Adopt a Community Engagement Tool (NZ0024)

Objective

Adoption by the Public Service of the Policy Community Engagement Tool (PCET) to lift the quality of community engagement for significant initiatives. Meaningful citizen engagement is core to open government, and critical to achieving better quality outcomes for all. Effective engagement allows those who are affected by a decision, or interested in an issue, to be involved in policy design, development and decision making. Quality engagement helps create robust policy that reflects the values and aspirations of the community. Policy decisions, resulting from an inclusive and collaborative process, have more credibility. Meaningful engagement with diverse people and communities (including communities empowered to make their own decisions on matters that are deeply important to them), will increase public trust and confidence in government.

Ambition

The aim is to ensure that community engagement on ‘significant’ initiatives is well-designed, planned and delivered. Requiring Public Service agencies to use the Policy Community Engagement Tool will improve how they design engagements from the outset. The trust relationship between government and citizens is enhanced if all parties to an engagement understand their level of participation in the process at the outset, and what that means. It also includes ensuring the engagement methods and processes used reflect the expectations about the level of participation, and what has been promised. Applying this approach will increase public trust and supports a well-functioning democracy. It will enhance Māori-Crown relationships by providing the mechanism for those affected to work through complex long-term issues in a way that is inclusive of all interests and communities.

Status Quo

Community engagement in government policymaking has often been at the level of ‘consult’. In addition, community engagement practice has not been consistent across government. Work to strengthen community engagement was initiated under Commitment 5 of the Third National Action Plan. The Policy Project, a unit based in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, surveyed policy advisors, community representatives and engagement specialists to better understand their experience of community engagement, and to gain insights to improve participation in policy making. The survey demonstrated a well-understood need to improve government’s approach to community engagement. As a result, the Policy Project created a toolbox of resources to support agency engagement with communities. The Policy Project has since designed the PCET, which is being piloted by agencies involved in the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain (RCOI). The PCET supports RCOI recommendation 38, which requires all public sector community engagement to be in accordance with New Zealand’s OGP commitment. The PCET will be revised in light of feedback on its use during the pilot, ready for adaption for all-of-government use.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi

Developing and applying the International Association for Public Participation’s spectrum of public participation to public engagement in the context of Te Tiriti is likely to: lead to more effective engagement with Māori as both citizens and iwi; produce better quality outcomes; and support Māori-Crown partnerships. There is a distinction between involvement of Māori as citizens and engagement with iwi as Treaty partners in public engagement processes. However, both can help to strengthen relationships between Māori and the Crown and improve decision-making. Lessons learnt and experiences can be shared between Māori-Crown partnership approaches and participatory approaches more broadly.

OGP Values: Transparency, Accountability, Public Participation

Milestones

Verifiable and measurable milestones to fulfil the commitment | Start date - End date

Review use of the policy community engagement tool in the RCOI pilot phase and prepare tool for adoption by all Public Service agencies | January 2023 - June 2023

Develop a model standard issued by the Public Service Commissioner to support the use of the community engagement tool by the Public Service for significant initiatives. Includes defining ‘significant’ with key stakeholders | January 2023 - June 2023

Design reporting requirements for use of the policy community engagement tool by Public Service agencies | April 2023 - November 2024

Establish and maintain a community of practice | June 2023 - Ongoing

Action Plan Review

Commitment 1. Adopt a Community Engagement Tool

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● Potential for results: Substantial

Commitment 1. Adopt a Community Engagement Tool

For a complete description of the commitment, see Commitment 1 in New Zealand’s 2022–2024 Action Plan: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/new-zealand-action-plan-2022-2024-december/.

