One Voice Te Reo Kotahi
Sector
Forum:
“How NGOs, and the communities we work within can become meaningfully
involved in the rebuild (with special reference to the central city and the
residential red zone).” We place great
value on participatory processes and our hope to leave an enduring legacy
for us and our children after us.
7.30pm,
3 July 2014
Mihi & Karakia Ra Dallas Katoa
Speakers: Roger Sutton (Chief Executive, CERA), with
Michelle Mitchell (Deputy Chief Executive, Social and
Cultural Recovery, CERA), Baden Ewart (General Manager Operation, CERA).
Introduction
Forum chair Katherine
Peet introduced the topic for the evening and gave an overview of the
sector. She also updated what we had
learned about how CERA would ‘transition out’ since the last forum. CERA itself would not be disestablished in
2016, only its emergency powers and statutory functions would end. LURP will be
reviewed in April 2015 and by then CERA has to have a plan for its progression
to and beyond the end of its statutory functions.
Katherine also gave the
meeting’s thanks to CERA for providing the venue and refreshments and invited
Roger to take the floor.
The
Questions
Roger
had been sent clarifying questions relating to the main topic prior to the
forum, and asked to address these. They
were:
Create,
not just consult: It is a priority for NGOs and the
communities we work within that we be involved in co-creating the
Progression Plan, rather than only being consulted after most of the
work has been done. How can this be
ensured?
Big picture: How
is CERA prioritising input from NGOs and the communities we work within to
clarify What Really Matters? in the work being undertaken?
Championing the NGO sector: How
can CERA both work with the NGO sector as one of the partners as well as
champion the case for the sector as a partner with your strategic partners as
work streams transition from CERA to other agencies?
Future proofing: The
Recovery Strategy says, in part, that "Development….. will meet the
needs of future generations, taking into account climate change and the need to
reduce risk from natural hazard.". How can NGOs, among whose numbers are several
which have considerable professional expertise in issues such as localisation
of food security, energy matters, etc, contribute to the earliest stages of the
development of the Progression Plan?
Monitoring: We
are interested in how and by whom CERA's statutory responsibility "to
restore the social, economic, cultural, and environmental well-being of Greater
Christchurch communities" will be monitored both in terms of
transition and all plans. How can NGOs
be a part of this ongoing process?
The Discussion
Roger Sutton began by acknowledging the requirement for CERA to work
with statutory partners, but also communities.
Strong institutions contribute to good recovery in natural
disasters. We also need people in the
community with a passion to work for the recovery. A city without people who are passionate
about it is not a city.
Roger is very aware of
the contribution and importance of community and our sector. This is not always recognized in the wider
community. For instance, the recent
launch of the psychosocial wellbeing strategy Community in Mind, which is
incredibly important for community wellbeing, got no media coverage. There is a frustration in CERA that important
people-related matters don’t get the attention that infrastructure/physical
rebuild matters do.
We have come from a
period of emergency response where there was a need for fast action. We are now in a phase where there is a need
and opportunity for much more conversation and engagement. We need to be really aware that this is a
very long journey. If we’re going to get
through it with genuine engagement we need strong community organisations to
make sure that people get their voices across.
We’re still in an early part of this.
Different political leaders also need confidence that they can listen to
and take account of community voices.
Katherine asked that
given that plan is going to be in place by 2015, how can groups (especially
specialist interest groups) be involved?
For instance the groups that value being in the central city so that residents
living anywhere in the city can access them relatively easily. How can we be sure that we as a sector are
going to be included inside the frame?
Roger replied that the first
avenue is through the formal system of the Community Forum and submissions to
relevant statutory bodies. Secondly, CERA
is engaging with groups that have a special interest in specific projects or
issues, e.g. sports groups in relation to the stadium, transport groups in
relation to transport planning.
CERA will wind down over
time, not at 2016. There is an
expectation that a lot of CERAs role will go to CCC, but Roger is not so sure
that this will happen. For instance, government
will continue to want to monitor progress while it is investing heavily in the
recovery.
Michelle Mitchell said
that the first goal is to be in a position where it’s agreed what the plan will
look like. Much activity will be
happening whether CERA is there or not and whether this is included in a plan
or not. She asked whether we want a
crown agency to be involved in current collaborations that we are already
engaged in. The NGO sector will need to
have involvement in defining what the plan will look like and we need to think
about this and how we will structure ourselves in order to do that.
From the floor it was
commented that it is important that there is clarity around what our
expectation is and what CERA are offering.
Collaboration happens from the early stages; it is not merely consulting
and informing at the end. Roger noted
that CERA has to deliver a plan that government will accept and this shapes
their work. He is happy to work with the
sector to achieve a plan that will meet both government requirements and sector
expectations.
A participant observed
that CanCERN is a good example of working well with CERA in a process of co-creation. However work on the future of the red zone
feels more like being consulted rather than involved. Michelle replied that CERA are required to do
a certain number of things to get sign-off from government in order to be able
to get to a place where they can engage with the community. They first had to engage with statutory
partners as part of the sign-off process.
