Building Better Government Engagement (BBGE)

According to 'It's More Than Talk', the core issue is that central government agencies are not yet sufficiently committed to, and skilled at, collaborating with citizens and community organisations in order to jointly tackle societal problems. Tensions are created by: • The perceived culture of government (eg: perceived lack of respect, too much dictation of process and agenda-setting, fear of loss of control, frequent staff turnover affecting ongoing relationships, the value of community organisations’ advocacy is overlooked, fear of critical media or political attention.) • lack of organisational commitment to effective engagement (eg: insufficient recognition of engagement in strategic planning documents, read more  …

'It's More Than Talk' suggests government can take action in four areas: Government and organisational commitment, and building government capability and community capacity. Government commitment ideas include: • Establish a joint Ministers group to explore ways to progress commitment in the Statement of Government Intentions for an Improved Community-Government Relationship • Agencies include commitments to participatory processes in their Statements of Intent (eg: show how they intend to work with other organisations in order to achieve their outcomes) • Chief Executives’ Letters of Expectations include actions to respond to the Statement of Government Intentions for an Improved Community-Government Relationship as read more  …

On this site, we have included the actions identified by the BBGE reference group in five quick surveys for you to vote on. But we want to know more about what you think of the proposed actions. Perhaps there are two or three actions in one of the surveys that you think should be prioritised. (You can only vote for one in each survey, but you can add a comment here to highlight areas you feel are important). Go to the surveys Also use this space to suggest other ideas. (If you post them early enough, we could add them to the surveys or create a new survey based on your fresh suggestions.) 

Notes from the face-to-face meetings are gradually being added to the library on this website. If you attended one of these meetings, please read the notes and let us know via this discussion whether there are any points that need correcting, clarifying or adding to.
If you didn't attend the meetings, but see something of interest in the notes, please share your thoughts here - whether you agree, disagree or have some extra detail to contribute.
All you ideas and contributions are welcome. 

I think the following are necessary for there to be "effective community engagement within the public service"
* specified relationships between local, regional and central government frameworks * distinction of participatory democracy (inherent in the LGAct 2002) from representative democracy * clarity about how the Third Sector can have its voice respected and heard particularly when those voices emerge from a community development approach that is independent of Government (whether local, regional or central) * recognition of non-Maori approaches to Tiriti-based development which are rooted in localities and are in relation to mana whenua groups
I don't know how to fit these comments, if at all, in the discussion paper.
This is very truncated as I am still having real difficulty with typing as I do not have use of my (dominant) right hand.  

As Albert Einstein said “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them”
As I see it part of the problem is the often large disconnect between those in government, developing policy and those in the community who will be affected by those policies. As some have pointed out those in the civil service are often caught in between these extremes. It seems a complex web of relationships, thinking and consulting has developed trying to connect government thinking to community need, from the top down. I wonder if every new consultation process read more  …