When Community Decides Where the Money Goes Everyone Benefits

Opinion piece by Kena Duignan - Wesley Community Action, Michelle Collins - Porirua Whānau Centre, Jodi Watene - Te Wāhi Tiaki Tātou

We know that decisions about where government investment is made are often shaped far from the communities most affected by them. Only once funding priorities are set and contracts issued, are the communities asked to “deliver outcomes.”

In Porirua, we’ve been doing something different.

Through the Resilience to Organised Crime in Communities (ROCC) kaupapa, local providers, iwi, and community organisations have been directly involved in deciding how public investment should be used.

We use Reimagining Sessions to centre lived experience as evidence. Our sessions bring whānau with lived experience together to share what really matters, what gets in the way, and what change looks like from the ground up. From these conversations come concrete recommendations that inform how funding like ROCC is put to use to support initiatives that reflect what whānau actually asked for.

This isn’t about ticking a consultation box. It’s about recognising that communities hold the deepest understanding of their own challenges, and therefore must be trusted to shape the answers. It’s about shifting from doing to people, which is colonisation in action, towards supporting people to do, which is rangatiratanga in practice.

At a recent ROCC provider wānanga, organisations working across prevention, intervention, and response came together to collectively consider how investment should be allocated in Porirua. The kōrero was grounded in frontline experience and providers debated options, weighed trade-offs, and worked toward shared recommendations that honoured the community-generated priorities. It took bravery to speak openly, knowing others around the table were advocating for work that also matters deeply. It took trust, and a growing sense of accountability to one another and to the wider community.

But that is precisely where the strength of this model lies. What matters here is not just what is decided, but how.

This way of working reframes the role of providers. Deciding together changes how providers relate to one another. It builds understanding of each other’s mahi and creates stronger pathways for whānau to move between services. It fosters collaboration rather than competition, openness rather than defensiveness.

In the ROCC process, providers are not just service deliverers; they are stewards of community-defined priorities. There is a growing sense that success is shared and that they all have skin in the game. Additionally, when funding decisions are anchored to priorities already identified by whānau with lived experience, providers don’t have to constantly reshape their mahi to fit external agendas.

It also shifts the power dynamic.

When communities have real influence over investment, funding is more responsive, targeted, and mana-enhancing. It supports what is already working, adapts to changing realities, and strengthens the relationships that make long-term change possible.

Rather than government holding all authority and communities carrying all the consequences, responsibility is shared. Communities are trusted not just to deliver services, but to help steward public resources wisely as they are accountable to the people they serve every day. This approach reflects a simple but powerful belief: those closest to the problem are also closest to the solution.

Of course, collective decision-making isn’t easy. It’s a skill that has to be practiced, and it requires strong facilitation, time, and care. There will be tensions and missteps along the way. But the payoff is significant: a more connected, trusting community sector that is better equipped to respond to whānau needs and aspirations as they change over time.

As Porirua continues to navigate complex challenges from harm reduction to housing, to kai access, to youth wellbeing, the question isn’t whether government should invest. Rather it’s who gets to decide where that investment goes. If we want better outcomes, we need better decision-making. And that means creating space for communities to take ownership of the big decisions together. ROCC shows that this is not only possible, but effective.

The opportunity now is to take what we’ve learned and apply it more broadly. We need to move from isolated examples of community power to a consistent way of working where trust, partnership, and local leadership are not exceptions, but the norm.

Because when communities are trusted to decide, everyone benefits.