As communities work together to tackle complex social issues, understanding the role and responsibilities of each sector is a first step in co-creating positive, effective change.
This short video produced by the City of Delta, British Columbia, is part of a widespread engagement strategy to update the City’s Social Action Plan. In it, the City of Delta unpacks the social role of local government in a way that is simple and easy to understand.
The overarching goal of Delta’s Social Action Plan (backgrounder here) is one that all citizens, community-based organizations and businesses can support: to improve the quality of life for all residents through a process of community outreach, collaboration, and building to help achieve a more equitable and healthier Delta.
Strategic priorities are cross-cutting and include the following:
These are big picture items. Delta recognizes that community social well-being is a shared responsibility between the City of Delta, senior levels of government and community partners.
Often, particularly for smaller rural and remote areas, local governments may feel they have little capacity to act or fear ‘downloading’ from other levels of government or ‘uploading’ of responsibility from the social sector. But Delta shows that local governments are best placed to lead certain aspects of the work.
As social issues become more complex, understanding the municipal role is important for a variety of actors:
Why? To better align the work in order to make the work easier and more effective.
Over the next few months, we will be exploring this topic in a variety of ways. Do you have ideas or would like to contribute? Contact Jill at jill@tamarackcommunity.ca.