Re-weaving community: Across the generations, everyone contributing to a good life

The heart of Wesley Rātā Village is its incredible community – the residents, Village Guiding Group, Te Āti Awa, Hutt City Council, and the many supportive locals and businesses. More than just a place; it’s a living, breathing intergenerational community, where connections are nurtured and well-being is most important. Watch this inspiring video celebrating community innovation, of doing things together in a new way! 

A view from a different place

When I am grieving for the world – so ably described by Mike Joy as our gross overconsumption of natural resources and the lack of responsibility taken by those with the greatest wealth for their disproportionately large share of ecological overshoot impacts – let alone the human impacts of colonisation and inequity – my time in the maara gives me a deep sense of active hope.

Joanna Macy explains how active hope is a practice, something we do, not just an attitude of hopefulness. Active hope is a practice where we tune into what we most deeply value, honour our grief for the world, surface our hopes for a better future and commit to meaningful actions at personal, community and wider systems level in the present. She puts words to why I can never ‘retire’ from CLD because such active citizenship is life-giving and joyful.

I’m part of a group that shares kai, conversation and mending skills. It’s not just about the clothing that gets mended and saved from the landfill, but also the intergenerational conversations that spark support for each other in our submissions to Council and other climate/social justice actions – and the fun we have together. As Niki Harre has taught us, positive emotions are an essential motivating energy in our work for sustainability. We are not as developed as Stitch Kitchen or Upsewing Taranaki but there is something simple, special and sustainable about the energy of our small group.

Here in New Plymouth at the moment, there is a groundswell of fear and angry local resistance to new safe cycleways and other active transport initiatives. I admire Valarie Kaur’s work, who reminds me of the fearlessness of our ancestors, and challenges me to keep exercising my will to wonder, to see no stranger, even when someone is raging against initiatives I feel are urgently needed. I think we need more community bumping places that facilitate learning, listening, dialogue or just being together to help us get beyond ‘them and us’ and encourage a commitment to search together for real possibilities for a more just, sustainable future.

I have many fears too, about climate change, growing inequity, racism, violence and more. Yet I get sustained by the shifts I have seen over the last 50 years in Treaty settlements, iwi/hapū/whānau development, social inclusion, CLD practice. I get excited by current stories like:

• Dunedin’s Super Bowls providing affordable healthy food and a great community bumping place  
• Dwell, working steadily over more than 40 years building a community housing portfolio of affordable quality homes in Wellington, where people are supported to thrive 

• A recent local co-governance wananga here in Taranaki, providing a place for learning about Te Tiriti o Waitangi and better understanding the ‘super awesome origins of co-governance’   
• The history-making Taranaki Maunga settlement this month 

These initiatives continue to show us how community-led action can feed hope and hope can feed action. In the process we discover more joy than fear, and at its best, a shifting consciousness towards new ways of doing, thinking and being that are more life-giving for everyone. It is a long journey as tangata whenua know all too well in work for Te Tiriti justice.  

I want my mokopuna to have lived experience of the joys of living simply, of being part of community-led action adventures, of finding our inner strengths and from working with a diversity of other good humans. I am deeply grateful for what I learn about those values and practices from previous generations of my whānau and the many awesome CLD practitioners and others I am privileged to meet and work with, albiet now, from a different place.  

Margy-Jean Malcolm 

Connecting Hearts: The Revitalisation of Coppard Reserve in Leithfield Village

Uniting for a Shared Vision

The journey towards the revitalisation of Coppard Reserve began when the Leithfield Community Centre, initially established to oversee the community hall, evolved into a platform for residents to share ideas and aspirations. Jo Hassall, a driving force behind the community centre, recognised the importance of encouraging locals’ involvement and keeping them well-informed. With each meeting and mailbox run, more residents joined the conversation, and the email list grew to around 70 people.

Early discussions about the park revolved around creating history boards to showcase the heritage of the reserve. The original spark for this idea was from a local primary school pupil, and locals curated the story and graphics for the history boards. Though it took three years to bring the idea to fruition, these efforts sparked a renewed sense of community connection and engagement in the reserve.

