New Zealand's wellbeing framework
Much has been written about New Zealand’s move to a wellbeing approach to public policy and financial decision-making in recent years. Rather than re-establishing this context, this article will briefly describe key aspects of New Zealand’s wellbeing framework and reflect on some of our experiences working within it. With the recent social and economic turbulence created by COVID-19, there has never been a better time ‘to put New Zealanders’ wellbeing at the centre of our thinking’ (the Treasury, 2017).
Source: Durie, M. Whaiora, Māori Health Development. Oxford University Press, 1994.
New Zealand’s wellbeing framework
A comprehensive wellbeing policy framework has emerged in Aotearoa New Zealand in recent years. Guided by the Treasury’s Living Standards Framework, this has influenced how government allocates spending (such as through the Wellbeing Budget 2019) and what metrics it chooses to measure and report on (such as Indicators New Zealand - Ngā Tūtohu Aotearoa). This framework has been informed by Māori wellbeing concepts such as Dr Mason Durie’s Whare tapa whā model (above), He Ara Waiora research, and the wellbeing outcomes for whanau articulated in the Whānau Ora approach.
This focus translates to the prevalence of wellbeing in our legislative framework. For example, wellbeing features in the ‘purpose’ sections of the following Acts that we frequently interact with:
Section 5(2) of the Resource Management Act defines sustainable management as managing the use, development, and protection of natural and physical resources in a way, or at a rate, which enables people and communities to provide for their social, economic, and cultural wellbeing (among other factors).
Section 3(a)(ii) of the Building Act seeks to ensure that buildings have attributes that contribute appropriately to the wellbeing of the people who use them.
Section 3(d) of the Local Government Act provides for local authorities to play a broad role in promoting the social, economic, environmental, and cultural wellbeing of their communities.
On paper, New Zealand’s current approach to the achievement of intergenerational wellbeing appears strong. It is clearly mandated in our legislation, therefore everyone knows what they’re meant to be doing to achieve wellbeing, right? Well, not really - or not at the moment anyway.
Implementation challenges
Through our work with a range of national and local government clients, we have observed that the implementation of wellbeing intentions, into practice, is challenging. This is for a raft of reasons, and I include a few below for you to consider.
Wellbeing is hard to define - it means different things to different people. The best definition we found in New Zealand came from the Wellbeing Budget 2019, which defined wellbeing as when ‘people are able to lead fulfilling lives with purpose, balance and meaning to them’ (Government of New Zealand, 2019). A concept that is difficult to define, and is near impossible to implement effectively and consistently across the country.
There are a lack of tools available for organisations to implement wellbeing in their day-to-day work. For example, how does the purpose of the Building Act (to contribute to the wellbeing of building-users) link to the building consent process? How do planners measure whether their policies and resource consent recommendations provide for social, economic, and cultural wellbeing? When it comes to wellbeing, line of sight from regulatory intention to implementation is opaque at best.
Finally, like much of our community development work, wellbeing, and the framework to achieve it, is not given the same priority as physical infrastructure. This is understandable, given the immediate and obvious need for clean drinking water and well-considered waste disposal systems for our communities. There is only so much money to go around and if you are a local council considering rates rises, would your ratepayers be keen to fund wellbeing initiatives with intangible outcomes? Unlikely.
Consequently, the implementation of wellbeing strategies and policies into practice, and how to measure the effectiveness of them, is ripe for further thinking.
Planalytics wellbeing series
We have therefore dedicated this month to a series of articles on the subject of wellbeing in New Zealand. Based on our core areas of work, we will release an article every week, until the end of September, on wellbeing-related topics. This will include: planning for wellbeing, building for wellbeing, wellbeing and local government, the role of the private sector in achieving wellbeing outcomes, and monitoring wellbeing. We hope the information provided will be of some use to those of you grappling with the same wellbeing issues as ourselves and our clients.
If you have any further thoughts on wellbeing that you would like to share, or if you’d like to discuss your next wellbeing-related project, please don’t hesitate to contact us at office@planalytics.co.nz. Tēnā koutou.
