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The Treaty of Waitangi is widely recognized as the founding document of New Zealand. While the Treaty has constitutional and legal status, its meaning and application in contemporary New Zealand society is the source of great debate. This paper unmasks the increasingly dominant and problem-saturated narrative of Treaty Fatigue circulating in public discourses in New Zealand and proposes an alternate inspiring narrative of Treaty Hope. In so doing, the paper examines the application and relevance of narrative ideas and practices in forging a preference for Treaty Hope and in fostering Treaty-based policies and practices in the work of government, and considers how community development practitioners in post-colonial settings may engage with New Zealand's experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between community development and working within bicultural contexts in Aotearoa New Zealand. It identifies a number of key themes that have been found by the authors to have significance for working with bicultural contexts. It provides definitions that are used within Aotearoa New Zealand and identifies how lessons learned in this country have relevance for an international context. While the paper examines the tensions and struggles in working within a bicultural framework, it also articulates possibilities for sustained change that has positive outcomes for diverse populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current Labour Government in Aotearoa1 New Zealand has overseen a revival of interest in devolved community decision-making and a burgeoning of locality-based community action and community development projects. This paper reports on a meta-analysis of ten community action projects. The activation, consolidation and transition or completion stages of the projects were examined to identify commonalities in structures and processes that either enhanced or impeded the projects meeting their objectives for social change. The importance of processes for critical reflection, the analysis of power dynamics between stakeholders, and recognition of the social, cultural and historical context of a project's genesis will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many years and certainly through the 1980s and 1990s, Christchurch has stood out amongst local governments in Aotearoa New Zealand for its steadfast support to social and community development. This paper charts that support from the beginnings of professional community development in the early 1970s to the period when it seemed only Christchurch keep the flame alive and was criticized for it. It is a case study of recent activities of the Anglican Care response to urban needs using its parish structure and action-research to develop innovative practice. The current challenges to community development activity both from the reduction in other social and health services and from government rationalization have placed considerable strain on community development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a case study of an attempt, using community development methods, by local members of a state-local partnership to gain more governance control in the face of central government dominance. The process highlighted in this case study was a community visioning exercise that built on existing networks at a local level to develop the higher degree of active community involvement required to achieve more autonomy to meet felt community needs throughout the local district.The resources activated through the community development process enabled the partnership to successfully challenge central government dominance and develop local initiatives. It also raised issues around the autonomous development of mana whenua (the indigenous people of that place) initiatives and those of outlying rural communities. The overall conclusion is one that supports a strategic approach to local empowerment through the community development processes of enhancing local interactive multi-stakeholder networks and using leverage to negotiate change, in this case, by exploiting seemingly endemic structural weaknesses of the central government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of local government as set out in section 10 of the New Zealand Local Government Act 2002 is to enable democratic decision-making and action by, and on behalf of, communities and to promote the social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing of communities in the present and for the future. This paper will cover the following areas.Articulate the purposes and objectives of the 2002 rewrite of New Zealand local government legislation, including the empowerment of communities, and the parallel with international practice in local government.Examine the theoretical and practical implications of the long term council community plan and the community development process.Critically examine the effectiveness of the approach to community development by New Zealand local councils where, unlike in other countries such as the United Kingdom, they do not have the role of providing social services.Explore the paradox of community development within the New Zealand statutory sector.Provide a framework that enables a more effective community consultation process for community development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a case study that illustrates how privileging children's voices in conversations has assisted our work with children who have witnessed domestic violence. Using the Child Crisis Team in Auckland, New Zealand as case study, we argue that as an inclusive practice child advocacy seeks to position children as active participants in the community development process rather than the passive recipients of adult hopes and dreams. To break the cycle of violence in the home, children's experiences and knowledge should be enabled to enter the space for the production of strategies and actions that enhance the creation of safe home environments, by incorporating their voices through respectful practice by professionals working in the areas of domestic violence and child protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community development in Aotearoa New Zealand can be conceptualized as three concurrent processes such as (1), statutory work undertaken by the State through central government departments and local authorities (consisting of a system of legislation, funding assistance to individuals, groups and organizations and the provision of social services), (2) social change processes undertaken primarily through the collective action of individuals, groups and organizations that give voice to marginalized groups and communities and (3) the forces of change within Tangata Whenua communities working for tino rangatiratanga, self determination. Three time-periods are identified to help structure the discussion that begins from 1840, the time of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between the Queen of England and Maori, the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand, signalling the birth of modern Aotearoa New Zealand. This paper argues that community development as policy and the practice (methodology) of social change through organizing, coordinating and initiating activities that enhance the wellbeing of individuals, groups and communities is more than ‘pedagogy of the oppressed’ and, therefore, cannot be conceptualized simply in terms of ‘resistance’. It is a holistic process of transformation encompassing socio-economic, political, cultural, environmental and spiritual dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the ways in which the language of ‘networking', ‘communities of practice’ and ‘learning in communities’ has been used to serve government policy priorities in the adult and community education (ACE) sector in Aotearoa New Zealand. The paper draws on research which explored the role of regional networks in meeting ACE practitioners' professional development needs. It reveals some of the problems arising from the attempt to impose an unclearly articulated ‘communities of practice’ approach to regional organization in the sector. These include lack of clarity about the role of networks whose parameters were imposed by government and the difficulty of building inclusivity and partnership into the process of network development, particularly in the context of the Treaty of Waitangi,1 which governs relationships between Pakeha (those of European settler origin) and Māori tangata whenua (the indigenous population). The paper discusses the ways in which theoretical concepts may be bent to meet contradictory agendas and suggests a more radical community development approach to networking which might be adopted in defence of ACE as it comes under attack from a newly elected government with a revised set of priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Collectives offer an alternative organisational structure to service delivery organisations that seek to embody critical social change. This model is challenging to implement as its assumptions and values are contrary to the dominant socio-political climate of economic rationalism. This paper explores experiences of two workers employed as coordinators in collective-based organisations in Australia and New Zealand. They share the joys and challenges of these experiences, and conclude with five key reflections about implementing this model: keeping reflective and honest about philosophical assumptions, keeping process central, having robust conflict resolution processes, reflect about the external factors influencing organisational structure, and finding ways to value workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Zealand organizations that are engaged in community development practice to empower women are disadvantaged under neo-liberal and Third Way-style policies of the New Zealand government. Recent research has shown that community development work in New Zealand has been marginalized as a result of partnering with government, due in part to a focus on the funding of service provision to meet government priorities rather than projects that respond directly to community-felt needs. Community development is further disadvantaged by the universalizing of social policy and inadequate mainstreaming of gender issues that has suppressed rather than advanced the place of women in community development. This article examines the effects of New Zealand's Third Way-style policies on women's community development, using examples from two women's organizations, Pacific Allied Women's Council Inspires Faith Ideals Concerning All (PACIFICA) and the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In indigenous community development there has been a reliance on critical theory to inform and underpin practice. In this article constructivist approaches such as Native theory provide an alternative theoretical basis to community development in a New Zealand Maori context. The study describes a Maori community development initiative in the southern South Island of New Zealand that was evaluated using Barr and Heshagen's ABCD framework of examining the inputs, outputs, processes and outcomes of a project. The conclusions supports a Native Theory approach that focuses on a community's strengths, using it's cultural processes where projects must be constructed on a case by case basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]