Complex challenges can’t be solved by one organisation alone. Lasting change happens when communities, organisations and institutions come together around a shared purpose.

This was at the heart of Community Impact Tāmaki Makaurau, a forum bringing together around 330 people from community partners, mana whenua, system leaders, funders practitioners and Auckland Council.

The forum created space to celebrate community leadership, connect, learn from what is working, explore new approaches and strengthen the relationships needed to take collective action.

Kai resilience was one focus. Auckland City Mission and the Kore Hiakai Zero Hunger Collective led a conversation about how Tāmaki Makaurau could collectively plan for a food system that honours the pūrākau of the whenua and the wisdom and traditions of local communities, while drawing on the city’s economic strengths.

For Healthy Families South Auckland, the session connected with wider food systems work underway with Auckland Council and community partners. It reinforced a central principle of the Healthy Families approach: the conditions that shape health cannot be changed by one organisation acting alone. Progress depends on communities, organisations and institutions aligning their strengths and working towards shared goals.

“The forum helped connect the threads of the food systems work already happening across Tāmaki Makaurau. By bringing different people, perspectives and ideas together, we can identify where there is shared purpose and where collective action could have the greatest impact,” says Matt Appleyard, Manager, Healthy Families South Auckland.

The forum was designed around five outcomes: gather, celebrate, imagine, align and commit. Together, these reflected the intention to strengthen belonging and relationships, make community contributions visible, explore community-led futures, build a shared understanding of each organisation’s role and renew commitment to a collective movement.

The forum showed the value of bringing different parts of the system together, not only to exchange ideas, but also to build the trust, capability and connections that make sustained action possible.