From Small Wins to Big Dreams

During these early endeavours, Jo began to envision a more extensive revitalisation of the reserve. Seeking input from the community through mail drops, she received valuable suggestions, including a request for a basketball court and cross trainers that both teenagers and older adults could use. The project required amending the reserve’s management plan, a potentially daunting process, but with Vanessa’s assistance, the public consultation and feedback collection proved successful.

The Power of Community Engagement

Vanessa emphasised that the key to this progress was ensuring that the community were listened to during the consultation period, and that their final submission was well represented.

“We did get stalled a little bit along the way, with our local government operating in a post-covid recovery space it. It was important through the long timeline to stay in touch with the community, keeping them well informed throughout the process.”

Overcoming Challenges and Nurturing Support

It was while progressing through the approval process, that Jo encountered initial scepticism about the availability of grants. Undeterred, she pursued various funding avenues, adopting a “you don’t get if you don’t ask” mindset. This dedication bore fruit when the Rātā Foundation generously funded the entire basketball court and three cross trainers, amounting to $61,500. Jo emphasised that communities should not be deterred by formalities of the application processes and encouraged using plain language.

 “It’s important that communities take the first steps towards helping themselves. Councils only have so much money, but if they see your efforts and you ask for guidance through their processes, they are often happy to jump in and help. The process can feel like it takes forever, but this is the time to stick to your guns and rally the community from consultation, through any funding hurdles. Council can give lists of places you can apply to, and also help with funding applications.“

The Transformation and Beyond

With funding secured, the community sprang into action. Volunteers undertook the installation of the basketball hoop and cross trainers, making use of their skills and resources. The removal of hedge to bring in more natural light was huge task undertaken by local residents, in accordance with the Council’s health and safety requirements. The entranceway received a facelift, using soil from the area to create mounds for planting. The transformation of the reserve attracted increased foot traffic, with families and visitors enjoying the new facilities and general ambiance.

Lessons Learned and Sharing the Journey

Jo emphasised the importance of perseverance and patience when collaborating with Councils, as their processes can be time-consuming. She encourages communities to stay the course, maintain open communication, and seek help from the Council when needed. By sharing her experiences and resources with other community groups, Jo supported them to learn by doing, to navigate the application processes and secure funding for their own projects.

A Bright Future and Ongoing Collaboration

Coppard Reserve’s revitalisation journey continues with evolving ideas, such as the potential inclusion of a herb garden, while preserving ample green space. The community’s enthusiasm and dedication has created a vibrant and well-utilised hub, fostering a sense of ownership and connection among residents.

The story of Coppard Reserve’s revitalisation serves as a testament to the power of community-led development, of perseverance, and collaboration. By nurturing a shared vision, seeking support, building connections and using the assets that already exist in their place, Leithfield Village has created a space that reflects its unique heritage and meets the diverse needs of its residents. As other communities embark on their own revitalisation projects, the lessons learned from this journey provide valuable insights and inspiration.

Staying on the Edge – Reflections from Darwin

One of my favourite sayings has always been, “if you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.”   

I’ve loved being part of organisations like Waitakere City Council and Inspiring Communities who intentionally challenged the status quo – working relationally and creatively with others to determine what to do to next, rather than just doing what has traditionally been done.  

So with 28 other fabulous Kiwis, I headed up to Darwin to the World Community Development Conference eager to think more about what the conference theme of “being on the edge”, and what community, culture and connection looks like from global perspectives.

I was humbled and reminded about what matters on day one, by one of our own keynote speakers Ani Pahuru-Huriwai from Wharekahika in Te Tai Rāwhiti. Persistence, connection to whenua and identity, trust and relationships, thinking intergenerationally, family, heart and hard work, activism and aroha. Take 25 minutes when you can to learn from Ani’s story.

The message that Ani and many other indigenous leaders shared over the following days focused on the work we all need to do in community development to better enable indigenous voice and leadership: 

• Do your homework before you come talk to us – understand Te Tiriti and decolonise  
• Form enduring relationships, not fleeting ones 
• Act, just don’t extract 
• Be useful – know what can you bring to the table 
• Act with compassion and aroha – give of yourself to help Māori achieve… add to our heart, don’t give Māori a heart attack!!! 
• Help us be the ones who lead and decide who, what, why, and how 
• Look after indigenous intellectual property, take care of how you share it 
• Listen to your community 

When it came to conference conversations around culture and community, I was struck by how far Aotearoa has come in the last decade when it comes to valuing indigenous leadership and world views.  While we’ve still got a long way to go, I do get a sense things have moved from the edge, to being much more mainstream.   

