KŌ Kollective Trust Submission to Ōpōtiki District Council's Long Term Plan

KKT submits that Ōpōtiki District Council work with local Ōpōtiki voluntary and community sector, and other stakeholders to undertake the following BEFORE deciding about the nature, scope, and future role that ODC may play in the social development space:

- Assess the current ‘social value’ created by existing procurement and other

service delivery activities undertaken by the ODC - The jurisdiction with the most

comprehensive guidance around assessing and measuring social value is the United

Kingdom. The UK Public Services Act (2013) requires all public sector organisations,

and their suppliers, to look beyond the financial cost of a contract and consider how

the services they commiss

ion and procure might improve the economic, social, and

environmental well-being of an area. Councils, along with the rest of the public sector

are encouraged to use procurement to achieve wider financial and non-financial

outcomes, including improving wellbeing of individuals, communities, and the

environment by making social value a decision-making criterion when awarding

contracts. Before they start the procurement process, commissioners should think

about whether the services they are going to buy, or the way they are going to buy

them, could secure these benefits for their area or stakeholders. The Act is a tool to

help commissioners get more value for money out of procurement. It also

encourages commissioners to talk to their local provider market or community to

design better services, often finding new and innovative solutions to difficult

problems. In short, ODC is already in the business of creating social value as part of

its broad suite of competencies and activities conducted under the Local Government

Act (2002). Before thinking about further social development activity, what is the

‘social value’ currently created by the ODC, and how can further social value be

released by ODC?

Note: social value is a measurable outcome attributed from social development and

other activities.

- Engage with Ōpōtiki voluntary and community sector stakeholders to map

existing social value and social development activity being undertaken – There

are several stakeholders and organisations in the Ōpōtiki community that currently

undertake social development activities to create social value. In the case of the

Ōpōtiki Maori Women’s Welfare League – there is a long history of local volunteer

investing in women and whānau by building social connections, supporting, and

enabling whānau to upskill, utilizing existing community assets to meet existing

health and social care needs, and delivering services. The consultation document

(page 22 Issue 4 – social development – signaling a new community chapter) fails to

recognise the vast amount of social development mahi and social value that exists

and is being created as a direct result of the work of our Ōpōtiki people. By not

understanding existing social development activity in our local community, ODC runs

the risk of duplication, or worse, undermining the existing social development mahi

already being conducted in our community.

- Identify demand for social value infrastructure, gaps and which stakeholders

are best placed to lead and/or contribute to social value and social

development – It is unclear as to what social development ‘need’ the Ōpōtiki District

Council is seeking to respond to or address. Page 22 includes a lot of discussion

about business and employment. Option 2 refers to grant funding being sought as an

option to underwrite a leadership/coordination role in the social development space.

Furthermore, Option 2 (page 22) appears to put the Council in direct competition with

other Ōpōtiki community stakeholders that use grant funding from government

agencies to deliver existing social development work in Ōpōtiki. There is no

evidence provided in the consultation document as to the level of need for social

development, which specific social domains require development, which

stakeholders are responsible for the different social development domains and

whether the Council is best placed to lead or coordinate this activity. To support

social development “needs assessment”, ODC may wish to have regard to the

Canterbury Wellbeing Index (CWI) as a model for assessing social development

need. The CWI includes a series of indicators and measures related to “social

capital” and some of the data that informs the specific measures are drawn from

publicly available data sets such as the NZ Census.

- Work alongside Ōpōtiki voluntary and community sector and other

stakeholders and other government agencies to develop a strategic framework

for social development and social value creation that harnesses, maximises

and grows existing social value assets, knowledge, and expertise – This

approach recognises that ODC is a stakeholder in the social development area but

does not seek to predetermine how or what role the ODC might play in this space. It

is the Trust’s position that the consultation document does not provide sufficient

information or detailed analysis to support any of the identified options. However, the

aforementioned actions provide a road map for answering how the ODC might come

to better understand the scope and nature of its role in the social development space

over the next decade.