Community Outcomes Bay of Plenty (COBoP) - review and reflection
The Community Outcomes Bay of Plenty (COBoP) network has provided a framework for shared work on projects that promote regional and local well-being and efficient use of resources since 2005.
A recent review of COBoP's work and structure has highlighted interesting lessons for succesful regional networks.
COBoP began in 2005 out of a forum for senior central and local government managers in the Bay. The gathering discussed building a closer relationship between the two sectors to promote and achieve community outcomes in the region. By late 2005, nine local authorities and 21 central government agencies had signed the Terms of Reference, and COBoP emerged.
Looking back to look forward
COBoP has recently undertaken a review of its work and structure to assist with planning the network’s direction through to 2012.
Review of Community Outcomes Bay of Plenty (COBoP) March 2008 (Word 240 kb)
Jointly resourced by local and central government, the review process included information gathering, interviews, surveys and facilitated discussions with the network signatories.
Bill Bayfield, Chief Executive of Environment Bay of Plenty, said about the review in his keynote speech at the recent DIA Community Outcomes Workshop It Takes Two to Tango
“…[it] was free and frank, another requirement of good collaboration. We have to be able to tell one another when it’s not working for us. I sometimes think New Zealanders are too polite, [we need to] build in regular checks to make sure that ‘the dancing’ is working for us.”
Progress in relationships and networks
The review identified significant achievements by COBoP, particularly in building relationships and networks.
Examples of achievements and progress identified
- gaining a greater mutual understanding of the roles, drivers, mandates, pressures and work of central government agencies and local government
- understanding more fully the huge variations within parts of the region, and the need to tailor responses at local and sub-regional level, rather than just at regional levels
- bringing a sense of order and continuity to what had previously been ad hoc contacts and connections between central and local government personnel.
The review highlighted how COBoP fosters broad networking between central government agencies in the region. COBoP also encourages networking between staff in the region’s council such as strategic planners.
Some ‘runs on the board’
Stakeholder views about the value of COBoP reflect different perspectives about the drivers for ‘success’.
Local government Chief Executives have found it useful to understand the joint process of developing a regional understanding and response to the monitoring and reporting requirements of the Local Government Act 2002. Central government agencies ‘wrapped around’ this process, assisting with access and interpretation of locally and regionally relevant information where possible.
Other specific successes include
- Collective work among councils on monitoring Community Outcomes. Central government agencies have supported this work. This has resulted in shared intelligence, collective problem solving, peer support, and the development of a common database. This work led to the development of a Bay of Plenty “perceptions survey” to provide more qualitative data for monitoring progress towards Community Outcomes.
- Fruitful lessons from the work that Bay of Plenty communities are doing to gain designation as World Health Organisation Safe Communities. Tauranga City achieved designation in April and continues to share its knowledge with Rotorua and Taupo Districts.
Achieving Safe Communities status involves the councils, District Health Boards, ACC, New Zealand Police and the Ministry of Social Development working together with other sectors. The COBoP network created the possibility for more communities to focus on designation. - The scoping and contracting of a regional economic analysis. This project describes the regional and sub-regional economic situation across the Bay of Plenty and identifies potential areas for further work.
The project involved Environment Bay of Plenty, Enterprising Communities of The Ministry of Social Development, Te Puni Kokiri, NZ Trade and Enterprise, The Departments of Labour and Internal Affairs, and economic development agencies. It has provided useful benchmark information for the new Bay of Plenty Regional Economic Development Board. - Encouraging Healthy Eating-Healthy Action policies and strategies in central and local government workplaces in the Bay of Plenty. This pre-empted work which is funded through District Health Boards. Two thirds of COBoP signatory agencies participated, to promote public health initiatives.
Future focus of COBoP
The review process has helped refine the purpose of COBoP and has clarified the focus of future work.
This includes
- more collaborative work between central and local government over the community outcomes processes themselves at local, as well as regional levels.
- more opportunities created for strategic thinking by council chief executives and central government regional managers around complex issues
- developing better ways of connecting local and regional Bay of Plenty experiences with central government policy development clarifying relationships between COBoP and other collaborative initiatives in the Bay of Plenty.
Developing the leadership structure
The review identified the need for a more streamlined, responsible and robust governance and leadership structure.
Signatories to the COBoP Terms of Reference initially met three times a year for only one and a half hours. This meant delegating a lot of responsibility to working groups. There was recognition that central government regional managers and council Chief Executives needed further opportunities to discuss complex issues.
COBoP signatories have agreed that the next phase will be led by a much smaller group. The new Co-Governance group met for the first time in April 2008.
The review found that in the future participants need to be open to the network continually evolving, and finding new ways of working together to make progress on agreed priorities.
International experience suggests that “problem-solving networks will not become new, permanent organisations, but shifting sets of projects that are able to reconfigure themselves rapidly to meet changing local and national needs” (http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/collaborativestatecollection – 2007, p 20).
COBoP moving forward
Local and central government personnel involved in the review reflected on the challenges of resourcing ‘joined up’ thinking and work. They noted that through determined commitment and a spirit of goodwill, COBoP has gathered resources to date by ‘patching’ together small amounts from different sources.
The intent of the Local Government Act 2002 and the spirit of many central government strategies clearly indicate a requirement for collaboration. However, the COBoP experience to date has demonstrated that the collaborative focus needs to extend further into the policy and operational environments.
Bay of Plenty Managers from both central and local government have made a commitment to continue along the collaborative path at both regional and local levels.
The review process has provided an opportunity to share perspectives on success and progress, and on ways to overcome barriers to working together more effectively in the interests of people and communities in the Bay of Plenty.
More information
Review of Community Outcomes Bay of Plenty (COBoP) March 2008 (word 240 kb)
Putting Pen to Paper Profiles COBoP Case Study (pdf 628 kb)
http://www.envbop.govt.nz/CommunityOutcomes/COBoP.asp
http://www.safecommunities.org.nz/
Barbara MacLennan, Interface Facilitation Team Central Region Relationship Manager