In communities right across Aotearoa, I see genuine willingness and commitment to be better Te Tiriti partners, to learn more about our real history, to build authentic relationships, and address inequities that Māori have suffered for far too long. There is a much larger number of people, groups and organisations motivated by the opportunity to learn from, support and work respectfully with Māori, than the small but vocal minority who remain fearful and threatened by what they might lose in the process. As it is with community-led development, there is room for so many and/ands – it doesn’t have to be an either/or!  

Another big conversation topic that I was drawn into at the Conference was around community development practice standards and professional qualifications. On this one, I felt myself moving back from the global mainstream to the edge! I actively bristled as others talked about professional qualifications being essential for all community workers – with a drive to professionalise both the approach and workforce. While I totally support the need for CLD training and skills development, and would LOVE to see a CLD qualification offered here in Aotearoa (sadly, IC has looked at doing this but the NZQA barriers entry are just too high!), in my mind CLD is the work of everyone, not just paid people called community workers. 

If we see local people as ‘agents of change’, then setting an expectation that they need a formal qualification to do this work runs counter to validating their key role as experts of their place. 

Which reminded me too, it’s time Inspiring Communities took another look at the CLD capability  framework we developed back in 2018. While we purposefully separated out the different roles that local residents, paid community activators and connections, and enabling organisations play in community-led change, I think it’s probably time for a next iteration! 

Written by Inspiring Communities CLD Coordination and Practice Lead, Megan Courtney

I Love Avondale: Kai Avondale

In this video we are privileged to share the incredible manaakitanga of one of I Love Avondale’s four key initiatives, Kai Avondale. This collective of community programmes; Feed the Streets, Free Guys and Food Together improve access to kai for those who need it and provide places for people to connect socially.

We celebrate the I Love Avondale approach, to foster connectivity, belonging and action, ‘showing and growing the good in our hood’. Ngā mihi nui ki a koe to the team and volunteers at I Love Avondale for sharing their story with us. 

It takes a neighbourhood to find a cat

The interesting thing about social cohesion is that it often does not show up until we are in crisis situations. The strength of the social cohesion of a grouping of people is often not visible until it’s called upon for us to rally together. If we see social cohesion as people making the choice to connect to each other, then we can see how important that is for a sense of belonging and contribution. Social cohesion allows us to experience stress and still remain positive towards each other. 

Recently my 20 year old cat went missing and alongside the normal door knocking, flyer drop route, I also went on social media. This involved posting on Facebook groups including neighbourhood groups, and ones specifically dedicated to lost animals. Lots of people came back to me letting me know they walked through that street, and some saying they had seen the cat in question. This made me feel like I was not alone. I knew there were eyes and ears out there looking for this cat.

12 days passed, and we started to accept that the cat may not be found and then bing – a Facebook message came through saying someone had found the cat. The cat was brought home and I announced to these very same groups that the cat had been found. Over 200 people liked and commented on this and it was a joint celebration for us all that the 20 year old much loved family cat had returned home.

For me this is an example of what it’s like when people feel positive towards each other, and support each other at an individual and neighbourhood level. While this largely played out on social media, with the floods in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, this played out in real life. People are prepared to put others first, to rally together, and in this time of stress or crisis, work for the betterment of all.

I guess that this is the key thing about Neighbours Aotearoa, where we are interested in generating what it takes for people to feel positive towards the other people in the immediate area where they are living, so that when it is called upon, social cohesion is present. 

Neighbours Aotearoa has been closely following participatory cities and their idea of bridging social capital. For us, when we think about social capital, we think about social relationships, both within existing and emerging groups and individuals. For example, when the dog walking group of New Lynn, the residents doing swap crops and the people on your street come together, they become an effective, joined-up network. They might find your cat.

So how do we get to know our neighbours? What do we have in common and how do we form positive relationships? These are the questions we’re asking at Neighbours Aotearoa. Here’s your opportunity to explore these questions in your neighbourhood this March. Connect with us on our website www.neighboursaotearoa.nz to find out more.

