A new report from ANZSOG’s research program offers governments and communities across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand an evidence-based guide to implementing co-governance as a strategy for improving policy outcomes and building trust in government.
Co-governance – Working Better Together has been produced by researchers from UNSW Sydney’s Social Policy Research Centre and International Centre for Future Health Systems, explores the stages, strategies and challenges of establishing and operating co-governance arrangements. The report is the final major output of ANZSOG’s multi-year research project on co-governance, co-sponsored by the NSW Government.
The report builds on earlier work which identified the growing interest in co-governance as a response to complex policy problems and as a means of enhancing legitimacy and effectiveness through shared decision-making.
Drawing on that scoping review and three Australian case studies – the Waterloo Human Services Collaborative Group, the National Disability Data Asset (NDDA) Pilot Disability Advisory Council, and the Maranguka initiative in Bourke – the report details how co-governance operates in practice and what enables it to succeed.
The case studies are also being published by ANZSOG and can be found at these links:
- Waterloo Human Services Collaborative Group
- The National Disability Data Asset
- The Maranguka Initiative
The research confirms that co-governance is not a one-size-fits-all model. The structures and dynamics of collaboration between government and community partners vary depending on context, purpose and the histories of the communities and institutions involved.
Four stages of co-governance
The final report identifies four core stages in the co-governance process: identfyiing when to use co-governance, establishing co-governance, implementing co-governance, and reporting outcomes of co-governance.
Each stage is accompanied by a guide for public sector practitioners, which includes enablers and barriers, tools for stakeholder engagement, and criteria for success. The guidance also describes a range of other considerations that arise throughout this process, including how to engage with First Nations communities and other specific community groups, the handling of data, and capabilities, time, and resources that may be required to make co-governance work for all partners.
Importantly, the final report offers a new conceptual framework for understanding why different actors pursue co-governance. These include substantive reasons (to achieve better outcomes), normative motivations (to share power and do the right thing), and instrumental rationales (to build legitimacy, trust, and credibility). Most successful co-governance initiatives, the report suggests, reflect a mix of these motivations.
Through its case studies, the report shows how co-governance can be adapted to address complex social and policy challenges. In Waterloo, stakeholders developed a collaborative response to human service needs arising from a major urban redevelopment. The NDDA pilot involved people with disability in designing governance structures for a national data asset. Maranguka, an Aboriginal-led initiative in Bourke, demonstrates how community-led governance can reshape service delivery and relationships with government.
Despite their differences, the case studies reveal several common features of effective co-governance: clear terms of reference, shared leadership, a well-resourced secretariat, inclusive and representative membership, and structured decision-making processes. They also show how trust, power and accountability interact dynamically throughout the co-governance lifecycle.
The report emphasises the importance of trust in establishing and practising co-governance. and as an outcome of the process. Co-governance requires some measure of trust between the parties, but at the same time, co-governance can help rebuild trust in the wake of past failures. Trust, then, evolves over time and is linked to the quality of the co-governance process, including transparency, inclusivity, and mechanisms for shared accountability, as much as to the achievement of outcomes.
Beyond the technical dimensions of governance design, the report highlights the cultural, relational and temporal aspects of collaboration: the need to recognise and respect Indigenous governance traditions, support participation from under-resourced organisations, and develop shared expectations about what the process will achieve.
A major contribution of the report is its embedded practical guide which ANZSOG has published as a standalone document for practitioners.
Structured around the four stages of co-governance, the guide provides advice on when and how to initiate co-governance, how to establish fit-for-purpose governance structures, how to manage implementation, and how to track and report outcomes. It also provides advice on various cross-cutting factors that influence each step of the process, including engagement with First Nations and affected communities, the management of data, the relationship of trust, power, transparency and accountability, the capabilities required among participating individuals and organisations, and the time and other resources required for a successful process.
The guide is not a manual; it is more a starting point for collaboration. The authors stress that each co-governance arrangement is unique and that decisions about design and implementation must be context specific.
This work responds to a growing interest from public servants and community actors in working more collaboratively, particularly in areas marked by complexity, contestation, or historical mistrust. It provides the groundwork for further experimentation and institutional learning – and ultimately for developing better solutions for communities facing longstanding challenges.