Linking into the community for lasting results

Abstract

In February 2008, seven years after he became head of the newly created Ministry of Social Development (MSD), Peter Hughes was celebrating the opening of the Linwood Community Link. This was a new concept designed to bring together in an integrated way many of the services needed to tackle the most complex problems facing individuals and their families. While the anchor tenant and owner of the building was the Work and Income business of MSD, other government and non-government agencies prepared to try a new way of working were based there too. There was general goodwill and enthusiasm for the new approach. The challenge would be to prove that it could indeed make a lasting difference. The case can be used for discussion of the complexities of establishing and measuring an integrated service response to wicked problems. It is also an example of innovation, driven by the frontline but encouraged and endorsed from the top and throughout the organisation