BLOG WRITTEN BY CISSY ROCK, LEAD FACILITATOR AND DEVELOPER AT COMMUNITY THINK
Pictured left to right: Cissy Rock, Bronwyn Haines, Vanessa Cole and Harriet Paul

Cissy and her team at Community Think are versatile, sensitive and nimble in their approach, able to think outside the square and create practical solutions, by drawing on their diverse range of skills and resources. Community Think deliver a unified and effective approach to getting things done, in ways that are appropriate, relevant and uniquely tailored to each individual client or project.

Rhetoric versus Reality

“We tend to underestimate the capability and capacity and resourcefulness of our communities – and in fact providing them with the resources and the information to get on and do the right thing, can lead to enormous success.”

ASHLEY BLOOMFIELD, FINAL MEDIA CONFERENCE AS DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF HEALTH, 27 JULY 2022

These are telling observations from a senior government official thrust into one the most challenging situations in the post war period. The Covid 19 pandemic contained a myriad of complex challenges, high levels of uncertainty and rapid change with massive and often inequitable impacts.

A ‘business as usual’ approach from Government was not going to be adequate. So, when it was required, people ran from their silos, made connections and focused on a shared purpose. Power was shared because it was the right necessary and effective thing to do. While the capacity of local communities to collaborate and self-organise was present before Covid, it came to the fore during the first national lockdown. This was well documented in Inspiring Communities Shaping the Future report, and of course that capacity remains.

The pandemic provided us with a taste of the scale of change we face with other complex issues such as the climate crisis. As Ashley Bloomfield learnt, we need to evolve government systems, so they better strengthen and support communities to respond and sustain a good and equitable quality of life. New Zealand’s stable democracy, growing Māori economy and contributions, and relatively small size provides an ideal platform to model new Government systems for other nations to learn from. Success requires new levels of collective effort facilitated by widening conversations beyond narrow party-political debates. The good news is that this shift is already happening.  We all need to notice it, value it, and learn how to support its growth.

Here is one small example. Innovating Streets for People is a Waka Kotahi national initiative. In Cannons Creek Porirua, a community-led approach shaped its implementation.

It started with 15 local residents forming an “Engine Room”.  They were supported with facilitation and engagement training and then helped organise and host forums to generate ideas from locals which were then worked through with Council engineers. The goal was achieved, 85% of the traffic going past the shops and nearby school now travels at less than 30km/h and the area is much safer for pedestrians and kids on bikes and scooters. The results went beyond safer more attractive streets.  Capacity for local residents was strengthened, and social connections have been built that can now inform other issues the community is facing.

Makerita Makapelu from Te Hiko, who facilitated community engagement for the project says she once again observed that when you give the community the opportunity to lead, and you give them the right support, they can do it, and do it really well. Click here to read the Innovating Streets case study

As with all new approaches there were challenges to overcome, and people had to learn different ways of working. However, this small initiative is scalable. There are many more stories like this of how a national goal can achieve better outcomes when it enables local collaboration. Embedded in all these examples are critical insights that need to be highlighted and shared. 

Our current government system knows about the important role of local communities. ’Community involvement’ is increasingly referred to in policy statements across many sectors. The paradox is that the system used to craft these policy documents and implement them is largely based on an old mindset of ‘how government works’. This results in cynicism as pro-community language in policies is not being matched by peoples’ experience.  Eroding support for our democratic system therefore becomes a real risk. Any large-scale change will surface contradictions. It did in the Cannons Creek example, but fortunately they aren’t deal breakers. With competent coaches, and support drawn from across society, communities, organisations and the public sector, new pathways can be formed to enable new understandings of ‘being Government’ to emerge and take root.

However, there are also examples where change is slow, in some cases harmful. There are spaces where more needs to be done to help us all solve other complex challenges which have spent too long mired in top-down mindsets and inflexible responses.

