About Us

For over two decades Community Waitakere has engaged with the community, communicating with diverse groups and consulting on issues of import, often bridging the divide between local authorities or government agencies and the grassroots. This experience has proved valuable in building strong community networks and effective processes to engage with the community. It has enabled Community Waitakere to be successful in brokering demand for community services, enabling community development and responding to community and environmental issues. We have now taken the bold step to crystalise this experience into an offering to the broader community, local government and business sectors, and launched CWEngage!

Services Offered

• Consultation and engagement methodology, project design and planning.
• Identifying who should be consulted in environmental, community or economic projects.
• Designing surveys and the consultation spaces.
• Identify statistically valid samples and methodologies.
• Engaging with a wide range of community groups in different settings.
• Distilling data and information to identify valid responses and key themes emerging from consultations.
• Carry out surveys and questionnaires.
• Establish networks and groups for ongoing consultation, engagement and surveys.
• Provide constructive and sensitive reports on consultation outcomes.
• Draft and present reports to gatherings and professional or community groups.
• Community needs surveys.
• Hosting and chairing forums for consultation and community engagement where diverse (and often conflicting) opinions are aired.

Techniques Used

• User Surveys utilising iPad Apps to assist with real-time processing and updating of information
• Email responses
• Public meetings and hui
• In depth interviews
• Door to door discussions
• Focus groups
• Facilitated consultation
• Mediation
• Presentations and feedback meetings
• Panui and Newsletters
• Web-site and social media communications

Our Team

Our team is lead by Charlie Moore with the backing of Community Waitakere staff and contracted students for more labour intensive interviewing.

• Charlie Moore - CE of Community Waitakere has strong experience in the social development and community space from Dept of Labour, Dept of Internal Affairs, Families Commission, Community Employment and a number of years with Community Waitakere.

Typical Examples of work Involving Our Team

• Working alongside communities in Avondale, Glen Eden, Kelston and Lincoln North facilitating neighbourhood planning, mapping community assets and initiating placemaking activities. 
• Open Door Days providing networking and collaborative opportunities for people working with West Auckland’s community and voluntary sector.
• Resource Centre and Digital Hub: Community Waitakere provides friendly event and meeting space in central Henderson and publishes an e newsletter 3 times a week to 1,000 subscribers.
• Project Twin Streams: Community Waitakere has delivered Project Twin Streams on Henderson Creek since 2006. This is a combination of environmental education, creative engagement, and a range of stream restoration activities including site preparation, planting, weeding and ongoing maintenance.
• Community Waitakere delivered the Citizen Science programme for Sustainable Catchments for the first 6 months of 2016. This project trialled and evaluated the effectiveness of various Citizen Science techniques and protocols as water quality indicators and community engagement tools.
• Community Economic Development Conferences: With a focus on social enterprise, social finance, developing community assets and how profits can be utilised for the benefit of communities, the second of these conferences was hosted by Community Waitakere at the Trusts Stadium; attracting over 300 delegates and 50 presenters from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and from within Aotearoa New Zealand.
• Carried out alumni, membership and stakeholders surveys for Youthtown’s strategic directions and neighbourhood engagement activities with regard to its Nelson Street facility. 
• Consulting widely with the hundreds of members of LandSAR to establish directions for their organisation.
• Consulting with Iwi representatives in the Tairawhiti area to establish multimillion-dollar tourism infrastructure initiatives.
• Consulting with communities in Northland to establish the location of CYF delivery sites.

Our overall team has extensive experience in a wide range of areas.
This includes:

• Design and delivery of neighbourhood planning processes.
• Development and facilitation of grassroots leadership development programmes.
• Working with Maori communities and urban marae.
• Facilitation of capability building and training programmes in the community sector.
• Management of community resource centre and e newsletter.
• Design and implementation of community environmental initiatives.
• Managing diverse stakeholder relationships (including local and central government) for extended periods of time.