Context and objectives:

Through this commitment, the Public Services Commission | Te Kawa Mataaho (TKM) aims to support all public service agencies to adopt the Policy Community Engagement Tool for significant issues. The tool was produced under the previous action plan, [1] based on IAP2 principles. [2] This tool was piloted to engage with community groups affected by the terrorist attack on two Christchurch mosques in March 2018, [3] which deepened the tool’s usability in contexts wider than policy development. The tool was launched in December 2021 and provides hands-on guidance for policy teams and their agencies on how to conduct inclusive, respectful, and meaningful community engagement. [4] To support public service agencies’ adoption of the tool, TKM plans to develop and implement a model standard, [5] and strengthen the relevant community of practice. The commitment was proposed by CSOs eager to see engagement with civil society practiced more widely and consistently across government agencies. [6]

Potential for results: Modest

Currently, public sector agencies use many and varied methods to engage with the public, with different arms of government conducting community engagement in ways that can appear inconsistent. [7] The result is that civil society must frequently adapt to the preferences and procedures of a particular department. [8] During the years preceding this action plan, a network of environmental organisations noted a substantial contraction in opportunities for public participation in the policy areas of environmental law, resource management, and housing and urban development. Stakeholders also noted that for some ministries, consultations favoured CSOs that were “familiar faces.” [9] Overall, policy practitioners, engagement specialists, community members, and organisations surveyed by the Policy Project in 2020 agreed that government needs to improve how it engages. [10]

Implementation of this commitment could address gaps in community engagement by supporting public service agencies to adopt standard practices and approaches for when and how to initiate community engagement. Use of the Policy Community Engagement Tool will be expected for “significant initiatives,” although the commitment does not define what constitutes a significant initiative. (According to TKM, this will be defined during the implementation period.) [11] The tool offers guidance on designing, planning, implementing, sharing results, and evaluating community engagement. [12] Through a review, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet intends to incorporate any learning from use of the tool. [13]

This commitment has modest potential to improve community engagement practices, as it does not plan to mandate adoption of this tool by all public sector agencies. Over time, it could be expected that capability to engage effectively will grow both among government agencies and civil society. TKM notes that a small community of practice within government is already experienced in community engagement in the policy and Royal Commission of Inquiry contexts. This commitment will encourage its growth. [14] Members of the EAP expect the commitment to build competence and experience in both civil society and public sector organisations.. [15]

Opportunities, challenges, and recommendations during implementation

In the view of the EAP, [16] Trust Democracy NZ, and the Council for Civil Liberties, [17] involvement of civil society in oversight of the implementation of this commitment is key to achieving open government results. So too is monitoring the implementation and use of the tool in ways that encourage an inclusive community of practice to grow and share learning across government agencies and civil society. CSOs encourage progressive reporting of experience with use of the tool to support continued improvement of government community engagement practices. [18] For effective implementation, IRM recommends the following:

● Systematically include participation by CSOs in implementation of the commitment. For example, in the planned review of the public engagement tool, TKM can include members of the public and civil society that have been involved in the public engagement exercises and make a report on the review publicly available. Likewise, in formulating the model standard, TKM can provide opportunities for collaboration with the public and civil society stakeholders, including in formulating the definition of “significant initiatives.”

● Encourage public service agencies’ uptake of the tool through setting the expectation of its adoption for all significant initiatives, where failure to do so would be open to scrutiny of the Auditor General. Adoption can also be supported by raising awareness, training, and developing principles for revision of departmental strategies, policies, and practices on community engagement. Encourage voluntary adoption of the tool for all engagement exercises, not just those to be defined as “significant.”

● Enable processes that ensure learning from each use of the tool and subsequent updates to the tool to reflect lessons learned. This would create opportunities to ensure that the tool remains fit for purpose as society and the public services changes.

● Encourage inclusivity in the planned community of practice on community engagement by including public sector officials alongside members of civil society, academia, the private sector, and the public.

● Use this tool to support co- creation of the next OGP action plan, as the development process will run concurrently with this commitment’s implementation. Use of the tool can both strengthen the next co-creation process and leverage the next action plan to build on progress and achievements under this commitment. [19]