Inspiring Communities thinks it’s time to check community-led rhetoric with reality. We’re planning new research to identify and report on the public sector’s progress in enabling greater local community input. We want to explore collaborative leadership across policy domains, investment and implementation of more locally-led policy approaches. This will be a collective assessment involving a range of organisations who are independent of Government but have expertise in community-led development and social innovation. We’d love to hear from you if you have a view or would like to be part of this, please email Rachel Roberts – at rachel.roberts@inspiringcommunities.org

Blog written by David Hanna – Inspiring Communities CLD Influencing and Practice Lead & Rachel Roberts – Powerdigm Strategic Lead. November 2022

Tatau Pounamu Collective

Tatau Pounamu is a community collective of stakeholders activating Taiao (environmental) and Hunga ao (health & wellbeing) initiatives within the Rotorua Eastside community. They hold a vision for Eastside Rotorua to be a safe place where every tamaiti (child) reaches their potential. The Tatau Pounamu Collective (TPC) was seeded out of the success of a community-led garden initiative and further catalysed through the Mokoia Community Association. Tatau Pounamu has been meeting as a collective fortnightly since 2012. In 2017 Tatau Pounamu became one of the inaugural 5 Community-led Development programme partners with Te Tari Taiwhenua (Department of Internal Affairs).

Evolving the collective vision

The whakaaro (plan) behind the Tatau Pounamu mahi (work) comes from a community-led approach that supports many people and organisations to work together towards a shared vision. The Tatau Pounamu Collective is made up of residents, hapū, community organisations as well as agencies and government departments who work collectively together to achieve this vision.

It is well worth having a good look around the Tatau Pounamu website, in particular this excellent, visualised expression of their approach – illustrating the pou (values) that guide the vision for the community, the double-hull waka that represents the Taiao and the Hunga Ao of the community. The hera (sails) represent the many ways the Tatau Pounamu approach is put into action by individuals and groups supporting each other and working together to create change.

The Collective has two paid workers, who are responsible for holding and sharing the Collective’s vision and mahi. They are a Pou Awhi – Communications, Administration and Support, and a Piripiri – Community Connector. We spoke with Sheree McKenzie, Piripiri and Molly Konui, who relieved as Pou Awhi for a time while Karamea Graham-Ratana was on leave from this role.

Eastside Wellness Plan

The collaborative community-led approach of the collective has enabled the establishment of the Eastside Wellness Plan. This plan was developed in consultation with the collective, local hāpu and Rotorua Lakes District Council. Significant input from residents, along with many local and national agencies such as Waka kotahi and Te Papa Atawhai (Department of Conservation) was incorporated into the plan. Conversations began in 2019, the plan was consulted on in 2020, and was adopted by Council in July 2021.

The plan is not only a pathway and framework for the aspirations and wellness of the community, but also specifically outlines how change will intersect with the community-led development in place, through a set of five key ‘moves’ that describe the intended outcomes and actions that will demonstrate how the plan can meet its objectives over time.

Eastside expects significant growth in the future, and with this wellness plan in place, the community has influence on how this development will occur. From land use, housing, health, education, environmental and recreational projects, the collective including mana whenua now have an agreement in place to work in partnership with Council and government departments from the early planning phases of all future developments in the Rawhiti (Eastside) rohe.

The shared collective vision is for Eastside Rotorua to be a safe place where every tamaiti (child) reaches their potential – meaning considerable thought, consultation and collective discussion has gone into identifying wellbeing outcomes for the tamariki in this community. Tatau Pounamu has a strong relationship with the Eastside schools and Early Childhood centres enabling the voice of local tamariki and rangatahi to be heard. The plan describes the intersection of many agencies, organisations and people and how they can work collectively around keeping tamariki and rangatahi front of mind when making changes in the community.

A place for tamariki and whānau to connect and thrive

The redevelopment of Puketāwhero park is an example of a community-led response to a playground that wasn’t meeting the needs of the community.

It began with a survey of tamariki and rangatahi on what they wanted. They took ownership and pride in it, as do their whānau

Sheree McKenzie

Feedback from local tamariki and rangatahi through surveys and workshops helped to inform the design and the development of the playground. The community consultation led to the Rotorua East Lions Club becoming an active participant of the collective and contributing 1000 volunteer hours to build the stage, with support from other members of the collective and the community.

The park is now a popular venue for whānau fun and community hauora days.

