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Auckland Council and Ngā Aho will be holding a series of workshops about facility partnerships with our communities around Tāmaki Makaurau from November 13-16th, 2017.

Auckland Council has had some initial conversations with six marae and three Māori organisations in Tāmaki Makaurau and they now want to share these insights with other mana whenua, matāwaka marae and Māori communities who might be interested in this kaupapa. Ngā Aho will be supporting Auckland Council to facilitate these hui.

What Council learns from Māori at these hui will be instrumental in shaping the first draft of the Facility Partnerships Policy. The final draft of the policy will then go out for formal consultation with Mana Whenua, local boards and the community sector next year.

Auckland Council and Ngā Aho will be holding a series of workshops about facility partnerships with our communities around Tāmaki Makaurau from November 13-16th, 2017.

Auckland Council has had some initial conversations with six marae and three Māori organisations in Tāmaki Makaurau and they now want to share these insights with other mana whenua, matāwaka marae and Māori communities who might be interested in this kaupapa. Ngā Aho will be supporting Auckland Council to facilitate these hui.

What Council learns from Māori at these hui will be instrumental in shaping the first draft of the Facility Partnerships Policy. The final draft of the policy will then go out for formal consultation with Mana Whenua, local boards and the community sector next year.

Background

Facility partnerships at Auckland Council

Auckland Council provides a wide range of community facilities, including community centres, arts facilities, libraries, sports fields and swimming pools. Around 300 are owned and/or operated by community organisations through ‘facility partnerships’ with the council.

For the purposes of the project, facility partnerships have been defined broadly as ‘a collaborative arrangement between Auckland Council and an external organisation(s) to enable community access to a facility, where all parties contribute to, and benefit from, the arrangement’.

The council’s Community Facilities Network Plan states the council will meet more facility needs through partnerships in future, as a way of ‘doing more with less’ and empowering communities. However at present the council lacks a coherent policy for selecting and supporting facility partnerships.

The question Auckland Council is seeking to answer through this project is: ‘How should Auckland Council invest in partnerships to improve access to facilities that meet people’s needs, deliver positive community outcomes and represent great value for money?’

 

Discovery phase - 2016

In 2016, a cross-council team set out to discover how effectively we are partnering at the moment. Rather than reviewing individual partnerships, the project team set out to uncover general insights about facility partnerships. In particular, we wanted to understand the partnership experience from the perspective of those already involved in these types of arrangements.

This phase of work included:

  • A stocktake of existing partnerships

  • In-depth interviews with community partner representatives, elected members and council staff relating to a research sample of 10 facility partnerships

  • Interviews with technical experts and partnership practitioners within council

  • A scan of relevant local, national and international literature about partnering 

Findings from the discovery phase of this project

In 2016, a cross-council team set out to discover how effectively we are partnering at the moment. Rather than reviewing individual partnerships, the project team set out to uncover general insights about facility partnerships. In particular, we wanted to understand the partnership experience from the perspective of those already involved in these types of arrangements.

This phase of work included:

  • A stocktake of existing partnerships

  • In-depth interviews with community partner representatives, elected members and council staff relating to a research sample of 10 facility partnerships

  • Interviews with technical experts and partnership practitioners within council

  • A scan of relevant local, national and international literature about partnering

If you would like to read a summary of the insights gathered from the first phase of this project in this document, please email: amy.ninnes@aucklandcouncil.govt.nz

 

Facility partnerships with Māori

Marae are specifically identified in the council’s Community Facilities Network Plan as potential facility partners. Marae are a focal point for Māori social, economic and cultural development, and ‘enabling Māori aspirations for thriving and self-sustaining marae’ is an Auckland Plan priority.

However the team couldn’t find any formalised ‘facility partnerships’ between Auckland Council and marae during the Discovery phase of this work, so decided to do an additional piece of research to explore Māori perspectives on facility partnerships during 2017.

We wanted to understand the experience for marae and Māori organisations who already have relationships with council, and explore what the policy would need to do to support the development and management of facility partnerships within the context of Te Ao Māori.

These hui are an opportunity to share the insights from our research with Māori, and invite feedback on what we’ve learned, what’s missing, and what this should mean for the policy.

 

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