Central-local government collaboration case studies

The Auckland Sustainable Cities Programme was a short-term plan of action by local and central government partners to tackle longer term development issues facing the region.

The three-year partnership (2003-06) under the New Zealand Sustainable Development Programme of Action, involved the region's seven local councils, the regional council and a number of government agencies. Communities also participated in many parts of the programme.

The programme has concluded as scheduled and has been evaluated. Download the booklet, Success in Sustainability (below), for the key achievements.

From mid-2003 to mid-2004, the partners set the programme's parameters and identified the projects they would jointly undertake and resource. They focused on critical issues facing the region, and based the work on the definition of sustainable development in the Local Government Act 2002. To this, they added the need to encourage participation and partnerships.

A set of protocols was developed to facilitate collaboration between central and local government. The protocols covered shared values and commitments, leadership and collaboration, decisions and governance, accountability and responsibility, disputes, communications and publications.

Six work areas covering 14 projects were included in the programme. These were either new or existing projects for which collaboration could result in better outcomes. The work areas were:

• transport
• urban form, design and development
• regional child and youth development
• regional settlement strategy
• sustainable communities
• Auckland regional economic development.

The project teams met regularly and the partners met monthly to review progress and co-ordinate planning.

An important feature of the Auckland Sustainable Cities Programme was that all agencies were committed to learning better ways of working together and to taking a holistic approach.

The partners aim to build on the relationships and the work that this programme has begun. Central, regional and local government collaborative partnerships will continue to develop through the local and regional councils' community outcomes processes.

A forum was held in March 2005 between central and local government representatives in the Bay of Plenty to determine how the two sectors could work together to facilitate the community outcomes process outlined in the Local Government Act 2002.

It was agreed at the meeting that the local government CEO group for the region would meet on a regular basis with representatives from central government to begin the development of a framework to enable sector engagement through the community outcomes process.

The community outcomes process is seen as an opportunity to bring together ‘top-down’ imperatives with ‘bottom-up’ initiatives.

The group, which replaces the Regional Intersectorial Forum that had been central-government focused, has joint strategic planning, information sharing and resource allocation by central and local government at a regional level.

Bay of Plenty local authorities are at various stages of the community outcomes process and central and local government representatives agreed to use the following means to progress community outcomes and regional wellbeing:

• Governance Group – to oversee direction and activity. This group comprises all nine District/City/Regional Council Chief Executives in the Bay of Plenty and representatives (primarily at regional manager level) from 23 central government agencies.
• Working Group – to set the planning framework and implement activity.
• Monitoring Group – to develop an evidence-based framework to benchmark, monitor and reflect progress on district and regional outcomes in the region. This was to include a web-based database.
• Communication – a communication strategy would be developed to ensure that all stakeholders have input into and receive regular updates about activity.
• Terms of reference – have been developed to guide the process.

Four COBoP subgroups have been formed: Social (covering health, housing and community safety), Environment, Economic and Cultural. These groups meet monthly and have developed three-year work plans.

A COBoP co-ordinator was appointed in January 2007. The co-ordination function is also a collaborative effort. The co-ordinator is based at Environment Bay of Plenty in their Rotorua Office; the Ministry of Social Development provides the salary; and the Ministry of Health has contributed towards professional development.

In Porirua, the Community Development Officer has facilitated a number of quarterly meetings for central government field workers operating in the city. The meetings proved valuable for sharing information and co-ordinating service delivery.

The Council's Chief Executive and the General Manager of Strategic Policy ran similar meetings for senior managers from central government agencies. These meetings also provided a valuable information-exchange opportunity for all participants.

These forums had three primary aims:

• to increase awareness about community and local government initiatives, and to give central government officials an opportunity to build relationships with local government stakeholders
• to identify opportunities to make connections and agree priorities between central agencies and the Council in order to achieve greater results
• to encourage central government agencies to think about how their work relates to the Long-term Council Community Plan and the outcomes set by the community through a strategic plan consultation process.

The Chief Executives of the local authorities in the Wellington region, plus the Wellington Regional Council, organised a show-and-tell session on the various forums and government activities in the region. Central government sent representatives from regional and head offices.

The exercise highlighted the large number of liaison groups that already existed. The local authorities decided to explore the idea of establishing a database of these regional interagency groups, to improve co-ordination between local authorities and central government agencies.

The session highlighted the following tips for co-ordinating planning exercises between central and local government.

• At a regional level, planning should be strategic, and avoid getting into too much detail; details should be decided locally.
• Central government agencies need a number of skilled people to liaise in communities, rather than relying on a few over-committed people.
• Central government agencies need effective systems to feed information collected locally to the policymakers.

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been negotiated between Christchurch City Council, the Aranui Community Trust (representing the Aranui community) and Housing New Zealand.

Under the MOU, the three parties work together to promote and participate in the Aranui Community Project. This project aims to ‘enhance Aranui as a good place to live’. Its specific objectives are to increase Aranui's capacity to take ownership of its future, and to improve its physical environment.

Alongside the MOU, Housing New Zealand and the City Council Housing Unit are working together to improve availability and access to quality low-cost housing in Christchurch.

In February 2006, the New Zealand Council of Social Services released the findings of its research into the nature of relationships between its member Councils of Social Services and their local authorities.

This report investigates how well local Councils of Social Services have been able to engage in Community Outcomes processes, looking at what has worked well and at some of the difficulties that have emerged. The findings have implications for a wide range of people and organisations working in the community and voluntary sector. 

The research shows that networks of social services organisations play a vital role in assisting local authorities to effectively engage with the social sector, to identify priorities for promoting social wellbeing, and to develop appropriate actions to achieve Community Outcomes.