Big community needs assessment under way

October 27th, 2011
[by David Armstrong]

Motueka's a great place ... but it could be better. But what would make it a better community for us to live in? What is missing? Answers to this question are the focus of a Community Needs survey under way at present.

The first facet of this assessment is a questionnaire being conducted by the High School's Community Issues class among High Street shoppers until about next Wednesday. This will be expanded by distribution of the survey forms among community and service groups as well as a door-knocking effort.

The process is an initiative of the Motueka Uniting Church parish under the guidance of the minister, Peter Norman. The working group includes Shane Graham, and advisor at the Department of Internal Affairs based in Nelson, as well as two other Motueka community leaders.

The purpose of the project is to gather data which will identify service provision gaps within our community, and then to put in place an action plan. The High School-led survey is intended to gather baseline data. The organisers hope that anyone who is asked to take part in the survey can take a few minutes out to provide their opinions and suggestions.

Most of the questions gather basic facts (gender, age group) and overall opinions (do you think Motueka is a caring and safe community?), but four of them require detailed opinions and suggestions.

Identify the three best things about the Motueka community (with some suggestions for starters)
Which are the top five (of a list of 13) facilities or services you would like to see improved?
Are the following groups adequately looked after? The list includes the likes of young people, parents, elderly people, new migrants, seasonal workers etc.
What is one thing you would change to make Motueka a better community to live in?

The Motueka Uniting Working Group believe the outcomes will not just be a wordy report. Peter Norman says Internal Affairs have indicated funding would be made available for well-supported community developments. Clearly, the wider the range of opinions gained, the more valid the results will be, so as many residents as possible are urged to put forward their opinions and ideas.

The High School survey is the latest in a series conducted over several years on community issues, believed to be the only student community activity of this sort in New Zealand. The students of this term's class considered a presentation by Peter Norman about the usefulness of using this as the issue topic for term 4, and having agreed to take it on the students worked on the questions based on suggestions supplied by Peter. They intend to survey at least 400 people this week.

Peter says that so far the next step is undetermined. After the survey, returns from community groups and door-knocking interviews, the research data will be gathered and service gaps identified. Then it will be up to the data unearthed and the input from people of the community as to an implementation plan.

"The aim is to find out what the community wants," Peter told Motueka Online. "And it's not necessarily about getting and spending more money, but also making better use of existing resources.

"Motueka is an active community and there are lots of community groups providing particular services, but we need to ask the question: what do the community actually want? There are lots of facilities such as the Recreation Centre and Community House, but we need to ascertain what needs there are in the community."

The key concept behind the project is not to stir political bodies such as the District Council or the Community Board into providing more things from the top down, but to encourage "community led development", he says. The key elements of this process involve:

Priorities being determined by those who live, work, care, connect and invest in the place.
Recognising the interconnections of people and the local environment.
Understanding the make up, history and context of each unique community.
Community experience and knowledge being integral to the solutions.
Residents and organisations being encouraged to participate and actively lead.
Encouraging connections between diverse people, organisations and sectors to develop creative solutions and harness additional resources
Identifying existing local physical, cultural, environmental and 'people' assets and strengths and taking advantage of what each community does well.
Not dwelling on deficits or problem fixing, but asking instead 'what is the vision for our community' and 'how can we work together to make it happen'.
Acknowledging everyone has a contribution to make.
Actively seeking, growing and supporting new leadership within communities who can work with others to make things happen.
Going beyond one-off projects to longer term, sustainable change.

Motueka Online strongly supports this initiative. The interactive website is one excellent method of providing news and information about community-led developments as they occur, and allows comment and feedback by those interested in contributing. We intend to keep a monitoring watch on the work of the Community Needs Assessment project and to contribute ideas and a channel for further work.

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