Tauranga - City On Its Feet Programme
Good practice lessons – key issues, project responses and outcomes
Project collaboration – Planning
This project has received funding from ACC, SPARC and BOPDHB. Having a diverse range of partners and working effectively with all of them requires forward planning. Each of these organisations has specific terms around the funding contract, and it was important to align these terms and expectations.
All the key stakeholders (SPARC, ACC, BOPDHB & Sport BOP) have an individual agreement with TCC regarding funding and the performance objectives of the project. The project parameters were established through initial collaboration between partners, prior to the active community’s application being made to SPARC. A project summary and working document was the way the steering committee members agreed to work together. The regular steering group meetings ensure all partners are well aware of progress towards annual plan, financial status etc, and this provides a regular forum to discuss any issues surrounding the programme.
The lesson learned here is that it is important to be aware of potential conflicts and differing requirements in advance, and to plan sufficient time to conclude legal discussions and arrangements, as well as balance the expectations of the organisations funding the project.
Project collaboration – Getting everyone onboard
While City On Its Feet targets people living in the Tauranga City area, the project also receives interest from people living outside of the city in neighbouring districts. Including these people in City On Its Feet activities is difficult because their city or district councils are not project partners.
The key lesson learned from this situation is the importance of getting buy-in from neighbouring councils as early as possible in the project.
The team believe that an alternative approach to allowing people living outside the council catchment area to participate may be to bring on board a regional body that encompasses a wider geographical area. Partnering with a regional council might help overcome issues of locality and help include people from districts outside the catchment area for TCC. Such partnerships could also be helpful with bringing in outlying districts into the project further down the track.
Political engagement at the Council level – projects that change people’s lives
The project did not have an elected member of council on the steering group. In retrospect, the project team feel that having direct involvement on the project team from a Council member would have been beneficial. The main form of reporting to elected members of council was a six-monthly report. One of the significant benefits of direct involvement, is in helping get political buy-in to the project.
This point is well illustrated by the experience of the City On Its Feet project team. Early in the project, at the first presentations, elected members were querying the project team on the budget and how many dollars were being spent per walker in the project. “Why do we need to spend money getting people to walk when they could get out and do it for themselves without spending a cent”? It was not until elected members began to hear feedback directly from people who had experienced City On Its Feet, that they began to see and understand more persuasive reasons for the project. For example, stories about how walking/physical activity and the community support around it had “changed their lives” and “made the difference”.
Another benefit to the project of having council members understand the impact of City On Its Feet was that it helped keep other aspects of the project at the forefront of the minds of those councillors. For example, separate increases in funding for items like walkways had more support due to the project. People involved in funding decisions could see that increasing spending on infrastructure would support the programme objectives.
Updated | 28 Feb 2008.
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