Case Study: Obtaining a community's views - Housing New Zealand's participatory appraisal process

In this July 2002 exercise, Housing New Zealand staff and eight community volunteers conducted a survey of residents of Fordlands, Rotorua, to find out how they perceived their community as a place to live.

The team aimed to:

• meet at least 200 people representing a cross-section of residents
• provide residents with the opportunity to say what they liked and/or disliked about living in the area, and what they felt would improve it
• remain neutral throughout the process
• avoid raising unrealistic expectations in the community
• improve their own confidence by trying something new.

Preparation

In preparation for the participatory appraisal process, Housing New Zealand:

• sent a flier to all residents (about 450 households) seeking volunteers to conduct the survey
• advised the police of the survey
• arranged to use the local school's spare classrooms, toilets and kitchen facilities for the participatory appraisal training workshop
• organised materials, equipment and caterers
• sought permission from local shopping centre retailers to conduct the survey outside their premises
• wrote letters introducing the survey and surveyors to the community
• prepared notices to go into letterboxes of people who were not home when surveyors called.

Workshop

The three-day training workshop introduced the team to participatory appraisal, and covered:

• the general principles, practices and typical issues involved in public consultation
• the main tools, such as participatory mapping, H-forms (used to record information in face-to-face surveys) and action plans
• briefing and practice sessions for the fieldwork stage.

Fieldwork

The fieldwork took two days and involved interviewing residents door-to-door and at the local shopping centre. Surveyors recorded respondents' comments, their age and their gender. On the second day, they arranged public displays showing the community's contribution so far and providing a further opportunity for people to respond.

Altogether, 266 people were interviewed or surveyed. Afterwards, the team:

• collated the information
• evaluated the training and the consultation
• noted lessons for the future
• discussed future uses.

The team found participatory appraisal to be a practical, simple and easy way to gather useful information. It:

• verified many issues or concerns previously identified by Housing New Zealand
• enabled a wide cross-section of people to submit their views
• encouraged community involvement
• encouraged relationships to support the community renewal process
• increased the community's understanding of community renewal
• provided a valuable training opportunity and learning experience for the team.

Planning

• Devote plenty of time to planning.
• Prepare job descriptions for each member of the survey team covering the nature and duration of their involvement, information on the research and the reasons for it, and contact details.
•  Consider factors such as:
  • where to conduct the survey - door-to-door and/or strategic places where people gather?
  • the survey timing - benefit days, school holidays, mornings, evenings
  • parental consent (required for surveying people under 16)
  • surveyor identification
  • involving Māori and Pacific peoples and other ethnic groups
  • protecting people's confidentiality throughout.

Volunteers

• If you're going to use volunteers, manage it well. Develop clear recruitment procedures - and remember, volunteers may not have the skills you're looking for or be able to devote the necessary time. Try to gain their commitment as much as possible.
• Make sure you vet volunteers, including arranging police checks and getting them to sign confidentiality forms. Note that vetting doesn't identify issues such as hidden agendas or racism.
• Consider recruiting volunteers from service clubs or local networks.
• Hold team meetings at the end of each day.

Training

• Make time for team-building at the start of the workshop - ask volunteers to say who they are, why they volunteered and what they hope to gain by joining the project.
• Be clear and thorough about the reasons for and the aims of the research.
• Give participants information on their rights in the process (eg, informed consent, confidentiality).

Rewards

• Be clear that the work is voluntary, not paid.
• Find ways to thank and/or reward volunteers (eg, thank you letters and references for CVs).

Venue

• Choose an appropriate workshop venue, considering things like noise levels and parking.
• Provide the Police with detailed information on dates, times and areas covered by the fieldwork. Ring the Police on the day to remind them.

Data and confidentiality

• Gain, use and store survey information in a way that protects confidentiality.
• Protect the privacy of institutions, communities and ethnic groups, especially when the results are likely to become public and be reported by the news media.
• Make sure everyone understands the importance of confidentiality.

After the exercise, Housing New Zealand staff continued to work with the Fordlands community. It helped the residents form an association to deal with ongoing issues - a development that came directly from the project. The residents also presented submissions to the local authority's annual planning round.

Next time, we'll consider appointing teams, for example:

• one or two people to oversee the whole process
• a team to oversee training, attendance, the venue, training equipment, security, catering and a resource pack for the surveyors containing a letter of introduction, name tag, H-forms, pens etc.
• a team to keep track of the surveyors, eg, checking in and out each day, arranging mobile phone communications, transport to and from, health and safety issues, refreshments and incident reporting
• a team to receive and collate the data with a prepared software program.

The Fordlands Project Office opened in May 2004 and is based in the heart of the renewal area in Fordlands. The Office is the project team's base.

The project team comprises a project manager, community development worker, project administrator, tenancy manager and a customer co-ordinator.

• November 2005 – Youth expo held at Project Office in collaboration with Ministry of Social Development, the New Zealand Army and a number of training providers.
• January to July 2005 – worked with Waiariki Maori Women's Welfare League to plant 16 ‘edible’ gardens in Fordlands.
• July 2005 – a further 32 houses refurbished, bringing the total number of houses to over 100.
• March 2005 – completed a landscaping project involving 45 houses.
• November 2004 – Korowai Aroha (a Primary Health Organisation) began operating in a property formerly owned by the Fordlands Community Association.
• August 2004 – completed the refurbishment of 43 properties.
• June 2004 – Energy Efficient Retrofit programme completed. All Fordlands' 159 Housing New Zealand houses now insulated.
• June 2004 – Curtaining programme finished for all Housing New Zealand houses in the area.
• May 2004 – Opening of the project office.
• April 2004 – Family Fun Day held, with a turnout of about 300 members of the community.

In October 2002, the Housing New Zealand team used the participatory appraisal process in Clendon, Auckland, successfully building on the Fordlands experience.

In Clendon, Housing New Zealand surveyed 440 adults and 80 children. It used a trainer for the survey team and developed a comprehensive training booklet to accompany training. Among successful developments arising from this survey was the formation of a residents group, which prints a residents newsletter, maintains a tool library and funds itself with plant sales from the project office.

In August 2005, Housing New Zealand completed another participatory appraisal (called Map to the Future) in Porirua. The partners in this exercise included Porirua City Council and the Eastern Porirua Ratepayers and Residents Association, Cannons Creek Opportunity Centre and the Maraeroa Marae committee.

This was a true collaboration process, owned by the community and including resources from council and the community. More than 1100 people were surveyed, including 152 respondents from six local schools.

The responses were presented at a Community Day, in October 2005, when the community had the opportunity to rate the issues in order of priority. The final results were presented to Porirua City Council as part of their community planning process.

The community is using the survey results to attract support, advice and resources, particularly in areas they determined were the most important.

This case study was jointly prepared by community members and Housing New Zealand staff in September 2003 and revised in December 2005.

For more information contact:
Huia Lyons, Project Manager, Fordlands Community Renewal
Private Bag 3060, Rotorua
Email: huia.lyons@hnzc.co.nz
Tel: (07) 343 7693
Fax: (07) 343 7694