Otago-wide report provides wellbeing insights

Otago councils are set to gain a better understanding of what wellbeing means in their districts.

At the Central Otago District Council (CODC) meeting yesterday (Wednesday 19 July) staff reported on the Otago Wellbeing Baseline Report, a project funded and commissioned by the Otago Regional Council.

The framework that the report was based on had input from all local territorial authorities and Aukaha, representatives from the public health sector and some community groups. CODC chose to participate for the opportunity to gain better understanding of wellbeing measures, “and because of a belief we should work together for the wellbeing of everyone”, Council’s Senior Strategy Advisor Alix Crosbie said.

Performance measures of wellbeing were taken from seven different areas:

• A good standard of living
• Healthy and fulfilled people
• An enabling built environment
• A healthy natural environment
• Participation and governance
• Belonging and identity
• Connected communities.

As a region, Otago fared better than the national average in three areas:

• Healthy and fulfilled people
• Belonging and identity
• Participation and governance

It is performing approximately at the national average in two areas:

• A good standard of living
• A healthy natural environment

And below the national average in two:

• Connected communities
• An enabling built environment

After the meeting, Ms Crosbie reiterated that there had been a few surprises from the data.

“We were surprised – Cr Tracy Paterson said at the meeting that she was ‘gobsmacked’ – that Otago had scored so low in the healthy natural environment dimension. But we are also aware that we have a low percentage of safe swimming sites relative to other areas, and that’s an example of a meaningful conversation we could have with the Otago Regional Council, going forward.

“At the meeting Mayor Tim (Cadogan) and Cr Cheryl Laws remarked that to them, the scores reflect that Central Otago is a really great place to live.

“For us it provides some areas to challenge our current understanding of wellbeing and the perspectives of people we might not otherwise have heard from; for instance, we have a large number of elderly and newcomers, and people living in isolated rural communities. It enables us to either work directly or partner with parts of our community on target areas, such as the NEET rates (Young persons not engaged in education, employment or training).”

The initial report provides a set of data sources and some framing that can be built on for the future, Council’s Community Development Advisor Rebecca Williams said. Mrs Williams is involved in a project to develop a district-wide, 50-year vision and community wellbeing framework for Central Otago, and the findings would be used as part of the district vision work.

“The Otago Regional Council has shown leadership by providing a baseline wellbeing report at a regional level. This can be used by each Council to gain a better understanding of wellbeing in its district and use that data to better shape policy decisions. This is a baseline report, so it will increase in value over time as trends begin to form. It will also be refined and gaps in data identified by each Council in areas that are particularly important to them.”

The full report can be found on the Council’s website: Otago Wellbeing Baseline Report.