future for Local Government – Final Report
The final report, He piki tūranga, he piki kōtuku, proposes 17 recommendations to enable local government to better serve communities across Aotearoa New Zealand. We encourage all New Zealanders to embrace the suite of recommendations it outlines and challenge our leaders to implement the necessary changes to support our communities.
The Productivity Commission – A Fair Chance For All
Breaking the cycle of persistent disadvantage
The Productivity Commission was tasked with studying persistent disadvantage, its impact on individuals and society, and its connection to economic performance. The goal was to gain new insights into the dynamics and drivers of persistent disadvantage across different population groups, and to develop recommendations for breaking this cycle.
697,000 New Zealanders that face persistent disadvantage were analysed, resulting in the following report. The 20 findings and 20 recommendations serve to guide our long-term decisions and actions to a future without persistent disadvantage.
Feedback on the Future for Local Government
Late last year, the Local Government Review panel released their draft report, He mata whāriki, he matawhanui, which outlines the need for a local governance system in Aotearoa that is community-focussed and citizen-centred, based on strong relationships and partnerships with iwi Māori. The report encourages further discussion on a range of topics and invites submissions to shape the final report and recommendations back to Government.
We know that effective, engaged and enabling local Councils play a key role in effective community-led change. Inspiring Communities’ Megan Courtney, has prepared this DRAFT Inspiring Communities Feedback on the Local Government Review Panel Draft Report Feb 2023. We welcome you to read, share ideas and encourage you to also submit through this process. Submissions on the Draft Report close on 28 February 2023.
Our June Locally-led Matters webinar had a special focus on ideas for growing collaborative local leadership, watch here.
He Manawa Māori – A Māori Heart
In February 2022, Victor Walker (Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti) was contracted by IC to help the organisation with its Treaty honouring journey mahi.
The intention was to have conversations with Māori who have established relationships with IC and CLD to learn about their experience and what value, if any, Inspiring Communities has been, explore how they see Community-led Development aligning, intersecting, or supporting Hapū, Iwi, Māori development and to gather ideas and insights on the most useful roles, steps and mahi for others are in this space. This report is the result of those conversations, including key observations and recommendations for next steps.
19 interviews were conducted with Māori in CLD leadership positions. The conversations allowed Kaikōrero an opportunity to review the progress of their personal, Whānau, Hapū, Iwi and Māori community development over three – four decades to the present.
All speakers spoke candidly about the issues and challenges that had been, and in some cases still are, obstacles for them, to set goals for the coming decades and to consider a vision for future generations. Kaikōrero were also very open and expressive about the neat, innovative, and powerful and influencing mahi that they were involved in. They were quite free and frank about what needed to happen if they were to experience the ‘tino rangatiratanga’ and ‘mana motuhake’ they saw as essential to their success at a multiplicity of levels.
Inspiring Communities thanks Victor, and all the contributing Kaikōrero for their mahi and insights.
National Action Plan for Community Governance
The community sector (NFPs, charities, NGOs and community groups) provides so much for our country.
This Action Plan aims to contribute solutions to the pressures and opportunities that present themselves from a governance point of view across the community sector, and thereby strengthen the sector to continue to deliver vital services, now more than ever.