Hui E! Community Aotearoa

Hui E! Community Aotearoa seeks to promote, strengthen and connect the Community Sector – tangata whenua organisations and the broad voluntary and community sector – charities, incorporated societies, clubs, boards, trusts, and informal community groups.

Ko tā Hui E! Community Aotearoa he whakatairanga, he whakapakari, he tūhono i te Rāngai Hāpori – ngā rōpū tāngata whenua me te rāngai mahi tūao, mahi hāpori torowhānui – ngā rōpū mahi aroha, ngā rōpū kāporeita, ngā karapū, ngā poari, me ngā rōpū kaitiaki.

 Tēnā tātou katoa

Kiaora everyone
Kua puku mahi tonu mātou, we’ve been quite busy preparing for our Annual General Meeting on Monday, 21st October and hope many of you can join us. Nominations have also now opened to the Hui E! Trust Board. 

Pania, Sandy, Dorte and Charlie will remain serving out their terms, leaving two vacancies. Please kindly return your nominations by 15 October. You can find a link to the detailed AGM agenda and the nomination form in this pānui. 

Also on the topic of voting, remember that voting in the local elections closes this Saturday, 12 October at noon. 

Please enjoy this pānui and have a beautiful spring season!
Mauriora.
Ronja

Hui E! Events

Sector News 

The New Zealand Government is currently implementing its 3rd Open Government Partnership (OGP) National Action Plan (2018-2020). This incorporates 12 commitments, from public participation in policy development to open procurement. 

The international OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) has reviewed this plan and recently published its New Zealand Design Report 2018–2020 (version for public comment). This report covers the development of the action plan and the design of its commitments. It does not comment on progress towards achieving each commitment that will be a focus of the next IRM review in 2020. 

A key recommendation is calling for more collaborative engagement with civil society and bringing local government into the discussion. The IRM New Zealand researcher, Keitha Booth’s findings are summarized below:

“New Zealand’s third action plan reflects an effort to move beyond access to information commitments and includes other areas such as participation in democracy and public participation to develop policy and services. The co-creation process benefited from wider public engagement and is an improvement from previous years. Local government engagement and public participation are areas of opportunities for future action plans.”

Comments are invited on the report, during the two-week public comment period ending at close of business on Monday 14 October 2019.

In the mids of local elections, Max Rashbrooke, Senior Associate at the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies at Victoria University, focuses on more openness and says that our local councils are missing the boat when it comes to getting citizens involved and taking advantage of democratic energy. In this recent article, he speaks of the benefits of citizen's assemblies and participatory budgeting as a way to reconnect democracy with the people. 

At a recent forum at Victoria University on empowering civil society's voice in Aotearoa's future he also tackled some of the myths around citizen engagement and using deliberation as a process for informed and considered decision-making: 

• 'People aren't smart enough' – people are more than capable to grapple with complex issues. The problem is with the forum [used], not the people
• 'People are not interested' – if it is meaningful, people will engage. The problem is not people's energy, but what we offer them
• 'People don't change their mind' – People do shift their arguments, particularly if they see face to face. In the right environment people relax and they relax their hold
• 'Politicians won't give up their hold' – if the offer and long term benefits are clear, they come along for the ride  

He was joined by Emily Beausoleil, Lecturer in Political Science at Victoria University, and Kura Moeahu (Te Atiawa, Ngā Ruahine, Ngāti Mutunga, Ngāti Tama, Taranaki-tuturu and Ngāti Toa), Tumu Whakarae – Principal Cultural Advisor at Parliament.

Emily provided more context on using deliberative democracy and her slides are available here. 

Kura's kōrero focused on the need for such models to be authentic and indigenous to New Zealand. His focus was on: 

• laying down the tikanga in every meeting in terms of speaking process
• a fair and just process that is suitable for both Māori and Pākehā 
• there are solutions in terms of a New Zealand way that incorporates Te Ao Māori and Te Ao Pākehā

In her latest blog, Vanisa Dhiru reflects on the challenges and opportunities of embracing the diversity of our communities, and how we can better support minority communities to gain equitable access to meet community needs.

"The saying “nothing about us, without us” is important to reflect on when we are developing service provision, and have an inclusive workforce that reflects the communities we serve."

Read the blog at http://community.scoop.co.nz/2019/10/minority-communities-gaining-equitable-access/#more-128298

We would love to hear your feedback on your experience with the People's Report – an independent and community-driven report on New Zealand’s progress towards achieving a more just, equal and sustainable future. 

Please consider taking this 5-minute survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/peoples-report-feedback. Your feedback will help us evaluate the process (including objectives, outputs) and outcome of the People’s Report, and make improvements next time. 

The report and a summary pamphlet are available at www.sdg.org.nz/peoples-report.

