Feelings of deep concern about the entrenched nature of deprivation within certain communities prompted the gathering of fifty leaders at the third Social Innovation Summit in Australia recently.

Representatives from government, business, and not-for-profit organisations gathered together to find solutions to what one speaker, Tony Vinson, called ‘postcodes of disadvantage’. During the talks, a New Zealand delegate was able to show the real differences being made in Canada and New Zealand through community-led development approaches.

‘Postcodes of disadvantage’ are disadvantaged communities with inter-linking characteristics which Vinson’s Australian study found to have remained largely unchanged over recent decades, in spite of wider social and economic growth.

One of three representatives from New Zealand was John Prendergast, the CEO of the Community Trust of Southland in New Zealand.John outlined in his presentation how, in New Zealand and Canada, a real difference is beginning to be made through a community-led development approach which focuses on place, rather than issues – and where the whole community is involved with connections between government, business, residents, funders and the third sector’.

Stories of successful communities illustrated the benefits of collaborative ventures between business, government and not-for-profit sectors, allied with strong community participation as a critical component of this success.

The Social Innovation Summit was hosted by the Macquarie Group Foundation in partnership with Mission Australia, Centre for Social Impact and Social Ventures Australia. There is more information on the Mission Australia website.