Hutt City Council is the winner of this year's MartinJenkins Award for Collaborative Government Action for its project 'Takai Here Tāngata'. Central Hawkes Bay District Council has also been highly commended in this category.
Presented by Michael Mills, Director at MartinJenkins, this award recognises outstanding results that have been achieved through local authorities working with other government agencies. This category could include programmes or projects from any area, provided there is a demonstrable community benefit, and the approach is transferable to other local authorities.
Takai Here Tāngata (binding people together) is an urban village of 19 houses built situated on Te Ara o Takapā in Taitā, Lower Hutt. It is the result of Hutt City’s innovative partnership with its property arm Urban Plus Ltd, Kahungunu Whānau Services, and Te Rānanganui o Te Āti Awa
The judges said "good housing outcomes make positive outcomes in other areas so much easier to achieve. We regard Takai Here Tāngata as a proof of concept for a highly transferable methodology that has the potential to deliver housing at scale."
The judges also highly commended Central Hawkes Bay District Council for its 'Jobs for the Central Hawkes Bay' project. This is a collaboration between Mayors' Taskforce for Jobs, the Ministry of Social Development, Central Hawke's Bay District Council, and local government agencies working within the skills, training and employment sector to enable local voices to resolve barriers and implement opportunities which long-term benefit the community.
The judges said "jobs for the Central Hawkes Bay is a great example of a small councils a working successfully with multiple government agencies to deliver wellbeing objectives. An important result for the sector – especially those in smaller local authorities!"
This award's sponsor, MartinJenkins, works at the intersection of government and business, helping organisations navigate and implement policy, regulatory and organisation change to improve organisational performance and the lives of all New Zealanders. MartinJenkins is an organisation made up of people who want to be of service. They have an investment in excellence that goes beyond just getting the job done.
This is the third year that MartinJenkins has sponsored a category in the Excellence Awards, and the second year as sponsor of this category.