OVTRK Update October 2018

Kia ora koutou

First, we hope you find this Update to the Sector Report and Actions tab on the onevoicetereokotahi.blogspot.co.nz has a number of interesting snippets.
In particular we draw your attention to the offer from BENEFACTION about how they work with Third Sector Organisations (TSOs).
They are keen to work across the breadth of the Third Sector.

As the OVTRK Organising Group (OG) will have some of its members at the upcoming Earthquake Symposium on 29 & 30 November we have made a Summary to take with us.
YOUR feedback is welcome!

If you haven't had a look at the OVTRK Communication protocol and Ideals upheld please do.
Any feedback on these is also really appreciated.

One of the matters the OG has been discussing as we focus on where best to make input re Third Sector voices to strategy and policy developments in Greater Christchurch is the (large!) number of doorways into collaboration by statutory bodies in Greater Christchurch.

These include:

• Regenerate Christchurch and their work on Integrated Assessment Criteria Wellbeing Indicators are usually referred to as criteria with other bodies e.g:
• The Greater Christchurch Partnership (GCP) - it has a subcommittee on the "Future Development Strategy"
• Healthy Greater Christchurch - the GCP has identified HGChCh to implement their healthy communities strand of work
• The Mayoral Forum
• Safer Christchurch

In addition, Government nationwide has:

• Statistics NZ is also working on wellbeing indicators
• The Social Investment Approach (SIA)
• A new Ministry of Housing and Urban Development

Another important impending influence is that the Local Government Amendment Bill is expected to be dealt with by Parliament very soon - this will restore the statutory responsibility of local government to uphold the four (economic, environment, social and cultural) wellbeings, taking a sustainable development approach.
Urban Development is so reliant on Third Sector actions ...... the doorways for opportunities to make a space for TSO voices are many and varied. OVTRK will continue to advocate for those voices to be influential in the development of strategy and policy for Greater Christchurch.
Any corrections or comment on the above list will be appreciated!

Finally, with all the busyness at this time of year, the upcoming EQ Symposium, and the holyday season approaching, we are planning the next OVTRK Forum for around early March.....
Ideas for that are welcome too!

Report from 2018 MATARIKI FORUM on 18 June

This year the topic was:

Big    New    Ideas
for ourselves and our children after us
mō tātou ā mō kā uri ā muri ake nei

After the mihi whakatau from Kaharoa Manihera representing mana whenua, the Forum began with an address from our Third Sector Minister Hon. Peeni Henare. The Minster emphasised his openness to Big New Ideas for the Third Sector and shared some of his thinking. This was followed by a welcome opportunity for feedback by participants.

Bridget Frame then gave an overview of The Grant Making Ecosystem. This summarised her 4 year review of where grant funding to Canterbury region Third Sector Organisations (TSOs) comes from, where it goes and how it gets there. It demystified the challenges we face. If you can't open that PowerPoint presentation then here is a PDF of the slides, unfortunately without the speaking notes.

Dr Suzanne Vallance then spoke from the December 2017 Progress report which she co-authored Together: Building Better Homes, Towns and Cities which is available on the Valuing TSOs tab on the OVTRK website.

She focussed on Big New Ideas about wider resourcing approaches on how to value TSOs. These can help measure what we treasure, not only treasure what we measure.

After a short break for light refreshments participants gathered in four groups to discuss their Big New Ideas and provide Third Sector voices, on each of Environmental, Economic, Cultural and Social Wellbeing. Here are the notes from those discussions.

The statutory partners representatives from Environment Canterbury, the Christchurch City Council and Waimakariri District Council reflected on what they saw as next steps. Apologies and a request for a report from the evening were received from Selwyn District Council and the Canterbury District Health Board.

Brief feedback from each of the groups confirmed connections between the four wellbeings. A synthesis of the feedback was generously provided by one participant which we share for your interest:

• Decisions, ethics, and actions of practitioners working from the ground up should determine the governance and funding processes which empower our Third Sector to meet its full potential. An example to consider might be that much as Canterbury's Water Management Strategy enabled place-based decision making, catchment by catchment, the responsibility to allocate funding for the Sector should lie within the places it affects, in order to meet the needs there.
• Catalysed by the imperative for a healthy environment, it's the trust built from these social actions that create an accessible culture of efficacy and collaboration which informs the economic processes that support the Sector.

