Entry received from: Manawatū District Council
Category: The Department of Internal Affairs Award for Excellence in Community Engagement
For any plan to be successful, the needs and concerns of key stakeholders should always be considered right at the very start. How else can you determine what path you might take, or what trades and balances you might have to strike to pitch it just right?
All too often though, these plans, integral to the development and sustainability of the places we call home are drafted and crafted without the voice of the community they serve being woven through their pages.
Our brief was simple: find out what people living in the Manawatū want our Council to think about and consider as we pulled together our next long-term plan.
What transpired was an early engagement package designed to speak to our residents and ask them one simple question:
Through tried and tested engagement approaches, interwoven with a few new tricks and tactics, What Matters, Manawatū? captured the voices of over 2000 of our residents to help shape the early draft of our long-term plan.
It was a true team effort; delivered by staff from across the organisation, in collaboration with our elected members, it authentically brought everyone along on the journey.
Thank you to our category sponsor