Upcoming Events and Conferences

Here are a couple of upcoming webinars that might be of interest to any grant-seekers, who would like to gain an increased understanding of grant-making from the funders' point of view.

Introduction to Great Grantmaking
with Genevieve Timmons
Wednesday 16 October
Time: 10.00am - 11.30am

Advanced Great Grantmaking
with Vu Le
Thursday 24 October
Time: 10.00am - 11.30am

The speakers in these webinars will be talking about how to make grants (not access philanthropic funding), and questions may also focus around grant making (not accessing grants). However, it is open to anyone.

For more information and to register, click here.

Cost: Philanthropy NZ members (includes community members) $60 plus GST
Non-Members $99 plus GST.

The Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa (LIANZA)'s biennial conference is the largest gathering of library and information professionals in Aotearoa New Zealand bringing together over 500 delegates from New Zealand and around the world.

LIANZA Conference 2019 will be held in Auckland from October 21-23 at the Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau.

The Conference will be a unique experience, convened by its Pasifika Information Management Network and held for the first time in South Auckland. The 2019 conference theme is ‘Our families, our communities, our libraries’ represented in the logo by the rope bindings to represent the physical, cultural and spiritual elements that bind us together in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific; the land, the water, air and our cultural values, languages, knowledge, relationships, communities and families which not only connect, but also sustain us. The waka with a Polynesian sail, symbolises the shared journeys and histories of our peoples Māori and Pacific, but also the transportation of knowledge to the future, thus emphasising sustainability and continuity.

The combination of both concepts reinforces the theme statement of the importance and value of enduring partnerships between our libraries, our communities and our families in this crucial work for the well-being of all future generations.

Read more on their website: https://lianza.org.nz/events/lianza-conference/

Date: 2pm, 7 November

Hosted by Volunteering New Zealand, Alecia Hancock from Hancock Creative will share how to recruit, retain or activate volunteers using social media. Storytelling is powerful, but are you telling the right stories? To attract and retain volunteers, you need to speak to them and about them. This webinar will show you how to create high impact volunteer stories and how to tell them in a way that improves your own volunteering programmes. 

Register here

Over the coming months the LEAD Centre for Not for Profit Governance and Leadership is offering two programmes for community and not for profit leaders.
 
The teaching approach and content of the sessions are evidence based and the facilitators have decades of experience both working in the community sector, and teaching not for profit leaders. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact info@lead.org.nz
 
Christchurch 11 to 13 November
3 Day workshop: Managing and Leading Community Organisations
Avebury House, Richmond
 
This training programme develops your skills, knowledge and confidence to manage the people, money, projects, and stakeholders, whilst still driving results. So, no more second-guessing yourself…
During three days of highly interactive learning, topics are explored in the context of your community and organisation. You will have plenty of opportunity to also identify the areas of interest and development that particularly apply to you, influencing the shape and content of the programme. By the end you will have two plans – one for your own leadership development, and one for building the capacity of your organisation
For more information see https://www.lead.org.nz/events/2019/5/1/training-programme-christchurch-managing-amp-leading-community-organisations-afchj
 
Auckland Friday, 13 December 2019
Leading Self - A Personal Leadership Development Workshop
Ferndale House; New North Road, Mount Albert
 
Kick off 2020 feeling more confident, assured and resilient. This is a one day workshop for leaders to reflect on their own leadership and develop a practical personal framework to support personal leadership growth and development. By the end of the day participants will have developed a personal leadership philosophy and identified the steps required to build their leadership capabilities.
 
For more information see https://www.lead.org.nz/events/2019/12/13/workshop-auckland-leading-self-personal-leadership-development

Global issues that affect the sector

[published on 24 November on Climate Home News]

Too often countries and companies make climate commitments that grab the media and political spotlight, only for governments or priorities to silently change.

Last week, UN chief António Guterres gathered the world’s political, business and civil society leaders in New York in an effort to jump start action on climate change.

While the world’s largest emitters failed to present substantive plans on how they are going to drive carbon out of their economies, dozens of announcements on climate action were made over the three-day summit.

CHN is publishing this (non-exhaustive) list of initiatives, promises and goals with a view toward accountability. 

Read more: https://www.climatechangenews.com/2019/10/02/world-promised-un-climate-action-summit/

The list includes New Zealand's commitment of planting one billion trees by 2028 and to make the country “the most sustainable food producer in the world”. 

Her four-minute address is available here. 

During that same week, a few blocks away from the UN headquarters, the People’s Assembly, brought together civil society representatives from across the world. They  discussed pressing matters that world leaders should address and created a comprehensive call to action, focusing on the following global priorities:

• Peace and Conflict
• Climate and Environment
• Inequality
• Decent Work and Descent – Leave no one behind
• Gender
• Persons with Disabilities 
• Civic Space