What Dovetail’s Project is All About
Welcome to Dovetail. This project is all about providing evaluation, research, and facilitation services that support positive change in communities and systems. It’s about working closely with people and organisations to evaluate, understand, and improve the difference they’re making. The insights gained enable learning, development, improvement, and evidence-based decision-making. Dovetail’s work bridges the worlds of funders, service providers, professionals, and community interest groups — creating a space where everyone’s impact can be better understood and enhanced.
The Main Benefit of Dovetail’s Work
The core value lies in helping various stakeholders make smarter, more informed decisions. Here’s a quick snapshot of what Dovetail brings to the table:
- Assists funders to understand the impact of their investments.
- Supports service providers to enable change and improvement.
- Helps community organisations capture and convey the impact of their work.
- Expertise spans health, social, transport, creative, philanthropic, local government, education, and sport and recreation sectors.
- Works with public, private, and community sector organisations alike.
Creative Sectors: Art and Culture Value Explored
Dovetail provides significant support to arts and culture organisations. They help articulate the value of arts and culture across Aotearoa, exploring the diverse ways this value is experienced. It’s not just about numbers or reports — it’s about capturing the real, lived impact of creativity on communities and individuals. This approach helps arts organisations tell their stories in ways that resonate deeply with funders, audiences, and stakeholders.
Building Community Resilience and Development
Community resilience is a big focus. Dovetail has built a strong foundation in supporting community resilience, response, and planning. They understand the nuances of community needs, dynamics, resilience factors, and recovery strategies. Plus, community development is at the heart of much of their work — supporting communities to identify strengths, respond to challenges, and achieve their goals. They also help those who resource communities to ensure their work is effective and equitable. It’s about fostering real, lasting change from the ground up.
Supporting Mental Health, Local Government, and Transport
Dovetail delivers extensive knowledge and insights to the mental health and addictions sectors, empowering organisations to enhance services and support their workforce. In local government, they partner to support strategic decision-making, community engagement, and improve service effectiveness and equity. When it comes to transport, Dovetail explores how policies, programmes, and urban design shape people’s experiences, safety, and activity. It’s a broad spectrum, but all connected by a common goal: better outcomes for communities.
Project Impact: Linking to Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
- SDG 4: Quality Education
- SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
- SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
- SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
- SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals
Other Sectors and Final Thoughts
Beyond the main sectors, Dovetail also supports education, philanthropy, sport and recreation, environment and sustainability, disability services, and social and community services. Their approach is holistic, recognising that positive change often requires collaboration across multiple areas. Curious about how this all comes together? It’s about connecting dots, sharing insights, and making sure every piece of work counts — for communities, for organisations, and for the future.
