Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi  

With your food basket and my food basket the people will thrive 

Mission:  Inspiring Communities’ mission is to build a platform for successful Community-led Development (CLD) in Aotearoa across community and public service system. 

Vision:  Our vision is an Aotearoa where all communities are at the centre of creating and implementing solutions to improve their own outcomes and hauora. 

Focus Areas:  Foundational to everything we do is:  

Collaboration & Partnership: Recognising the rights of tangata whenua and embedding Te Tiriti o Waitangi in the design and delivery of everything we do. Actively encouraging collaboration and making connections. 

To achieve our vision for Aotearoa, Inspiring Communities will focus on four hekenga/pathways: 

  1. Building Capability: Providing training and sharing CLD information and resources to enhance CLD skills and knowledge within our community. 

  1. Evolving Knowledge: Generating new insights and resources to continually advance our understanding and approach to community-led development. 

  1. Influencing Change: Championing CLD at a national/system level to establish an environment which enables community-led initiatives. 

  1. Sustainable Organisation: Ensuring strong governance connecting strategy and operations; maintaining efficient systems and a capable and committed team; achieving financial stability; and upholding IC reputation and credibility. 

Outcomes:  Inspiring Communities (IC) will know it has been successful when: 

  1. CLD practice and capability is strengthened 

  1. Support for CLD from agencies and organisations increases 

  1. Inspiring Communities is effective, stable and sustainable 

Inspiring Communities is a small team of contractors who work virtually throughout Aotearoa.  We have a Trust Board, a core team of 5 roles (IC Director, Powerdigm Director, Operations Manager, Communications Manager and Administrations and Comms Support) as well as other contractors brought on to work alongside communities in supporting Community Led Development. 

POWERDIGM is the consultancy arm of Inspiring communities. and is a collective of associates and organisations grounded by proven practice in active citizenship, community innovation and locally-led change. We provide services that bridge the gap between system and community approaches to progress change. Effective at working in and alongside communities, we weave connections and collaborations across Government, sectors and communities to create the successful, sustainable outcomes. 

Inspiring Communities is a collaborative leader in the CLD space, and we help catalyse progress where we see opportunities. One example is our Child Rich Communities project, where Inspiring Communities facilitates the work that is supported by a collective of other organisations, to mobilise individuals, communities and social services across Aotearoa to improve tamariki, rangatahi and whānau wellbeing through a community-led approach.