Case Study: Wesley Community Action
Situation
Wesley Community Action organised a conference called ‘We speak, you listen’. It told the story of why gang culture exists. The harm it causes for all parties involved. For initiatives to succeed the people impacted need to be involved. Included in the conversation. How existing community activities are already making progress. And these initiatives need to be supported. We created a visual centrepiece for this conference. To provided focus for the conversation in the room. And a way for people to share when they return to their team.
130 policy and decision-makers from around the public service attended. They included the prime minister’s office, supreme and district court judges, and other government organisations (Oranga Tamariki, Corrections and many more).
Approach
Lizzie, the manager at Wesley Community Action (WCA) Porirua, has done a lot of thinking in this area. Captured on a whiteboard, it contained a lot of ideas. And the lived experiences of the community in which WCA operates.
We started at the beginning. Identifying their target audience, and key objectives. Being clear on what success would look like.
Ideas were sorted, themes identified and a rough visual created. We shared the insights back to the WCA team for validation. This was an important story to tell. We needed to respect the lived experiences of the community. The audience contained the institutions that contributed to the problem. This wasn't about pointing fingers. Everyone in the room was there to be part of the solution. And that we need to all work together to be part of the solution. That listening to community experts leads to better decision-making.
The visual output was a collective effort with the WCA team involved at every step of the journey.
UPDATE 2023
The original visual was modified to reflect a new approach. With WCA being able to promote their own success stories like ‘Whanaufluence’ and ‘Brotalk’.
Results
A wider audience reached
3 years and still going strong, this story has been shared with Supreme Court judges to people in prison. The latest presentation was to 70 philanthropic funders, ‘Again, the magnificent work hit the mark with many in the audience asking for a copy.’
Higher engagement through storytelling
A clear engaging story that is easy to share with a diverse audience. The result, increased engagement with decision makers and those impacted.
The original visual March 2019.