Whakapapa
About Us
The Auckland Co-Design Lab (The Lab) was established in 2015 in response to demand for better approaches to addressing complex socio-economic challenges.
Since 2017, The Lab has been co-funded by central government agencies and Auckland Council. The Lab is hosted by Auckland Council within The Southern & Western Initiative (TSI/TWI) and co-located between Auckland Council and the Auckland Policy Office.
As a place-based, local-central partnership we help to connect ‘on the ground’ learning back into systems to inform investment and decision-making that is focused on what matters and makes a difference to whānau.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi underpins all of our mahi at the Lab. We are committed to acknowledging and uplifting tangata whenua leadership and mātauranga Māori in our work, and in Aotearoa more broadly.
We seek to indigenise systems change work in Aotearoa so it is not just “by” and “for” Māori but is also “of” Māori.
“Waiho i te toipoto, kaua i te toiroa.”
Why the Lab?
Public sector innovation that is place, systems and equity focused.
The current public service system has been shown not to work for those experiencing the most complexity and disadvantage. Policies and interventions developed at a distance from communities are proving insufficient to move the dial on entrenched social and economic challenges, missing critical opportunities to activate and leverage the potential of local expertise and capacity.
The Lab brings ‘insider’ public sector understanding and at the same time offers a ‘neutral’ and cross-sector perspective, especially on issues that do not sit with any single organisation or agency.
Early work by The Lab and TSI with whānau in South Auckland, demonstrated that to really shift outcomes a systemic focus that is locally grounded is needed. One that prioritises upstream investment, prevention and protective factors to enhance local leadership, capacity, resilience and social cohesion for longer term impact.
Over the last 10 years The Lab has played a key role in building evidence for a more collective and ‘bottom up’ approach. This involves connecting investment and policy decisions with what works and makes a difference to communities, and moving investment towards local innovation and responses at scale.
Over this time The Lab has shifted from training and reporting on co-design insights, to working alongside government partners, creating feedback loops that help ensure what works for whānau and communities is embedded and implemented through policy and operationally.
We know we need to work differently.
We know top down, service-led approaches have not been working to achieve equity.
To get different outcomes we need different starting points.
“Mā whero, mā pango, ka oti te mahi.”