It turned an area of undesirable behaviour into an intergenerational open space that is used every day, not just by local whānau, but also whānau who drive across town to enjoy the park

Sheree McKenzie

Community-led Development becomes agile online

Oftentimes, community in place is very much that – people, together, in a place. Molly and Sheree say that inevitably covid frustrations and limitations challenged the way the Collective had been operating. The Collective learned to be quickly adaptive and responsive to the changing needs of the community.

Piripoho Service

Piripoho Service is a key part of the Tatau Pounamu approach providing a community-based health and social service assisting whānau. The service has become adept at interacting online, via its Facebook page to meet the needs of whānau, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Piripoho team, and their use of social media is our biggest connection in the community.  Whanau can – and do, access the service by direct message and the 0800 PIRIPOHO number. The messaging on the posts is also really positive and pro-active – both on health needs and social needs

Molly Konui

The service has a community nurse and a whānau navigator who work directly with whānau to support the realisation of their vision: for every child aged 0 to 18 years and whānau, living Eastside of Rotorua, to be safe and empowered to reach their full potential.

During Covid-19 lockdown periods, the service focused on giving support that was agile and coordinated. After meeting essential basic needs for whānau, the Piripoho team identified the need for activity packs for tamariki. TPC responded by sourcing funds and suitable activities for the packs, These were then delivered to homes by the Piripoho team and Police Family Harm Intervention Team. This is an inspiring example of CLD strategies enabling tangible, practical actions and solutions that genuinely meet the specific needs of the people of Eastside. Read more about this child-enriching initiative here.

#LOVEEASTSIDE Social media campaign

In March of 2022, the collective decided to undertake an online campaign to activate engagement with the community. Through social media, residents were asked to share why they love Eastside and enter a competition for prizes.

There were multiple drivers; engaging with our community which we haven’t been able to do due to Covid limitations, starting new connections, creating a sense of positivity, and focusing on what we love in our local areas. Our key target audience was our tamariki and rangatahi Eastside

Molly Konui

The response and aroha for the Eastside was overwhelmingly positive and heartfelt, and really sums up the love and pride that the community have for this rohe (area).

Learn more about #LOVEEASTSIDE campaign here.

Collectively Nurturing our Future – Looking ahead

Taiao Kaitiakitanga activities are happening across the entire Eastside rohe (area). These are driven by mana whenua and the Rotorua East Kāhui Ako (made up of all local schools & Early Childhood centres). This includes biosecurity on Mokoia Island to ensure that it remains predator-free and a sanctuary for native birds. Looking into the near future, Tatau Pounamu is assisting neighbourhoods to have a third round of Eastside spring clean-up days to remove in-organic rubbish and provide education around waste minimisation and management.

This is just a sample of some of the many projects and activities undertaken by Tatau Pounamu. These kaupapa (activities) have shown what can be achieved by working in community-led partnerships and have firmly established community-led principles for the future growth and wellbeing of the Eastside of Rotorua where every tamaiti (child) reaches their potential.

Field Catalyst Thinking

I love it when someone else provides language and framing that brings to life what you’re seeing, thinking and doing too.

Earlier this year, I was struck by the Tamarack Institute’s paper on their role as a Field Catalyst and how they’ve accelerated social change in Canada. Field catalysts bring together the best of ‘bottom up and top down’ approaches and contributions to help strengthen social change on a national scale. Both local and national levels need to work hand in hand if community transformation potential is to be realised and sustained.

Tamarack’s report and accompanying webinar explores the many different kinds of roles intermediary organisations like Tamarack and Inspiring Communities (and many others!) are playing to enable place-based social change. Internationally, the important role of field catalysts is gaining attention, with key roles and tasks including:

• Bringing profile, language and legitimacy to an approach or issue
• Documenting, harvesting and sharing emerging learning, effective practice and practice-based evidence and research
• Making connections and strengthening relationships at multiple levels
• Building capability of change makers at multiple levels
• Influencing system changes (eg. funding and policy approaches) to make it easier for local level collaboration and innovation to succeed

I would argue this key national level social change infrastructure is largely unrecognised, undervalued and certainly under-invested in here in Aotearoa. We also need to talk about who or what kind of organisations are best placed to fulfil these roles and functions.
I suspect many government agencies would argue that they are well placed to be effective field catalysts and do this role now. I would respectfully disagree. A key part of the field catalyst role is navigating the ‘spaces in between’ different levels and stakeholders. It demands skilful looking and listening through multiple lenses to help make sense of what’s emerging and what’s needed to strengthen collaborative change processes underway or required next. Building this capacity outside of government or funder systems is imperative.

