Kia ora koutou. In this month’s pānui | eNews:

WRLC Project Updates

  • Successful Workshop held for Region-shaping Projects
  • Regional Food Systems Strategy Update
  • Iwi Capacity & Capability Project Update
  • Addressing talent shortages – Summer of Engineering Event

WRLC Webinars

  • Grant Ennis, ‘Dark PR’ – Seeing the news differently
  • Dr Katherine Trebeck: Wellbeing Economics

Industry Updates

Successful Workshop held for Pan-Regional Projects

Top row L – R: Arya Franklyn – Regional Emissions Reduction Strategy Project Lead, Jamuna Rotstein – Regional Climate Impacts Assessment Project Lead, Tessa Ackers – Regional Food Systems Strategy Project Lead.
Second row L – R: Darrin Apanui, Interim Chair, Wellington Regional Leadership Committee, Rangitāne Tū Mai Rā Trust, Marama Fox – Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairarapa Representative

Iwi leaders, Mayors, central government partners and key staff, all attended a workshop this month to update the Wellington Regional Leadership Committee on WRLC’s key region-wide projects: The Future Development Strategy (FDS), including the draft FDS Iwi Aspirations Statement, and WRLC’s three regional climate-related projects: The Regional Food Systems Strategy, Regional Emissions Reduction Strategy, and Regional Climate Change Impacts Assessment and Adaptation Plan. For further updates on each project follow the links above.

The interdependence of each project’s success was a key theme discussed in the workshop. As aptly stated by Arya Franklyn (Project Lead for the Emissions Reduction Strategy), “emissions don’t have boundaries.” This holistic view applies to all of our regional projects, and so supporting a collaborative approach amongst partners and leaders from all four corners of the region, is vital for our region’s future.

The Draft Mana Whenua Aspirations Statement for the FDS was also presented. This is a key statement for the FDS, the result of workshops with Iwi partners to ensure mana whenua values and principles are clearly articulated and embedded in the Strategy.

The workshop was a great opportunity to connect, discuss challenges and opportunities, and build understanding of the immense benefits of taking a regional approach to achieve our shared aspirations.

Well done to the regional project leads for their commitment and hard work, building key relationships and bringing our partners along on the journey.

The RFSS has spent the last nine months engaging with partners across the region to ask them how we can shift our food system to be more sustainable, equitable, and locally-based.

RFSS partners have included mana whenua, community organisations, growers and producers, council and central government, and environmental experts. Focusing on a more local and sustainable food system allows us to reduce emissions, work in harmony with our environment, and can bolster our local economy. And, by working with local partners to build on existing community initiatives that increase access to healthy, affordable and culturally appropriate food, the goal is that everyone in our region has access to the food that they need, while ensuring growers are paid a fair price.

The next phase for the RFSS is to use quantitative and qualitative data to inform and shape on-the-ground pilots, tailored to place-based needs across the region to inform the final strategy.

Decisions around the actions and priorities will be led by the community advisory board (CAB) made up of mana whenua, community, rangatahi and growers, while being supported by a Technical advisory group that includes government and industry support.

The Project Lead for the Regional Food System Strategy is Tessa Acker, MPH, RD, Senior Public Health Advisor at Te Whatu Ora.

Iwi Capacity & Capability Project – Update

A key project in our work programme, is the Iwi Capacity & Capability Project, established to support our Iwi partners to participate fully in our work. Following research with our Iwi partners, a Scoping Report of Shortlisted Opportunities identified several key activities that could address this challenge for Iwi.

One of the identified opportunities was work placements and short-term secondments. These have now been developed into a pilot which is now being established, to help our Iwi Partners build resource capacity and capability to more meaningfully participate within government system timeframes.

Under a shared benefits arrangement, government and private sector organisations can improve their cultural competency and gain real Te Ao Māori experience in an immersed environment through work placements and secondments to our Iwi Partners.

This project aims to:

1. Build iwi capacity for relationships building and more meaningful engagement
2. Build iwi capability in certain technical areas – towards a more equitable capability to participate in processes
3. Share systems knowledge to understand and navigate processes
4. Assist in building enduring partnerships between central and local government and Iwi Partners
5. Activate work placements and secondments that solve a real resourcing need.

