Connecting Communities

Granddaughter helping grandmother with digital device

Connecting communities through digital equity and innovation initiatives

As part of the Leading Edge Strategy, which provides vision and direction for the council, Connectivity was identified as one of six key focus areas.

Connectivity's strategic intention is: We are outward-looking and constantly seek to expand and enhance our world view – positioning ourselves and raising our image regionally, nationally and internationally. We make sustainable connections – through our network infrastructure, digital capacity, expansive ideas and external relationships. We are accessible, linked in and known for it.

We will continue to build on the connectivity opportunities provided by technology and drive digital innovation and opportunity in partnership with the community.

Our actions

  • To develop a revised Digital Strategy which broadly responds to the community’s current and future drivers, takes a multi-faceted approach and is supported by the right tools and frameworks
  • To support digital innovation initiatives and promote Whanganui as a digital destination of choice outside the large urban centres
Connected community advisor Jo Buckingham


Connected Community Advisor Jo Buckingham joined the council in April 2021 to implement the strategy.

An action plan was drafted in 2021 proposing the direction of the Digital Strategy for the next 12 months and there have been subsequent updates(PDF, 2MB)  to the Council.    

Our digital strategy

Our Digital Strategy provides a framework to drive digital innovation and opportunity in Whanganui. 

Read our digital strategy

What is the digital strategy?  

The council’s Digital Strategy: Digital by Design was drafted in early 2019 and consulted on over May and June of that year. It was adopted by the council and published in October 2019. The vision is that “we harness digital opportunities to empower and enrich our community” with the purpose “To drive digital innovation and opportunity in Whanganui, in partnership with the community.”

Four focus areas, their goals and outcomes were identified in the strategy.

Focus areas Goals  Outcomes
Connectivity and inclusion 

We are accessible, linked in and known for it

  Whanganui's digital infrastructure and networks support our image and mean that everyone can participate online
A high value creative economy  We are prepared for the future  Whanganui's economy reflects the changing nature of work and our standard of living improves 
Innovation  We foster innovation and improvement through a digital lens Whanganui stays current with digital opportunities and has a reputation for innovation 
A digital council  Whanganui District Council is future-focused and enabling  Working with the council is easy and our services and approaches are smart 

As part of this action plan, a community digital survey covering household connectivity and the digital confidence of individuals in Whanganui was launched on Thursday 13 January 2022. This survey had an excellent community turn out with 798 total responses including 563 households and 451 individuals. Tuatahi Fibre, Whanganui’s ultrafast broadband network owner, supported the survey by providing prizes that were distributed to the winners in July 2022.  

The purpose of the survey was to: 

  • gain a snapshot of the current reality on connectivity in Whanganui at both a household and individual level in the absent of district level statistics since the 2018 Census 

  • give direction to and identify focus areas for the ongoing implementation of the Council’s digital strategy and action plan 

  • create a report, data and resources that would assist in supporting funding applications for new and continuing digital inclusion initiatives in the district 

Key results  

The survey showed that it is difficult to reach people who are not connected to digital services or established community networks. Only 10% of submissions were from non-digital channels (paper, in person and by phone) responses; 27 out of 563 households (4.6%) reported no internet at home and 16 individuals (3.5%) stated they were not internet users.  

There is a clear divide of digital services between the urban and rural area in Whanganui.  61% of rural respondents reported that their connectivity did not meet their needs in comparison to only 10% in the urban area. Access to and the quality (speed and reliability) was reported as having an impact on productivity for people living in rural areas or running businesses.  

An early positive outcome from the survey data has been to advocate for rural connectivity with Crown Infrastructure Partners in the Mowhanau beach area.  

Recommendations 

Three recommendations were made to Council in August 2022 to direct the focus of the digital strategy across the four focus areas and will inform priorities into 2023:  

  • The council embeds a practice of actively considering current use of services and impact to users and general accessibility when reviewing or implementing new or existing services to digital. This needs to include ongoing evaluation of user experience and value add to customer service of digital tools and services   

#CONNECTIVITYANDINCLUSION #DIGITALCOUNCIL 

  • The council, the Whanganui Rural Community Board and Whanganui & Partners support active and direct advocacy and data collection in partner with affected rural community champions. This should have a focus on raising concerns to a central government level and the review of potential non-commercial alternatives to improve rural connectivity

#HIGHVALUECREATIVEECONOMY   #INNOVATION    #DIGITALCOUNCIL 

  • The council role models and anchor direct intervention within communities and their place-based organisations/networks aimed at groups that are struggling with digital access or support  

#CONNECTIVITYANDINCLUSION #INNOVATION #DIGITALCOUNCIL  

 

Want to kōrero?

Contact Jo Buckingham, Connected Community Advisor
digital@whanganui.govt.nz
06 349 3021

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