An innovative approach to community engagement has won Manurewa and Papakura Local Boards a finalist place in the Local Government New Zealand EXCELLENCE Awards 2018, in the Fulton Hogan EXCELLENCE Award for Community Engagement.
Now in their fifth year, the Awards recognise and celebrate the key leadership role that local government plays in communities around the country.
The Local Boards are a finalist for their Engagement on the Manurewa Takanini Papakura Integrated Area Plan – which successfully reached parts of the community, including young people, who do not typically participate in council processes.
It included a simple innovative marketing campaign, creating a brand identity with distinctive fluoro orange logo, and a range of methods and interactive tools to support engagement – including a series of hui and 23 pop-up events.
It resulted in more than 5,000 pieces of feedback from the community, with half from people aged below 35 years.
Judges praised the project as “Bold with a vision that captured the interest of the community. It demonstrated strong local engagement below the Council’s city-wide landscape in substantial local communities with diverse populations.”
LGNZ President Dave Cull says that being named as a finalist is a significant achievement and reflects strong leadership and the innovative work being delivered by councils across the country.
“The finalists include some exceptional projects that are having a profound impact on communities. The EXCELLENCE Awards finalists all demonstrate innovation, excellence in communication and consultation to involve communities in the decisions and planning which frame their future.”
The finalists incorporate best practice criteria under LGNZ’s CouncilMARK™ excellence programme which is designed to improve the public’s knowledge of the work councils are doing in their communities and to support individual councils to further improve the service and value they provide.
“Overall the judges felt that the strongest entries demonstrated a strong strategic focus, clear outcomes, measured results, cost benefit analysis and engagement with external organisations – particularly a collaborative approach with stakeholders, and meaningful engagement with iwi and Māori.“
This year saw the highest number of entries in the Awards’ history. Winners will be announced at the LGNZ conference dinner in Christchurch on 16 July.