Auckland Council has six demographic advisory panels, which were established to help the Mayor of Auckland, the Governing Body and council staff effectively engage and better understand the views of increasingly diverse communities of Auckland. There are currently six advisory panels: Ethnic Peoples, Pacific Peoples, Disability, Youth, Seniors and Rainbow Communities. In the current term, the total panel budget was approximately $400,000. Auckland Council Democracy Services commissioned the Research and Evaluation Unit (RIMU) to conduct a review of the 2016-2019 demographic advisory panels in late 2018. The research team was asked to consider four key and two supplementary evaluation questions.

The key evaluation questions were as follows:

1. What impacts have the panels had during the 2016-2019 term?

2. How well have the panels, staff, councillors and the communities with which the panels identify engaged with one another?

3. What did and did not work well this term?

4. What improvements can be applied?

The supplementary questions were as follows:

1. How well have the changes to the panel model this term been implemented?

2. Do the different stakeholders involved with the panels have similar expectations of the panels’ purpose?

The overall purpose of this report is to contribute to the improvement of how the panels work in future terms. Some of the recommendations suggest new ways of working with the panels while others strengthen existing processes and work.

Auckland Council technical report TR2019/021