COMMUNITY MEETINGS
As Coordinator of the Community House, I have recently attended meetings/forums in relation to Whānau ora and the Regional Transport Plan and have also been contacted, via email, in relation to the discussion document Skills for Wellbeing.
All of these initiatives will, or have the potential to, impact on our community and I am hoping that you, or a representative from your organisation, would be willing to attend a meeting. The purpose of the meeting is to canvas community reaction to these initiatives and perhaps enable the compilation of community feedback to the various organisations promoting them.
Below is a brief summary of these initiatives and at the end of each summary I have provided a website where further information can be obtained.
I have identified two meeting times, here at Raglan Community House and hope that you will be able to attend one or other of them. The dates/times are:
- Tuesday 6 July at 6pm
- Thursday 8 July at 10am
Please RSVP to Nicci or Chrissy on 825 8142 or email r_ch@xtra.co.nz
Chrissy Hodkinson
Coordinator
Regional Transport Plan
The Regional Transport Plan is currently being drafted by Environment Waikato for implementation on 1 January 2012. Essentially, what isn’t identified in the Plan will not get funded during the life of the plan which is based on 3 – 10 years. Funding is capped on the current plan which is in Year 2 of a three year plan. There is no indication at this stage on what funding will be available in 2012 but it is important that communities indicate their needs to Environment Waikato. There has been a change to process in the planning for the next round. Usually they talk only with the Territorial Authorities (and for our region this is the Waikato District Council) about transport needs in the regions. This time they are also consulting with communities themselves which is why the Regional Transport forums (which I attended in Hamilton) have been established. They are certainly reviewing how Passenger Transport services are implemented although the outcomes of this review are unknown at this time.
The Issues, Challenges and Options discussion is underway and is likely to be finalized by September 2010. From that, the Draft Regional Transport Plan will be finalized and put out for public consultation in May 2011 with the Plan being implemented in Jan 2012. Community Waikato will promulgate the Draft Plan for consultation and feedback. We have an opportunity to provide community input into this plan from the whole community perspective not just that of the Territorial Authority.
As part of this, a Health Impact Assessment has been conducted and the report can be viewed at http://www.ew.govt.nz/PageFiles/14108/Waikato_Regional_Land_Transport_Strateg%e2%80%a6.pdf
This document includes the recommendations made in relation to rural transport.
Whānau Ora
A Taskforce was established in 2009. Essentially Whānau Ora is designed to:
- restore to whānau a belief in their ability to make their own decisions
- Empower them to do for themselves
- Build on whānau capability; and
- strengthen inter-relationships
The Taskforce reported to the Minister at the end of January with the report going public on 8 April.
A Governance Group has been established and the role of the Governance Group is to:
- facilitate implementation
- Provide advice to the Minister
- Provide leadership to government agencies and stakeholders
- Provide leadership and direction and national and regional level
In terms of whānau centred services, they are looking for providers to come together to look at the services they provide and how they could collaborate and cooperate for the betterment of whānau in their region. There will be up to 20 providers or provider groupings appointed in the first year and it is intended that there will be an integration of contracts. It will be outcomes focused, looking for results that whānau set for themselves. Whilst it is unlikely that any provider initially selected could be Raglan based, we have an opportunity, as a community to look at how we could collaborate as a community to build a strong network to support whānau – and indeed our whole community.
http://www.tpk.govt.nz/_documents/whānau-ora-taskforce-report.pdf
Skills for Wellbeing
The Skills for Wellbeing, 2020 discussion paper aims to stimulate dialogue towards creating a strategic framework for the social services and community sector and workforce. This framework will help build communities and support families and whānau achieve great social outcomes over the upcoming decades. It proposes a vision-driven framework for developing the social services and community sector to effectively contribute to the sustainable wellbeing of individuals, families, whānau and communities as Aotearoa New Zealand prepares for the year 2020 and beyond. This workforce development framework is intended to complement and support the current Government’s policy for Whānau Ora initiatives which seeks to help families and whānau become more self-managing and take responsibility for their own development.
Amongst the aims of Skills for Wellbeing are:
- A connected social services, voluntary and community sector working in partnership with individuals, families, whānau and communities to achieve their goals for sustainable wellbeing.
- Promote shared understandings – people who lead, coordinate, plan and fund social services and community building, and those engaged in the work will understand their own and others roles.
http://www.socialservicesito.org.nz/sites/ssito.org.nz/files/skills-for-wellbeing-2020.pdf