Nga mihi nui ki a koutou me nga ahuatanga o te wa. (Lots of greetings to everyone and all that is happening)
Our trusty scribe has tidied the notes from our 10-March forum. Did you see the coverage of the forum in The Press?
Below, we have a brief recap and full notes from the forum, and a few great things to showcase from our sector.
- Notes from the forum: "Questions regarding CERA transitioning out in 2016"
- An inventory of community-led and NGO and Initiatives in Post-earthquake Canterbury
- NGO accommodation survey
About 120 people attended the forum to hear speakers from the six statutory partners in the recovery talk about arrangements for recovery post-2016-- and to hear from four NGO speakers who covered four aspects of the recovery (environmental, social, economic, and cultural) to demonstrate the diversity of our sector.
The night's discussions were summed up by organising group member Evan Smith:
Organising Group member Evan Smith:
Holding up a rugby ball Evan noted that it has been difficult with a key player missing, like the ball has been taken to the far end of the paddock and nobody is able to play with it.
Before the earthquakes there were already well-established relationships, although not without tensions. This may explain why ECan thinks 2016 is too soon to say goodbye to CERA and others think it is not soon enough.
Concepts that we have noted: Selwyn’s three ‘c’s - communication, cooperation and consideration; it is better to give timelines; recovery is about people, not just buildings.
It is good to recognise WDCs good progress, and the magnitude of what it is dealing with.
There is a variety of agencies involved in monitoring. From the NGOs perspective, recovery is only as successful as the most vulnerable person’s recovery. This is about community empowerment.
The upcoming election brings uncertainty. There is a real danger that government might take its foot off the pedal, but we take Lianne’s point that not everyone is ready to move on.
Recognition of Ngai Tahu and having it given a statutory role in the recovery is a great highlight of the CER Act and an example to the rest of the country. The cultural and spiritual memory of the land has risen up with the shaking of the quakes. It has not just been recognising tangata whenua in law but in the hearts of the people, which is the only way it will endure.
We have been using the analogy of an arranged marriage when talking about the relationship between CERA and its statutory partners, when this arranged marriage formally comes to an end, who is left holding the baby? The baby is a product of more than its parents, it is the product of its social, environmental, economic, and cultural environment. It takes a village to raise a child, and the NGO sector knows every nook and cranny of the village extremely well. We have between us a wealth of expertise to help raise the child.
Your read the full notes at our blog post. Please take a look!
An inventory of community-led and NGO and Initiatives in Post-earthquake Canterbury
A Lincoln University researcher and member of the OVTRK organising group recently shared an inventory she has put together listing some of the thousands of community-led groups and initiatives across our region that have developed or evolved as a result of the quake. This is the third of three consecutive documents that have illustrated the diversity of numerous community-led initiatives, but also illustrated longitudinally the evolution of recovery from a community perspective.
The inventory acknowledges that work of this nature is rarely comprehensive, and doesn't claim to be. Even so, we think this resource could be useful for many NGOs right now, and are happy to share it.
http://www.lincoln.ac.nz/Documents/LEaP/Final%20Inventory.pdf
NGO accommodation survey
Has your organisation filled out our survey about NGO accommodation? Please take five minutes to do so. It would be fantastic to have greater insight into the things are sector has, might share, and is looking for.
Complete the survey at http://bit.ly/ngo-accom-survey and do share the link!
That's all for now. See you at some of the great events tomorrow (check the sidebar!).
Heoi ano,
The OVTRK Team
Remember, an Introduction to OVTRK is available if you know other groups who might wish to put themselves on the Register.