Aotearoa has one of most centralised forms of government in the OECD. The pandemic has demonstrated how difficult it is for central systems to share power and resource in ways that truly sustains and enables collaborative locally-led change. For many, working with government remains inherently difficult and slow, with vested interest in retaining the status quo significant – especially when new ways get challenging.
That said, calls for greater investment in community-led responses to some of our most pressing issues – family violence, housing, biodiversity, child poverty and climate change – continue to grow. This is the opportunity then. Rather than just funding individual community-led initiatives across the motu, we need to make sure that aligned resourcing for sector field catalysts is also part of the innovation investment mix.

This way, we can enable and scale greater impact for all our communities.

Note: Tamarack’s Field Catalyst paper is part of a Stanford Social Innovation Review series celebrating and sharing learning from 10 years of Collective Impact. If you’re working in collaborative contexts, it’s worth a look!

Megan Courtney, CLD Coordination and Practice Lead at Inspiring Communities

How Communities Awaken

These essays delve into key community conversations from both the personal and communal perspective. The chapters break down the necessary ingredients for Active Citizenship, framing an understanding of our world where we as citizens can identify the tools, resources and inner drive to make the change we want to see.

Have a look at this diagram that helps us to visualise how these conversations sit together.

Diving deeper – reflections from a community-led lens

Community

The Feathers We Need To Fly

If you spend a little time observing birds in our landscape, you will undoubtedly notice the complexity and beauty of the feather. Pick up a discarded duck feather at the local gardens, you’ll note its fragility, those fluffy little soft baby hairs, but also those iridescent, waterproof ones that automatically smooth together to form a strong barrier against the elements.

“Mā te huruhuru ka rere te manu – without feathers, the bird cannot fly.”

vivian draws from a lifetime in community – from activism, social entrepreneurship, disruption, and service, to identify the core elements of conversation in our communities. Looking at the speed of change across our social and economic lives, community is identified as messy and contradictory, complex, growing, living, active and unique to place. This conversation challenges us to consider what we have to offer, where we come from and where opportunity lies.

Tess Trotter, IC Communications.

Citizenship

Growing Up Together

“Citizenship is that part of ourselves that we step into when we choose to serve the things that are beyond ourselves”.

Community-led development (CLD) reclaims the idea of active citizenship as a whole spectrum of community activity that includes those leading out front, through to the smallest steps we might take in our own household, neighbourhood or wider whānau to make our lives and the world a better place.

Citizenship matters and requires our urgent attention. In this chapter, vivian reminds us of the work we need to do to collectively rebuild and nurture our shared sense of belonging, contribution, committed action as citizens. At the heart of both citizenship and CLD is relationship, with conversations the key first step. But not just any conversations. Honest, open and intentional conversations that welcome diverse perspectives and challenge us to unpack what really holds us back – injustice, colonisation, racism, consumerism to name but a few. It’s the work we must do on our own and together. Time to get started!

Megan Courtney, IC

Invitation

The Necessary Ingredient

“How valuable do you expect this experience to be?“

The message about ‘getting the invitation right’ really struck me as central to CLD practice. We invite people to be active citizens, engaging everyone’s strengths, growing shared local visions. The invitation feels like a potluck dinner compared to being a consumer at a café: everyone brings their gifts, there’s curiosity about what feast we might create collectively, relationships grow and often stretch us into shaping bold visions and bringing them into reality

Margy-Jean Malcolm IC

Stretching the Invitation Conversation

Presented by Ngaropi Cameron, Director, Tū Tama Wāhine o Taranaki

Possibility

The Creative Community

“The fact of this is often taken for granted: human beings are community-making creatures.“

I loved the insight in this chapter about cultivating an imaginative mind to stretch our sense of what is possible. A CLD mindset focuses on strengths, assets, possibilities as the lifeblood from which healing and transformation happen. Fun, playful, creative dimensions of community-building are so important in lifting us beyond the weight of problems, despair or powerlessness. Together we find our courage to imagine a better future, our confidence to be creative, innovate, and learn by experimenting.

