City: Lower Hutt, New Zealand

Reporting to: Engagement Lead

The Challenge

As the nature of civic engagement shifts, Lower Hutt faces a significant challenge. Globally, societal expectations are shifting toward greater transparency, inclusivity, and collaboration in governance—and communities are demanding more involvement in decision-making processes. At the same time, trust in public institutions is rapidly declining. Nationally, a 2023 New Zealand Parliamentary survey found that only 13% of citizens engage with the central government—and New Zealanders place more trust in the police (71%) and the judicial systems (60%) than in the central government (46%). A 2023 independent review into New Zealand’s local democracy and governance, “Future For Local Government Review,” found that New Zealand local councils often see local engagement as “transactional” rather than a means of fostering meaningful collaboration with the public. The report further recommended that “local government and councils develop and invest in democratic innovations, including participatory and deliberative democracy processes.”

In Lower Hutt, a resident satisfaction survey from June 2024 showed that residents are dissatisfied with the local council’s communications and engagement. An independent report into the city council’s representation arrangements noted several opportunities to improve engagement across the city. Council officials are implementing a work program to transform community engagement practices and rebuild trust in democratic processes, with initial ideas described in Chapter 10 of the report. This challenge is a local and national priority for our mayor, who, as Vice President of Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ), aims to strengthen local governance and empower communities across the country. LGNZ’s “Choose Localism” campaign—inspired by the Future for Local Government reportadvocates for shifting decision-making closer to communities and encouraging councils across New Zealand to adopt innovative, place-based engagement practices that build trust with local governance. Locally, the mayor aims to harness infrastructure projects, like Te Wai Takamori o Te Awa Kairangi, to revitalize the city center. These projects will significantly disrupt Lower Hutt, making effective community engagement critical to gaining public trust, building resilience, and securing buy-in.

The council has strengthened and expanded its communication and engagement functions by establishing a strategic engagement team to provide oversight and build capability across the organization. This new team comprises four staff members and is part of the Council’s Strategy and Engagement directorate.  Through the “Connected Communities” approach, dedicated neighborhood coordinators now serve as key contact points in city suburbs, helping connect community groups and foster grassroots activities. The council has also prioritized the continuous evaluation and improvement of these engagement methods, the resident satisfaction survey being one mechanism in this process. One key finding is that, while participation in engagement activities is high among older, Pākehā (white European) residents, involvement is lower among Māori, Pasifika, and migrant communities—among the fastest-growing demographics in Lower Hutt. Increasing participation among these groups is critical to ensuring Council decisions reflect the community’s diversity and include all residents’ perspectives.

To help foster connection in the Lower Hutt community, the fellow will develop a practical tool for evaluating the impact of participatory engagement practices. The evaluation tool will feed into the Council’s implementation of an Engagement Framework and Action Plan to support our commitment to meaningful community interaction and transparent, inclusive, and effective engagement. The goal is to foster trust and increase civic participation. The fellow will work with stakeholders and internal teams to conduct research, analyze, and answer the following key questions:

• Beyond specific projects, how can we evaluate the long-term impacts of engagement practices on civic participation?
• How can we evaluate the value of participatory engagement in reducing misinformation and driving public awareness of local government processes?
• How can we measure changes in demographic representation in engagement activities to identify areas for improvement and support inclusivity?
• How can participatory engagement practices build trust in local government, and what methods can be used to assess this impact in the long term?

What You’ll Do

To address these questions, the fellow will engage key internal and external stakeholders, including iwi mana whenua (indigenous Māori tribes with authority over the local area), the mayor, elected members, communities of interest (Māori, Pasifika, Ethnic Migrant, LGBTQIA+, people with disabilities, rangatahi/youth, seniors), businesses, residents, community organizations, and local groups. The fellow will be part of our new strategic engagement team, which is dedicated to transforming our previous model of resident engagement with a stronger focus on improving the quality and consistency of engagement across the organization. In addition to becoming more strategic in our engagement approaches, the team seeks to educate staff on the value of engagement, expectations, planning, and best practices.

Key deliverables include:

1. A baseline report summarizing initial trust and engagement levels across all demographics
2. Proposed target outcomes to increase civic participation, address community distrust, and build public trust in local government. These outcomes would be informed by interviews with key stakeholders as well as peer city research.
3. An evaluation framework proposal identifying key impact/evaluation indicators that measure progress against target outcomes.

The fellow’s work and proposal for an evaluation framework will have widespread benefits, helping the city measure how participatory and deliberative engagement activities lead to increased civic participation and greater public trust in the local government. They will also provide valuable data to inform future decision-making. By developing a robust, sustainable evaluation framework with the help of a skilled fellow, the Council will be better equipped to allocate resources effectively—and ensure that public funds are used to support the most popular engagement practices.

Success of the fellowship will be measured through the following:

• The tool’s ability to assess how engagement activities help increase civic participation, combat misinformation, and address community distrust
• Equipping the city with a framework to allocate resources effectively towards its most impactful projects
• The increased inclusivity of civic participation and decision-making strategies, as well as improved community perceptions of the city’s responsiveness

What You’ll Bring

• Data analysis
• Design thinking
• Policy analysis
• Qualitative interviewing and analysis
• Stakeholder engagement
• Impact and evaluation experience