With organisations increasingly seeking iwi input and advice on various workstreams and projects, Iwi Partners are experiencing limited capacity or capability in some technical areas to fully participate in valuable engagement opportunities. This pilot is being designed to address that challenge.

You are invited to an exciting event to learn about how to bring young engineering talent into a business or organisation.

The event is on Tuesday 13th June, 4.30pm at the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce. It will promote the Summer of Engineering initiative from our Wellington Regional Economic Development Plan and is open to anyone from across our region to attend.

Garry Peek from Peek Robotics will share insights into how they’re growing their team and business with quality engineering interns, and James Lamb, the Head of Business and Economy at Hutt City Council, will speak about ideas to promote our impressive manufacturing and technology sector and support local businesses.

Please help to spread the word and share this with individuals, businesses and organisations that are experiencing talent shortages and are keen to explore fresh avenues.

For more information and to register click here.

Thought-leader Webinar Recordings

We had some fascinating thought-leader webinars which generated high interest this month. The recording are now available to view, at the links below.

Grant Ennis - 08.05.23

Lecturer and author Grant Ennis shared insights from his new book, ‘Dark PR’ – shining a light on how corporate disinformation is harming our environment and our health.

View Here

Dr Katherine Trebeck - 10.05.23

Trebeck discussed wellbeing economics: what is a wellbeing economy and what does it mean for what we do?

View Here

Upcoming Webinars

Keep an eye on your inbox for information on more exciting webinars we have coming up, in this rapidly evolving world – we’re curating content that

Andrew Eagle – NZGBC
Alec Tang – KPMG and Ben Van Bruggen – THE URBAN ROOM
Carwyn Jones and co-authors – Me Tū ā-Uru

Industry Update

Me Tū ā-Uru – An Action Plan for a Flourishing and Abundant Environment

This action plan presents a vision for a healthier natural environment, and for healthier long-term human and environmental relationships, and was prepared by New Zealand’s Biological Heritage National Science Challenge, Adaptive Governance and Policy Working Group.

The working group members Maria Bargh, Carwyn Jones, Erin Matariki Carr, Carly O’Connor, Tasman Gillies, Oliver McMillan, and Ellen Tapsell – produced this action plan in response to the question: in what ways can governance and policy better protect te taiao?

The Me Tū ā-Uru website brings the theory to life, with a wealth of information, including a short video on how it was created, explanation of the themes, and a section on, ‘what can I do?’

Webinar: Cultivating Space and seeding transformative change, with Dr Ryan Bellinson

Being a ‘policy entrepreneur’ or ‘government changemaker’ can be a lonely job. Communities of practice (COP) help change agents to sustain momentum, share learnings and problem solve collectively. In this session, Dr Bellinson, Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Faculty of the Built Environment at the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose – will discuss examples of COPs, and how they are fostering collective inquiry, and advancing understanding of how to build better.

This free webinar will be of interest to councils, planners and developers, professional associations, academics, and urban practitioners.

TACSI – The Future of Home

Across the ditch, The Australian Centre for Social Innovation has produced some inspiring and accessible work, bringing people and organisations together to creatively tackle our toughest challenges, and showing how this approach can really shift the dial to build the futures that we all deserve.

Of their six action areas, their thought-provoking Future of Home action area and eBook, is designed to stimulate the collective imagination of what could be, and how we might join up all the innovative work currently being conducted on the margins to build a better housing system. What does a future ‘system for home’ look like – that truly addresses our housing problems?

About the Wellington Regional Leadership Committee

WRLC is a joint regional partnership which brings together Iwi leaders, Mayors, Ministers of Government, and an independent chair, to work collaboratively on cross-boundary, growth-related challenges in the Wellington-Wairarapa-Horowhenua region.

WRLC exists to find better ways of working together to ensure that our region continues to be a place where people want to live, work and thrive.

Our projects cover five broad key areas that are integral to our shared growth-related cross-boundary challenges. These five areas are iwi capacity, housing, climate, transport and economic development and recovery. Read more about our work on our project page, and if you’re interested in collaborating, sharing information and finding alignment – get in touch at hello@wrlc.org.nz.

Wellington Regional Leadership Committee

100 Cuba Street, Wellington
New Zealand

E: hello@wrlc.org.nz W: www.wrlc.org.nz