Partnering for Change work group process guide

This guide details how to start a Partnering for Change work group in your region. It details:

1. Key steps to starting, maintaining and replicating a work group
2. All the tools you’ll need
3. Some tips and tricks!

Partnering for Change work groups are about rural and urban businesses sharing responsibility for the changes that need to be made to reduce our impact on the environment.

By working in small groups, rural and urban businesses can better understand each other, their sustainability efforts, and their motives and barriers to practice change.

• Based on a pilot conducted in 2022 with four rural and four urban business from across Aotearoa, we found this approach can:
• Give businesses “new to them” concepts which inform sustainability thinking and planning.
• Help businesses better understand the value of approaching sustainability as a diverse group.
• Allow businesses to learn from each other to increase awareness and knowledge, and create mutual understandings and respect by connecting over a shared vision in a supportive environment.
• Make rural businesses feel more connected to others outside of the rural sector, resulting in them feeling less alone and lowering the pressure to reduce their environmental impact.
• Increase urban businesses support of farmers and growers