Trust is the foundation of a healthy relationship between a government and its people. But for Rhondda Cynon Taf Council’s Health Determinants Research Collaboration (RCT HDRC), the wellbeing of its residents isn’t just the foundation of its work, but the driving force behind it. As the organisation whose aim is to change the rulebook on how decisions are made in local government — whose goal is to break the cycle of poverty and ill health in a region of Wales beset by stark inequalities — its collaboration with Granicus has helped to ensure that real-life resident experience ultimately shapes the services received by the wider community.
As we’ll see, RCT HDRC has taken a digitally innovative approach to its mission, an effort that has not only transformed how Rhondda Cynon Taf Council engages with its residents but helped to create a decision-making process that is accessible, inclusive, and transparent. This work has not only seen RCT HDRC named as the UK winner of the Trust & Transparency category at this year’s Granicus Digital Awards — an accolade that honours organisations implementing digital solutions to improve access, trust, and transparency in their communities — but empowered the organisation to strive for a healthier future for the residents of Rhondda Cynon Taf.
In their entry submission for this category, the RCT HDRC team emphasise the scale and impact that this transformation had on their operations and their community. Far from being a tokenistic method of engagement, their collaboration with Granicus resulted in, “… systemic change, making evidence, inclusivity, and transparency central to how the council works.”
But more than this, the team are firm in their view that, “This is not just a story of change — it’s a blueprint for the future. And it all started with the courage to listen, the wisdom to collaborate, and the power of Granicus to bring people together,” an ethos that directly aligns with the spirit of this award.
As they put it, RCT HDRC’s vision is, “To break down silos, build trust, and create a culture where evidence-informed decision-making is the norm, not the exception.”
However, before that vision could be realised, Rhondda Cynon Taf Council had to overcome significant challenges in terms of how decisions were made. These included:
Considering their approach, the team explain that, “Traditional consultation often means asking for opinions after decisions are made. RCT HDRC flipped the script, moving to genuine co-production.” Their idea was to move beyond a conventional approach to incorporate the views and voices of community members of those most impacted by the decision-making process.
As part of their new model, RCT HDRC:
By working with Granicus — a collaboration which saw the organisation implement Engagement Cloud to power its bilingual Make a Change platform — RCT HDRC made an active decision to invest in the confidence of the wider community. As they explain, “By combining personal support with digital transparency via Granicus, we created a process where participants felt valued and trusted the system.”
They go on to say that the Make a Change platform is central to their organisational transformation. “This isn’t just a website — it’s a living, breathing hub for dialogue, co-production, and transparency. Residents can share priorities, track progress, participate in polls, and even apply to become embedded within projects.” User-friendly and accessible, it removes barriers for participation, ensuring that all can offer their insights and feedback.
The RCT HDRC team are firm in their view that, “The Granicus platform has become the beating heart of community engagement, enabling ongoing conversations between the council and its citizens. It’s not just about collecting feedback — it’s about working together and building relationships and trust.”
The impact of this transformation has driven both a profound cultural and operational shift. “The results speak for themselves,” say the team at RCT HDRC, but these include:
But beyond these tangible results, Rhondda Cynon Taf has demonstrated a profound change in how councils build trust and transparency within their community. By embedding community voice and evidence into its core processes, the council has:
Far from being simple incremental improvements, the team believe that all of these points are, “… influencing practice far beyond Rhondda Cynon Taf,” offering, “… a systemic model integrating co-production, internal capability building, and a formalised evidence ecosystem — something never achieved before in local government.” As the team at RCT HDRC go on to say, this is a space where, “Leadership is a partnership, governance is transparent, and community voice is embedded at every level.”