This has been about how the process of engagement will happen. As soon as CERA has this, it will engage with
‘activators’ – people in the community who have been leading and are actively
involved in projects and initiatives related to the future of the red
zone. They will be asked about whether the
thoughts so far around the process will work, or whether it reflects what has
already been said so far.
Roger was asked how CERA
was prioritizing input from NGOs and the communities we work within to clarify
what really matters in the work being undertaken. Roger replied that this is the crux of the
Community in Mind strategy. There was an
interim plan for immediate needs, the sector contributed to this. There was a lot of engagement with the
community, including NGOs/non-profits, to develop the new strategy. The next piece of work is to develop a
programme of action - Are the supports
and services that have been in place over the last 3 years still fit for
purpose? What else is needed? There will be lots of opportunities for
continued engagement – community-led recovery and government-provided services
need to be talking to each other.
The issue of sector
wellbeing was raised, with increased workloads, more complex needs, and
exhausted staff. Where can groups go to
when they reach the end of their tether?
Things are getting worse for the sector.
Funders around the country think the quakes are a thing of the
past. We need CERA to champion the
sector and to advocate for us, and we need to find a way to wave the flag when
things are getting desperate.
Roger replied that CERA
tries to get the big picture and gather data, bring the information together,
then work with other parts of government and with NGOs to facilitate finding
solutions. It was noted that there was
nowhere that has an overview of the wellbeing of the whole sector. Michelle suggested that there was a need to
bring together and articulate and prioritise issues. CERA can have a role to connect up people
relating to how to address the issues. Associate
Minister for Earthquake Recovery Nicky Wagner offered to organise a meeting
with Jo Goodhew, the Minister for the sector.
It was noted that funding
issues are a perennial problem in the sector.
We have to separate out which is relevant to the quake and which is for
government policy to address.
An organization
representative said that most people they see are struggling with rent. They are dealing with people living in
cars. In Australia after the bushfires
they capped the rent increases that were allowed. There has to be some kind of regulation.
In response, Roger and
Michelle outlined housing initiatives to date and noted that state agencies and
others are working on further solutions. Associate Minister Nicky Wagner noted that
government capped the rents for the temporary villages. She explained that demand is greater than
supply, and government has been building for workers in order to take pressure
off existing stock. If we cap private
rentals people won’t build any more, we need more houses so we can have the
capacity that will keep prices down.
An attendee asked that
the Accommodation Allowance be raised to the same level as Auckland’s, as rent
levels are now the same as Auckland.
Nicky responded that that would just cause rents to go up further.
A WikiHouses
representative said that they have been promised by eight CERA staff at
different times to get them in to talk about the WikiHouses initiative, but
nothing has eventuated. The initiative
has worldwide credibility and Christchurch is regarded as a world leader. It has the potential to contribute
significantly to housing solutions but needed CERA to make connections. Roger undertook to follow up. He emphasised to Roger that he should note
that social enterprises are part of the Sector as described by OVTRK and that
they are distinct from the commercial or statutory Sectors.
It was questioned whether
the army’s tradespeople be deployed to build workers’ accommodation Social problems need to be part of the
response of creating villages for workers, but it can be done. Baden Ewart explained that much of the grunt
of the army comes from territorials, who have day jobs. The question is what can we do to create
housing quickly to resolve the immediate issue?
What is the role of government, given its intersection with the private
sector. The biggest problem for
affordable housing in NZ is in Auckland, there is a need to find a solution
that can be applicable to both Auckland and Canterbury. There are physical solutions, but they bring
other issues.
CERA Community Forum
member Emma Twaddle said that we have an opportunity to build not networks but
communities. CERA needs to find ways of
supporting this, communities have been working bloody hard, but many feel that
they are just puppets. She gave examples
of not being involved with CERA initiatives in spite of being on Community
Forum.
Ariana Wilson of Otautahi
Women’s Refuge gave the picture of life as a worker in a refuge and gave
stories of women that she is working with.
She pleaded with Roger to use whatever power he has to try and influence
a recovery that doesn’t leave these people behind.
The meeting ran out of
time, and Roger offered to write down answers to questions we had posed and to
find a mechanism to enable a conversation around them. Michelle
said they need to know what form we want to be involved in – how do we propose
to do that? Are there particular
areas?
Shirley Wright from Christchurch
Resettlement Services acknowledged CERA for how they engaged in an appropriate
helpful way in the refugee/migrant sector.
Final thanks and concluding remarks:
Katherine thanked CERA for coming to
the forum. She drew attention to the
distinct role that the sector plays and the process by which we contribute our
voice. We don’t have the recognition, if
we can get that then the resourcing should follow. We want from CERA some shelter of our
activity because CERA is unique in that it has a mandated relationship between
local authorities, government departments and tangata whenua. Whatever process is found for participation,
OVTRK would wish to do it in the Treaty relationship model that it works
in.
Karakia whakamutunga: Ariana ended the
evening with a karakia.
