Small moments, big impact: how Local Government New Zealand reshaped learning for elected members across Aotearoa

Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is the national voice for the country’s councils, providing influence, connection and support as elected members navigate an increasingly challenging environment. As part of that focus, LGNZ offers bespoke professional development for elected members across more than 70 councils across Aotearoa. The Ākona learning platform runs on Tōtara.

The Challenge

Elected members give a lot to their communities. They make decisions about the roads people drive on, the parks they relax in, the services their neighbourhoods depend on. They work long hours, absorb complex data, and make decisions that impact generations. The people LGNZ supports range from first-timers navigating their first term, to veterans with decades of council experience.

For years, professional development for elected members consisted of overloaded workshops, paper manuals, and a one-size-fits-all approach that did not meet the needs of people from such differing backgrounds, locations, and levels of experience.

LGNZ launched Ākona in early 2023 as its first dedicated learning platform for elected members. But the platform had significant limits. It only allowed for static modules of 30 to 45 minutes that were hard to navigate. Elected members had welcomed the idea of online learning, but they didn’t have 40 minutes to complete a course and they didn’t have the confidence to navigate an unfriendly digital environment.

LGNZ chose to shift to Tōtara as its learning platform for its robustness and usability, and partnered with Catalyst for technical support. This introduced a user-friendly platform and allowed for a more modulised approach to eLearning. Content and structure were influenced by the first-ever elected member capability framework. LGNZ convened an advisory group from the sector to provide insight, advice and feedback on the build of the platform and the capability framework. This shaped six categories across four levels.
The new and improved Ākona proved popular with members, though it revealed a clear next opportunity: engaging elected members right from induction. So they set out to further improve the product ready for the new cohort of learners that would be voted in at October 2025.
With the 2025 local body election as a fixed deadline, and armed with user data from an extensive discovery process, LGNZ set out to:

• Break 30 to 45 minute SCORM modules into short, completable chunks
• Make the right content easy to find at the right time
• Create a safe, trusted place for learning that reflected their reality
• Support learning on any device, anywhere
• Replace static content with dynamic, engaging formats.

The Solution

Catalyst’s Learning Solutions team re-configured the platform to LGNZ’s requirements, built prototypes of key pages and workflows, and consulted on the content refresh bringing specialist expertise in platform design and microlearning delivery. LGNZ used those prototypes to gather feedback from elected members with different levels of digital experience, testing what was working and adjusting what wasn’t. Those decisions shaped the platform around the learners, creating a consistent, intuitive, and low-on-clicks experience.

The foundations were built to set LGNZ’s team up for success for election cycles over time. Catalyst configured Ākona with clear rules and consistent structures aligned to LGNZ’s requirements. No customisations were made to the underlying code, ensuring smooth upgrades as the platform evolves.

The same principles of designing for people carried through into the details. The layout was designed to resemble opening a folder, a subtle connection to in-person learning in the online environment. Animation throughout helps guide members through the pages.

Ākona was designed with psychological safety at its centre. Elected members told LGNZ through research that it wasn’t safe to be seen not knowing something. The platform needed to remove that barrier. Responses aren’t monitored and progress isn’t tracked.

Hosted on Catalyst Cloud, Ākona runs on 100% New Zealand infrastructure that means data stays under New Zealand law, performance is not dependent on overseas data centres, and the platform holds under pressure.

The LGNZ Learning Team creates and updates content without requiring external support. When legislation changes, LGNZ works with subject matter experts to create guidance for elected members. The team has also launched Ako Hour, an interactive learning event where members can learn from and ask questions of industry experts. LGNZ uses the seminar registration and interactive calendar in Tōtara to run these sessions, which are recorded and stored in the learning catalogue and Ako Hour library.

LGNZ’s research identified that barriers to good practice started before the election. People considering standing for council had no clear idea of what the role involved, and newly elected members’ expectations weren’t always matching the reality. Building on the strong platform foundations, LGNZ developed and launched a publicly available pre-election learning set in April 2025. The content covered the structure of local government, the reality of the role, funding and finance, and how to stay safe in a public-facing position.

After the election, LGNZ ran face-to-face mayor and chair inductions and a nationwide series of induction hui for elected members. QR codes were placed in physical induction materials linked directly into Ākona, turning every in-person moment into an entry point for online learning.
Tania shares that Ākona is becoming central to staying connected especially when new legislation is

introduced.

The Results

Newly elected members have shared that having access to the learning content has given them the confidence and courage to engage more with experienced peers, and content is “well-timed”. Long-term elected members have expressed their appreciation of learning that keeps them across the changes to the sector, and that keeps their skills and knowledge polished.

Since the launch, Ākona is shaped around how elected members across Aotearoa develop in their roles:
• More than 2,000 prospective members reached through pre-election learning, with nearly 1,600 actively engaging
• 100% of attendees were very satisfied or satisfied with Mayor School inductions
• 99% satisfaction at elected member inductions
• 23 catalogues of learning available that elected members can revisit at any time
• Learning aligned with LGNZ’s capability framework that members can apply immediately to their role
• Access to legislative reform information, LGNZ submissions, downloadable materials and templates to apply local change
• A self-directed skills analysis tool where members can self-measure their current capabilities
• Pre-election learning has been woven into Ākona as baseline learning for every new elected member from day one
• Ākona runs on 100% New Zealand infrastructure through Catalyst Cloud, keeping data under New Zealand law

LGNZ now has a resilient and flexible foundation built to scale. The team is exploring new formats including curated learning packages targeted to specific industry milestones, industry-specific podcasts, and other mediums to deliver training, building on the same foundations Ākona was designed around.

The success of Ākona continues to grow with the new pathway of NZQA-accredited micro-credentials, designed for elected members in partnership with Victoria University of Wellington. The core topics are linked to Ākona, covering governance and leadership, finance and risk, and communication and engagement. The first round of micro-credentials begins in September 2026, and already has double the registrations than LGNZ predicted.