A Journey through Kaipara: Telling the story of the Kaipara Community Outcomes Process Steering Group (K-COP)

5. Reflecting on the Kaipara Community Outcomes Steering Group

What has worked well

Each agency involved in K-COP and Council's community outcomes processes have developed its own learning. This has impacted differently on the way individuals have subsequently worked.

As a general rule, representatives from all of the agencies interviewed found a number of ‘shared positives’ from being involved in K-COP.

Efficient use of resources

Group members spoke of the valuable role K-COP has played in both maximising and focusing resources in Kaipara, helping to get the right resource to the right place at the right time.

	“K-COP was a catalyst for people to start thinking about what they were doing together and ‘knowing together’, rather than stumbling round, doing things on their own. We had to think - what are we already doing that fits in with the Kaipara community outcomes? And what could we be doing?" “It’s useful to have a collective voice for Kaipara and to hear about the broader objectives of organisations and agencies. A lot of goals and objectives are similar and the network provides opportunities to think about the best use of resources around where and what is happening.” “There’s been joint thinking done – for example on access to services – and more is needed, like on how to open-up economic opportunities. The opportunities are huge for collaborative work on issues such as transport. Agencies will continue to work on initiatives, and the network connections made makes it easier to get directly to the right people.”

“K-COP was a catalyst for people to start thinking about what they were doing together and ‘knowing together’, rather than stumbling round, doing things on their own. We had to think - what are we already doing that fits in with the Kaipara community outcomes? And what could we be doing?"

“It’s useful to have a collective voice for Kaipara and to hear about the broader objectives of organisations and agencies. A lot of goals and objectives are similar and the network provides opportunities to think about the best use of resources around where and what is happening.”

“There’s been joint thinking done – for example on access to services – and more is needed, like on how to open-up economic opportunities. The opportunities are huge for collaborative work on issues such as transport. Agencies will continue to work on initiatives, and the network connections made makes it easier to get directly to the right people.”

Networking and relationship building

K-COP members valued the work-related networks developed through involvement in K-COP, and how personal relationships (putting faces to names) could benefit both their own work and the work of K-COP.

	“It makes people commit to a particular thing in Kaipara, and look at how a group or an organisation can be used. It’s meant to be more than just introducing yourself and saying what you do. It’s useful depending on where projects are at. You can use the Steering Group to target people at that level for your own organisation's objectives. You can use it as a reference, you can utilise the role of the group, and the links to key agencies.” “The work and networking might have gone on anyway, but the group played an important part. It was visionary at start - now networking and information sharing is accepted behaviour. It makes it easier to contact the right people. New funding and projects are attracted to the idea that everyone is working together – they pick Kaipara because we are working together.” “The K-COP Steering Group has meant personal connections. When a problem comes over your desk, you can go to the right person in an organisation or agency – it makes it much easier to connect.”

“It makes people commit to a particular thing in Kaipara, and look at how a group or an organisation can be used. It’s meant to be more than just introducing yourself and saying what you do. It’s useful depending on where projects are at. You can use the Steering Group to target people at that level for your own organisation's objectives. You can use it as a reference, you can utilise the role of the group, and the links to key agencies.”

“The work and networking might have gone on anyway, but the group played an important part. It was visionary at start - now networking and information sharing is accepted behaviour. It makes it easier to contact the right people. New funding and projects are attracted to the idea that everyone is working together – they pick Kaipara because we are working together.”

“The K-COP Steering Group has meant personal connections. When a problem comes over your desk, you can go to the right person in an organisation or agency – it makes it much easier to connect.”

Diversity, leadership, and limited ‘churn’

As mentioned earlier, people commented positively on two particular characteristics of K-COP – the limited ‘churn’ of representatives, and the wide range of agencies represented.

People saw this as a product of the strong leadership role of the Kaipara District Council – agency representatives needed to be at this important forum and needed to be seen there, it was not a job to be delegated.

K-COP has also given agencies new experiences – both working with other agencies with whom they were not familiar, and also engaging at the coal-face with local people through the project groups.

There is a strongly held view that the Kaipara District Council led the way amongst local authorities in challenging government agencies to be accountable for the delivery of the outputs they are charged with ‘on the ground.’

Current challenges

After some eight years of existence, K-COP has reached a ‘point of maturation,’(9) and there are a range of issues members identified as concerning. These can be grouped into three main areas.

1. The role of K-COP in a crowded intersectoral landscape

Kaipara (and particularly Dargaville, where K-COP is based) is known as having strong and deep links within the local social services sector. As one K-COP participant commented there are ‘networks to Africa’ in Kaipara.

In particular there is an active Community Networkers Group, made of local health and education providers, that has regular meetings that some K-COP members attend.

There was debate as to whether K-COP, and more particularly the Access to Services and Youth Connections project groups, overlapped and duplicated the role of the Community Networkers Group.

As well as local Kaipara-based coordinating groups, a number of inter-departmental groupings exist in the Northland region: the Northland Labour Market Forum and the Northern Intersectoral Forum, for example.

People were unclear whether K-COP connected with the Northern Intersectoral Forum, and what the relationship is between the two groups, particularly in the current political/economic environment.

	“I’m unsure what is happening now – the Northern Intersectoral Forum may have detracted from K-COP and increased focus on regional work.”

There was also a lack of clarity about where departmental plans, such as Local Service Mapping, fit with K-COP, whether they are explicitly linked to the community outcomes agenda, and if so, in what way.

There was a sense that some discussion about the roles of, and relationships between, the different organisations and their plans would be useful at this point.

2. The current status of K-COP and its project groups

There is a perception held by most of those interviewed that K-COP has lost momentum over the last couple of years.