Margy-Jean Malcolm, IC

Ngaropi Cameron on Māramatanga

Ngaropi Cameron, Director, Tū Tama Wāhine o Taranaki

Ownership

Crossing The Line

“WE’VE GOT SOME challenging things to talk about. And it’s not all going to be positivity and possibility.“

The ownership conversation signals some challenging issues in CLD – it’s not all positivity and possibility. Power, privilege, inter-generational trauma, consumerism and colonisation are both external forces and internal narratives that we need to decolonise to support our sense of agency to make change. It’s an important nudge to notice when we lapse into “them and us” thinking, blame, excuses, denial – and a challenge to take responsibility to “cross the line”, and own our part in co-creating the futures we want.

Margy-Jean Malcolm, IC

Ngaropi Cameron on Rangatiratanga

Ngaropi Cameron, Director, Tū Tama Wāhine o Taranaki

Ownership

The Transformation Of Belonging

“For me, the Ownership Conversation has been a life-long dialogue that has challenged and transformed my understanding of the nature of belonging.“

What’s our relationship with place, land, property? What if ownership was not about possession, but rather a deep sense of belonging and responsibility as ongoing stewards of the places we are connected to? I enjoyed the rich stories of kaitiakitanga of people, planet and place in action in this chapter, which remind us that CLD is about being strong kaitiaki of the past, present and future potential of our communities as places to live, work and play.

Margy-Jean Malcolm, IC

Dissent

Fierce Friendship

“The plain fact of it is this: harmony can not happen if we are all singing the same note.“

From Inspiring Communities work in community-led change, we know that that innovation frequently happens on the edge. Some of the best solutions are created when people sit in relationship and discomfort long enough to really understand each other, and in doing so, uncover new pathways forward.

In CLD, conflict is actually part of good process, not something to be avoided. It’s just what happens when you bring diverse voices, sectors and parts of a community together.

In this chapter vivian reminds us about the need to welcome, hold and work with everyone’s voice – especially those of local citizens. Doing this effectively requires a commitment to host and work through courageous conversations where we all listen and learn to hold multiple truths – the binary of right and wrong does us no favours.

Megan Courtney, IC

Commitment

A Trusted Promise

“THE COMMITMENT CONVERSATION is about the promises you are making to yourself, and to your community.“

In my experience, relational accountability is far more powerful than anything written in a contract.  It’s about doing the things we say we’ll do, not wanting to let others down. It’s these trust based relationships that also hold us when our work in community gets tough. We need people around us to tell it like it is, to keep us honest, so that collectively we can speak truth to power and challenge the policy, process and system injustices that often keep the status quo in place. And we need to keep others honest too – words without visible action to follow, is rhetoric at its best. 

Megan Courtney, IC

Gifts

Outrageous Abundance

“The plain fact of it is this: harmony can not happen if we are all singing the same note.“

These gifts conversation resources stretched my thinking about koha – as a tangible form of reciprocity, trust, whakapapa, connection, relationship – so much more than money. This challenges us to think expansively about what we are each giving and receiving in our community relationships – to grow a shared kete of knowledge, skills, experience, time and resources, yet including money too. CLD calls for deepest respect for the giving and receiving of everyone’s gifts, and in turn activates dignity, mana, wellbeing when we see what together we can make possible.

Margy-Jean Malcolm, IC

Ngaropi Cameron on Koha

Ngaropi Cameron, Director, Tū Tama Wāhine o Taranaki

Action

Common Cause

“The smallest unit of wellbeing for human beings is not found in ourselves as individuals, or even as extended families…..but as communities.“

The CLD Theory of Change that has evolved in Aotearoa is based on the premise that all communities have the potential to thrive. The starting point for change is conversations between people, finding out about what you care about that’s in common and then taking that first next step of doing something small together. From small seeds, bigger things grow.

In this final chapter, vivian reflects on the essential elements for action – starting from where you are, working with what you’ve got and working in ways that are generative and generous. Community is what happens when all our contributions and actions come together, it’s always in movement and needs to be nurtured – not taken for granted.

Megan Courtney, IC