Thriving Communities Aotearoa
Thriving Communities is a coalition of organisations creating better outcomes for marginalised customers
Thriving Customers, Thriving Communities
We believe that all customers should have safe, empathetic and fair access to essential services*
*banking, insurance, water, telco, energy (and creditors)
Unfortunately, for many customers who are vulnerable or marginalised in some way, this isn’t always their experience.
Based on potential drivers, it's estimated that up to 20% of customers could be at risk.
These could be customers who;
are experiencing an event or situation that makes them more vulnerable
are under served by existing systems and services
are disadvantaged and in need of specialist or extra support
The simple question we pose is ... how might we collectively address systems, processes and services in order to create better outcomes for marginalised customers?
Thriving Communities Aotearoa is a coalition who want to act
What do we mean by 'better outcomes'?
Outcomes will be defined with each initiative, but could include things like -
Ensuring safe and appropriate privacy settings for vulnerable customers — particularly those who may be at risk, such as in situations of family violence.
Reducing the need for vulnerable customers to repeatedly share their story or provide multiple rounds of evidence.
Establishing clear and trusted channels of communication between essential service providers and community advocates for referrals and support.
Enabling frontline teams to feel more confident and better equipped to provide support with empathy and fairness.
Lifting service responsiveness, ensuring customers feel informed and supported — not left in a void.
Our first actions
We're forming a solution design coalition to tackle the following three inter-related opportunities:
Safety by design: what do privacy settings need to look like to ensure vulnerable customers are kept safe, but also enable trusted community advocates to act & support them?
Referral mechanism: how might we build clear and trusted communication channels between community advocates and essential service businesses?
Tackling economic harm: what should a specific system that better supports victim-survivors of economic harm look like?