	“Sometimes there’s frustration – I’m not sure what’s going on or why we are there.” “It could maybe do with a bit more focus.” “It was visionary at the start – it feels that over time that the group has lost direction – are we just ticking boxes?”

“Sometimes there’s frustration – I’m not sure what’s going on or why we are there.”

“It could maybe do with a bit more focus.”

“It was visionary at the start – it feels that over time that the group has lost direction – are we just ticking boxes?”

There were also some queries about the level and type of activity occurring in the project groups.

	“I’m unclear as to what the project groups were and where they’re at now.” “Some things are in danger of just being ‘tick box’ exercises.” “What has it achieved? [Kaipara District Council’s] drive for projects to be developed and happen didn’t work.”

“I’m unclear as to what the project groups were and where they’re at now.”

“Some things are in danger of just being ‘tick box’ exercises.”

“What has it achieved? [Kaipara District Council’s] drive for projects to be developed and happen didn’t work.”

Some expressed the view that K-COP needed to be more open to the reality that all members had different and specific areas of responsibility, and attended as representatives of their organisations.

	“As a representative of a government agency, am I going to get bagged if I am not doing the right thing, when I can only improve on our core business?” “It can be quite simplistic – for example ‘if you people just aligned services’ – it’s not that simple. And it can be quite divisive – sometimes you can feel publicly attacked.”

“As a representative of a government agency, am I going to get bagged if I am not doing the right thing, when I can only improve on our core business?”

“It can be quite simplistic – for example ‘if you people just aligned services’ – it’s not that simple. And it can be quite divisive – sometimes you can feel publicly attacked.”

Rather than challenging participants to get out of their silos, the consensus was that acknowledging the diverse nature of K-COP and exploring ‘what can we work on together from our differing perspectives’ would be a useful and timely approach to take.

3. The future direction of K-COP: the need for renewal

The main challenge expressed was the need for new thinking within K-COP. This does not mean new people, but an injection of new ideas from existing members.

	“There was high energy in Kaipara District Council from 2001 to 2006/07. The group needs another injection of energy.” “It seems like it is time for people to invest in a group project (but) how do we prioritise and agree?” “The group needs some achievements - runs on the board.”

“There was high energy in Kaipara District Council from 2001 to 2006/07. The group needs another injection of energy.”

“It seems like it is time for people to invest in a group project (but) how do we prioritise and agree?”

“The group needs some achievements - runs on the board.”

While a diversity of views was expressed as to what is specifically needed (10), there was a unanimous desire to be part of an active process to refresh K-COP. Members felt they have an investment in ensuring that K-COP continues to have traction within the Kaipara district, and to provide an example of good practice of central-local government/community sector collaboration.

Some insights

While K-COP works within one specific location, other organisations that are seeking to bring central government, local government and key community sector organisations together for a common purpose can learn from K-COP’s experience.

1. K-COP’s role as a facilitator of networks, an information clearinghouse and a grower of collaborative practices

	“It’s another useful network - new people to connect to – and [a source of] government department information.” “The forum is a good place to learn about everyone’s work and services – we assume that people know what is going on – but we have to keep updating the information. It plays a really important role of information sharing – who is doing what, what funding is around, who’s using it.” “It provides a two-way link with what is going on – about personnel changes and updates to networks.”

“It’s another useful network - new people to connect to – and [a source of] government department information.”

“The forum is a good place to learn about everyone’s work and services – we assume that people know what is going on – but we have to keep updating the information. It plays a really important role of information sharing – who is doing what, what funding is around, who’s using it.”

“It provides a two-way link with what is going on – about personnel changes and updates to networks.”

2. K-COP’s role in providing critical leverage

People pointed out the value K-COP adds by giving weight to a project, providing the opportunity to pool existing resources, and to link what would otherwise be discrete individual projects together.

	“The Steering Group is an opportunity for us to talk about collaborative projects currently in place or to be initiated. We can then look at pooling resources towards projects.” “Local Services Mapping would have happened in the Kaipara anyway but having the Access to Services project group work as the steering group was really useful for pulling information together quickly.” “It’s an opportunity to test ideas with heads of Departments – what works, what other links can be made – where is the money?”

“The Steering Group is an opportunity for us to talk about collaborative projects currently in place or to be initiated. We can then look at pooling resources towards projects.”

“Local Services Mapping would have happened in the Kaipara anyway but having the Access to Services project group work as the steering group was really useful for pulling information together quickly.”

“It’s an opportunity to test ideas with heads of Departments – what works, what other links can be made – where is the money?”

3. K-COP’s ability to maximise relationship–based networks and the capacity of organisations

K-COP has helped foster personal relationships and networks between agency representatives, and by so doing has opened up the institutional knowledge of agencies to practical effect.

	“The decisions we made were evidence based on the statistics we all had, plus anecdotal - based on people’s personal knowledge.”

Its ability to harness the human and organisational capacity of a wide range of agencies on a consistent basis has given K-COP a vast stock of knowledge to draw on.

(9) One K-COP member referred to the stages of group processes with regard to K-COP (forming, storming, norming, performing, transforming or adjourning) but did not express an opinion on what stage K-COP was at. While no K-COP members referred to the partnership model continuum (co-existence, networking, co-operation, collaboration, partnership head and heart), the evidence suggests that K-COP would sit at the co-operation/collaboration point on the continuum (see appendix two).

(10) As examples, some people felt that K-COP needed dedicated project funding; others felt K-COP’s lack of funding was “liberating”; some suggested meeting at different locations and having a revolving chairperson, while others felt the group needed the opposite at the moment to enhance its stability, consistency and cohesion.

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