The evening was closed by mana whenua.

We welcome feedback from participants in the evening discussions - and any others interested.

Noho ora mai ra

The OVTRK Team
Email tsovoices@gmail.com

OVTRK Matariki 2018 Forum

 

Monday June 18 5-7pm
at Environment Canterbury - car park access off St Asaph St
light refreshments provided by koha from CCC

Our Third Sector Minister Hon. Peeni Henare
joins our kōrero

Big    New    Ideas

For us our children after us
Mō tātou ā mō kā uri ā muri ake nei
Ngāi Tahu whakataukī

Apart from hearing from Minister Henare: Bridget Frame will demystify the challenges we face with Grant Funding of our mahi, sharing her work looking at where grant funding comes from, where it goes to, and how it gets there. Dr Suzanne Vallance will update us on her research which can help us measure what we treasure, not only treasure what we measure. The main part of the time will be to hear and celebrate the Voices in the Third Sector You are encouraged to publicise the forum. Here is a flyer for your convenience.

OVTRK Update March 2018

Welcome to March 2018 – where have January and February gone?!

Since the last update we have continued to focus on promoting recognition and respect of the broad range of Third Sector Organisations (TSOs) in the development of strategy and policy for Greater Christchurch.

We have continued to collate resources on Valuing TSOs which highlight activities that rely on generosity as well as those that are not driven by a market approach. These resources are gathered to assist in increasing understanding of the imperative for a broad, Treaty-based ecological approach where the indigenous status of tangata whenua is understood. Many activities in our Sector are necessarily driven by government or commercial contracts, and broader contributions often need greater visibility in order to address difficulties around satisfactory measurement and justification. This is particularly the case when it comes to obtaining funding and other resources. The interface with Social Enterprise has provided much food for thought. In our previous Update we referred to our conversations with Dr Suzanne Vallance, whose research (described earlier) now has Ethics Committee approval to formally begin. We can remind ourselves to make a case for thinking about what would happen if our mahi was NOT done!

On 9 February we made a submission to Regenerate Christchurch on the Avon Otakaro River Corridor. This follows up previous communication with them where we highlighted their statutory responsibility to uphold environmental, social, cultural and economic wellbeing. We submitted that for them to give equal weight to 44 criteria in an assessment may risk generating confusion, energy overload and greater cost. By addressing those criteria that are of greatest importance, those involved with the assessment can then make a judgement. This then becomes an iterative process which, we suggest, can provide a greater sense of satisfaction and enhance the value of collaboration of those involved.

A few days ago we forwarded some papers to the Greater Christchurch Partnership in line with our OVTRK Working Agreement with them. These were sent in response to their proposal about Our SPACE – Settlement Pattern Review (SPR) and Greater Christchurch Outcomes. For your information our contribution was in addition to those we know are being considered – the CPH Wellbeing Monitoring Tool, Statistics NZ General Survey, Regenerate Christchurch Integrated Assessment Criteria and ECan’s Environmental Indicators.

One of the four current One Voice Te Reo Kotahi (OVTRK) priorities is to promote the need for independent and affordable shared spaces for Third Sector organisations around Greater Christchurch – including in the central city. Recently we learned Waimakariri District Council is considering a Community House and an update on the EnviroHub is available in the Sector Report and Actions update – see below. The Christchurch Co-Working Collective, has been established as a peer support for Managers and Coordinators of Co-Working Spaces (which includes organisations in the Third Sector). These Co-Working spaces include Christchurch Community House, Phillipstown Hub, Ministry of Awesome, BNZ Community 101, BiZ Dojo, Xchange Christchurch…. A contact is Camia Young 021 1125 087. The FB link if you want to join is: https://www.facebook.com/groups/162324744413204/.

Our Sector Report & Actions has been updated today!

Let’s encourage TSOs large and small to make us all visible on the Registry and let’s embrace interdependence and maximum autonomy for each of our organisations and those involved in them.

Please do help shine light on the broad Third Sector - making connections for us and our children after us!

Finally, YOUR FEEDBACK IS MOST WELCOME!