Rural communities
You need to be proactive if you want rural communities to participate in government decision-making.
Identify key people
Suggestions for identifying key people to start the process:
- regional staff from your agency
- regional staff from Te Puni Kōkiri
- field staff
- School Boards of Trustees
- Rural Education Activities Programme (REAP) branches
- Rural Women New Zealand
- Federated Farmers
- Rotary Clubs and Lions Clubs.
Other key sources might be regional and district councils, local iwi and rural media.
Publicise your participation exercise
Publicise your participation exercise well ahead of time:
- put notices in local newspapers or newsletters
- post pamphlets and leave them at local clubs, community centres, community noticeboards
- put consultation documents on the Internet
- publish an item in the Rural Bulletin, a monthly publication produced by Rural Women New Zealand.
Face-to-face meetings may be better than email or the telephone, as rural communities often struggle to secure satisfactory Internet access.
If arranging a meeting, bear in mind how far rural people may have to travel to attend it. Make sure you communicate clearly the significance of the issue for the community. Consider providing tea and coffee, light food, and childcare.
Be sensitive to daily routines and seasonal pressures. For example, don't plan a meeting that coincides with school drop-off and collection, calving, lambing or harvesting. Evenings may be more convenient than daytime.
Farming is not the only occupation in rural communities. Therefore, contacting farming people alone is unlikely to give a representative community view. Meeting times that are suitable for farming people may not be suitable for non-farming members of the community, and vice versa.
For further advice, contact the Rural Affairs Co-ordinator at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, (04) 474 4100.
