Impact stories
Covid-19
Countering false information in the early days of the COVID-19 response.
Transport
Shifting people’s thinking to increase support for walking, riding and taking public transport.
Income Support
Shifting peoples thinking on income support and benefits.
Working together to achieve collective goals
Framing has been part of the toolkit for advocates, campaigners, policy experts and change makers for a long time. We’re proud of the work we’ve done in partnership and what our collaborators do based on our research and advice. Here is just some of the work we’ve done since starting as The Workshop in 2018.
Te Tiriti
Deepening understanding and support for Te Tiriti aligns with our strategic intentions as an organisation. Our first piece of a series of research has been recently published.
Read Understanding how Pākehā think and reason about te Tiriti | the Treaty to guide how we talk
Community planning for climate disruption
We’ve done a significant amount of work to help people shift how they talk about climate disruption and the environment that sustains us. This includes substantial research funded by Auckland Council to help groups, especially local and central government, overcome barriers to people engaging with them to plan for and prevent climate disruption. Our framing report provides 10 recommendations that can be used across Aotearoa to start more effective public conversations that lead to action.
Read How to talk about Community Planning for Climate Disruption
Art, culture, creativity and ngā toi Māori
We’ve worked with Creative New Zealand to support advocates across the art, culture, creativity and ngā toi Māori sector effectively talk about how their work contributes to a thriving Aotearoa. This has included Creative New Zealand funded research, message development, ongoing training and strategic coaching.
Read the guide - Changing the story on arts, culture, and creativity in Aotearoa and see Creative NZ’s new website Creativity Makes Us– Auahatia that brings our advice to life.
Transport
One of our most substantial pieces of research and message testing was commissioned by Waka Kotahi to find evidence-based ways to talk effectively about shifting towards public and active transport. The foundational research How to talk about opening our streets for people who walk, ride bikes and take public transport has enabled us to offer evidence-based training, location specific messaging guides, expert advice and consulting projects. The cross over between environmental goals and transport goals is significant so all the publications can be found in our section on Climate and Environment
Economy for wellbeing
With the movement for a Wellbeing Economy growing, we have recently complemented our previous work on economic justice, poverty and welfare with research and guides on How to talk about budgets and taxes for public good and Redesigning our economy to prioritise people and the planet. This work was funded by the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa (WEALL), with support from the Peter McKenzie Project .
Poverty and welfare
Finding better ways of framing welfare reform and evidence to prevent poverty is what sparked Jess and Marianne to found The Workshop in 2018. Since then we’ve partnered with ActionStation, Peter McKenzie Project and other advocate groups to do multiple pieces of research, develop messaging guides and provide targeted training for people working on this kaupapa.
See all our published resources on poverty and welfare reform.
Covid-19
Contributing to the response to the pandemic was something that was very important to us. We self funded research and created guides and tools to help ensure care and kindness was at the forefront of communications. Te Pūnaha Matatini - The Centre of Research Excellence for Complex Systems and Victorian Department of Public Health (via Common Cause Australia), Te Matapihi also contributed funding. We worked alongside many experts and influencers to ensure our work reflected the best evidence in a fast moving environment, and that it was easy to use across contexts and campaigns. This included the Immunisation Advisory Centre (IMAC), Victorian Department of Public Health, Ministry of Health, Health Promotion Agency, and the Karawhiua campaign.
See all our published Covid-19 resources
Climate and environment
Our research and framing advice on how to talk about climate and environment focus on explaining climate issues so that people can have a deeper understanding that leads to support for the bold and necessary action we need to collectively take. The framing advice originally funded by Oxfam New Zealand has been shared widely through advanced training with people leading climate action, strategic advice for policy makers and coaching for specific campaigns or kaupapa.
See all our published work on climate and environment
Farming and land use
People who farm our land in Aotearoa New Zealand are a diverse group of people and communities. Many have a strong sense of connection and responsibility to the land they farm and live on and the people to come after them. This project looked at how to talk effectively about the future of farming, and land use change in particular, to the general public and farming communities. It resulted in a guide developed from a review of the existing research and The Workshop’s unique evidence-based framework, and was funded by the Our Land and Water National Science Challenge.
How to talk about the future of farming in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2021
Government for public good
In order for people to back important decisions that will make the difference to long term public good, they understand the role of government (local and central) to make quality decisions. We initially completed research commissioned by Wellington City Council and then broadened the application to government organisations. This has influenced the work we’ve done for Auckland, Porirua and Dunedin councils.
Read How to talk about government and its work for the long-term public good
Health
In addition to our work on Covid-19, we have completed work to support health goals focusing on structural racism, air quality, early brain development, taking a health approach to cannabis reform, the food system and wellbeing in the early years. A range of projects have been commissioned by organisations across the health sector including the Public Health Advisory Committee, Tokona te Raki, Te Oranganui, Ministry of Health, Emissions Impossible and Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC). Most of this work is published on our website, select reports on the food system and structural racism are currently unpublished but insights are available on request.
Human rights and justice
Thanks to funding support from Borrin Foundation and Tindall Foundation and collaboration with JustSpeak, we have a series of reports and guides based on research in Aotearoa on human rights and criminal justice. The most recent framing brief focused on Shifting the narrative about gangs and gang harm. In addition to research and framing reports we have also led crime and justice specific training for advocates and experts.
See our human rights and justice reports
Systems change
Thanks to funding from Peter McKenzie Project and collaboration with Tokona Te Raki and The Southern Initiative, we have framing advice on How to talk about systems change in Aotearoa. The purpose of this work was to help those working on systems change to clearly communicate the impact and processes with funders and decision makers as well as community partners.
Housing
Decent homes are the foundation of community wellbeing. BRANZ funded research on how to talk about homes that meet our real needs. We’ve worked with Community Housing Aotearoa and Wellington Regional Healthy Housing Group to provide training, coaching and expert advice so they can consistently use more effective ways to talk about housing’s role in enabling people and communities to thrive. Having consistent and clear frames that work across the diverse sector is key to shifting mental models about homes and housing.
Homes that meet our real needs: How people think and reason about housing performance in Aotearoa NZ
Co-governance of bioheritage
In Aotearoa New Zealand, hapū and iwi have a unique relationship with our biological heritage and have been leading innovative, effective environmental protection for generations, bringing a deep knowledge of and connection with the land, water and air. This project to look at framing co-governance of bioheritage was part of New Zealand’s Biological Heritage National Science Challenge | Ngā Koiora Tuku Iko project for the BioHeritage Challenge Adaptive Governance and Policy team.