Engagement

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Engagement

Resource documents, videos and links to assist with local authority engagement activities.

Many of the resources are from councils who have shared their documents with the sector via our Toolkit. If your council has engagement resources it would like to share on this page, please send them to info@taituara.org.nz

Civics Education 

Community Enablement and Wellbeing

Community-led Development

Deliberative Democracy

Effective Engagement with Māori

Engagement Resources

Engaging with Diverse Communities

Taituarā Excellence Awards Winners


Civics Education

Source control:

Month/year release date (new or last review) – April 2025

Last legal review by Simpson Grierson – Not applicable

Civics education is about fostering a sense of belonging and encouraging people to understand their rights and duties, including their obligations to respect the law, and the more formal processes of civic life, such as how laws are made and how voting works. It also encompasses engagement with local and central government and opportunities to participate in decision-making processes.

Ultimately, it seeks to empower people to be informed, engaged and active in their communities, democratic processes and society.

Civics education examples

Materials shared by Auckland Council:

"What does your council do?" type videos:

Graphic:

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Community Enablement and Wellbeing

Source control:

Month/year release date (new or last review) – April 2025

Last legal review by Simpson Grierson – Not applicable

Community enablement and wellbeing is about creating environments where people can thrive, both individually and collectively. It involves addressing various needs and fostering a sense of belonging and shared responsibility.

Community enablement

Community enablement examples

  • A webinar to help support councils to develop the skills and practice of community enablement. You will hear international and local examples of how councils can enable and facilitate strong community groupings, tap easily into community networks and knowledge, support co-design and co-production and help build inclusive communities: watch here
  • Megan Courtney from Inspiring Communities examines localism in Aotearoa through a community-led lens in A Focus on the How not the Who – Victoria University of Wellington
  • Inspiring Communities (https://inspiringcommunities.org.nz) provide a raft of tools and resources to help support collaborative, community-led action, helping everyone (central and local government, iwi, non-government organisations, and communities) work together to solve complex issues and shift Aotearoa towards a sustainable future

Anchor institutions

  • This webinar is a good introduction to how a council can position itself as an anchor institution. Matthew Baqueriza-Jackson is a well-respected international expert on community wealth building and social procurement: watch here

Community wellbeing

Community wellbeing examples

Social wellbeing examples

Cultural wellbeing examples

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Community-led Development

Source control:

Month/year release date (new or last review) – April 2025

Last legal review by Simpson Grierson – Not applicable

Community-led development is a way of working with communities – acknowledging and building on local strengths, fostering collaborative leadership, and creating a shared vision for the future state, while empowering community lead development processes.

Community-led development examples

Programme examples

Evaluation examples

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Deliberative Democracy

Source control:

Month/year release date (new or last review) – April 2025

Last legal review by Simpson Grierson – Not applicable

Deliberative democracy is about ensuring the public has the opportunity to participate in decision making and that any decisions reached are done so through fair and reasonable discussion and debate.

"In addition to improving the level of discussion and accounting for the most arguments, more-inclusive deliberative processes are fairer because more people have their views considered. Whether or not a citizen’s view is present in the outcome, it has at least been figured into the debate by fellow citizen deliberators." (Jennifer L Eagan, Deliberative Democracy (2016), In Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/deliberative-democracy, accessed 28 April 2025).

Deliberative democracy engagement examples

We have complied several deliberative democracy engagement examples which include a range of how to guides, along with several stories about how deliberative democracy has transformed participants understanding of democracy, and also strengthened local democracy.

You can download the Deliberative Democracy Engagement Examples here

Research and reports on citizen assemblies and jury's examples

The Watercare Citizens' Assembly, Future for Government report and The Southern Initiative provide further examples of deliberative democracy in action, where engagement is paramount in being able to make a real difference, which means also addressing equitablity issues to ensure everyone has the tools to be able to thrive.

You can download these examples, along with several examples from other Counties here

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Effective Engagement with Māori

Source control:

Month/year release date (new or last review) – April 2025

Last legal review by Simpson Grierson – Not applicable

Resources to support effective engage with Māori (developed by Te Arawhiti and now hosted by Te Puni Kōkiri)

Capability building

Know your council's settlement commitments and iwi, hapū interests

  • Te Haeata – Settlement Portal is a searchable record of Treaty of Waitangi settlement commitments, intended to make commitments more visible and accessible to post-settlement governance entities and agencies responsible for commitments

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Engagement Resources

Source control:

Month/year release date (new or last review) – April 2025

Last legal review by Simpson Grierson – Not applicable

  • Check out their "but is it codesign?" test. It's helpful for understanding when codesign is being used as a buzz word: Beyond sticky notes

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Engaging with Diverse Communities

Source control:

Month/year release date (new or last review) – April 2025

Last legal review by Simpson Grierson – Not applicable

Pacific
https://www.mpp.govt.nz/publications-resources/resources/yavu/

Disabled people
https://www.odi.govt.nz/disability-toolkit/engaging-with-the-disability-community/

Ethnic communities
https://www.ethniccommunities.govt.nz/resources-2/guides-and-how-tos/ethnicity-matters-a-guide-to-working-with-ethnic-communities/

Rainbow communities
Auckland Council  Rainbow Communities Engagement Guidelines 

Children and Youth

There are many resources available to help in your engagement with children and youth, including case studies, engagement methods and frameworks, as well as those that are focused on the benefits of the engagement, and project planning tools etc.

You can download the Engaging with Diverse Communities – Children and Youth Resources list here

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Taituarā Excellence Awards Winners 

Source control:

Month/year release date (new or last review) – April 2025

Last legal review by Simpson Grierson – Not applicable

Te Tohu Waka Hourua

2022 winner: Ngāti Tūrangitukua and Taupō District Council Partnership
https://taituara.org.nz/Story?Action=View&Story_id=397 

Information about the other 2022 entries for this award category are available here

Digital Local Government

2022 winner: Hastings District Council – Virtual Digital Twin Asset Management
https://taituara.org.nz/Story?Action=View&Story_id=404

Information about the other 2022 entries for this award category are available here

Placemaking

Hastings District Council – It’s Flaxmere’s Time
https://taituara.org.nz/Story?Action=View&Story_id=403

Information about the other 2022 entries for this award category are available here

Organisation and People

2022 winner: Far North District Council – ‘Great Workplaces’
https://taituara.org.nz/Story?Action=View&Story_id=405

Information about the other 2022 entries for this award category are available here

Environmental Leadership

2022 winner: Wairoa District Council 'Toi te whenua, Manaaki ki te whenua'
https://taituara.org.nz/Story?Action=View&Story_id=400

Information about the other 2022 entries for this award category are available here

2021 winner: Eke Panuku Development Auckland
https://taituara.org.nz/Story?Action=View&Story_id=297

Collaborative Government

Auckland Wynyard Edge Alliance
https://taituara.org.nz/Story?Action=View&Story_id=406

Information about the other 2022 entries for this award category are available here

Community Relations, Community Engagement

2022 winner: Te Hiku o te Ika Revitalisation Project
https://taituara.org.nz/2022-Datacom-Award-for-Transforming-Service-Delivery/2022-Minister-of-Local-Government-Award-for-Council-Community-Relations

Information about the other 2022 entries for this award category are available here

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