In this talk Angie and Penny will take an indepth look at their place-based learning approach that connects ‘on the ground learning’ into systems, and the issues this approach is helping teams to address. Grounded in indigenous practices and drawing on a range of disciplines this learning approach enables communities and government to work together to implement what matters in place. The approach shifts the focus from individual interventions to what we can achieve collectively as an ecosystem, and what is needed structurally to support place-based and culturally grounded approaches. Flipping typical policy and decision-making processes, community partners and government teams work together in the learning and implementation process, developing practice-based evidence about what matters and makes the difference as we go. Through this practice the work of implementing change and achieving outcomes is understood as a collective responsibility. Such learning approaches challenge some of the dominant ideas of scale, expertise and evidence, and the role of policy and commissioning teams. We will examine these differences and what they offer, look at some of the key principles and key practices of this approach, and share what we are seeing in terms of benefits and challenges.
Penny assists organisations, teams and communities to take a systems-orientated approach to wellbeing. Working across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand Penny has supported cross-sector teams and communities to respond to complex socio-economic issues such as child and youth wellbeing, youth employment, chronic health conditions and family and sexual violence by connecting policy and evidence to the lived realities and aspirations of communities. Penny has a PhD in participatory design and her work integrates approaches from wellbeing, health, design, youth development, systems, adult learning and evaluation disciplines.
Penny current co-leads The Auckland Co-design Lab, a local-central government innovation and learning initiative based inside The Southern Initative at Auckland Council. The Lab builds the capability of the public sector to enable more localised, place-based and and complexity-informed ways of working alongside whānau and communities. The Lab is a learning partner with community and government, supporting the development of practice-based evidence that connects what works and matters to communities to policy and implementation practice.
Angie Tangaere was born in Papakura and raised in South Auckland with a whakapapa to Ngāti Porou on her father’s side and Pākehā with a connection to Taranaki on her mother’s side.
Graduating with a law degree, Angie was keen to work at a community level and took up a role at Te Puni Kōkiri working with iwi and Māori organisations in South Auckland. Angie then worked with the Ministry of Social Development in South Auckland communities looking for ways to develop better services and engagement with communities and whānau, as well as with Māori health NGO, the National Hauora coalition.
She has a Masters in Māori and Indigenous Leadership at University of Canterbury Aotearoa New Zealand and is currently co-lead and Kaitohu Tangata Whenua, at The Auckland Co-Design Lab. Here she combines her experience with government agencies, community and whānau to develop and co-design whānau-led innovation initiatives, disrupting ineffective ‘business as usual’ systems.
