''She really just inspired me about helping organisations or people come down from positions through areas of conflicts to find shared interests where they can work together for bigger-picture issues.''
Her interest piqued, she discovered PBA ran a five-day course in Wellington and found sponsorship to allow her to attend.
''It was amazing, but around the room I was the only one from a community organisation, the rest were from corporates or NGOs or government departments.''
She wasn't the only person to notice.
''[PBA] approached me about a year later to say 'we noticed that too, and we don't think it's fair'.''
They felt community organisations and community-minded people could benefit by having access to some of the same information, but the cost was a barrier.
Chrissi was invited to be part of a reference group set up to help create a programme that would help those involved in community initiatives to access information on how to create partnerships, how to work together and be heard. The initiative is backed by Porticus, an international organisation that aspires to create a just and sustainable future in which human dignity flourishes. There are other members in the reference group from India, Uganda, Kenya and Europe.
''We've got to the stage now where they've identified they want to run a pilot course. They have asked all these international groups they have had the feedback from to gather people for a pilot - so we've got 10 spots.
''They were seeing it as 10 spots for New Zealand so I said could we experiment with what happens if the 10 spots were all in a small community - what effect that would have rather than spreading it throughout a country.''
So far Chrissi has found five people to be involved and is looking for another five.
''It can be a community member or member of a community organisation or ethnic group, anything like that, just someone that is interested in learning how to reach that space of a shared passion to work in.''
Chrissi says she feels the Te Puke community is getting better at working together.
''I can see that through COLAB and Te Kāhui Ako and I can see it starting to happen more and more.''
She says the idea behind the pilot is to build on that.
''It's about equipping people with more and more tools on how to identify potential partners, work through barriers to partnering and then maintain a successful relationship.
"Quite often there can be groups or individuals who really care or who really have a lot to offer a certain issue, but unless they can get through those initial things of identifying each other and then working out how they can work together and all the hiccups and road blocks working with each other sometimes brings, you don't get those outcomes.
''This is equipping people to navigate that journey right from identifying a problem and who can work on it too, through to seeing those outcomes and that's why I love it.''
Anyone wanting to find out more or be involved can contact Chrissi on chrissi@thedaily.org.nz or text 021 0256 5054.
