Those priorities have been analysed against the latest data, research and reports, with particular attention to those involving community engagement, such as regional wellbeing framework He Tohu Ora, the region’s recovery plans, iwi, industry, sector plans and the findings of the Ministerial Inquiry into Land Use in its report titled Outrage to Optimism.
RTRO Tuara director Amohaere Houkamau said they were working to have the revamped TEAP ready by the end of March next year, in time for consideration in the new National-led Government’s first Budget next May.
“It makes sense to at least give ourselves that chance to present our regional economic plan and bid for some of the new and baseline funding in Budget 2024.”
Another reason for bringing forward the late March deadline for completing the TEAP was to be ready to engage in a “summit” being planned for mid-to-late February,
“They want us to have a high-level summary of the TEAP, identifying key priorities, to present to Ministers in February.
“We are happy to do that but the reality is this plan is first and foremost our regional economic plan, setting our economic priorities and aspirations. We can use it as the basis for partnering with the government and private sector to align priorities, secure investment and get stuff done.
“We can’t just keep on reacting to other people’s agendas for Tairāwhiti. We want to make sure we have a plan that the whole of the community feel they are a part of — that there is ownership and the necessary leadership to provide a joined up and unified approach.”
A more expansive period of consultation will be undertaken between April and the end of May to confirm what gets done in the next 12 months, the next two years, and the next three years.
“That’s where those more meaningful conversations will be happening, to determine what actions and initiatives we are going to do and who is going to be part of leading and working on that.”
Habilis representative Kent Duston said their social investment consultancy was tasked with bringing together a lot of the existing “threads” from prior TEAP reports, Gisborne District Council reports, iwi strategies and regional cyclone recovery plans.
“We’ve effectively started the process of weaving them together into the TEAP and turning them into a coherent plan of action that we know can be resourced and can be delivered. We are not expecting businesses and organisations to sign up to lead stuff that they don’t have the capability or resourcing to deliver, but we do want groups that do have the capacity/resources to step up and lead.”
Mr Duston said this TEAP version would be “quite different” from its predecessors.
“It really has to be driven from the community level. Because, particularly post-cyclone, so much engagement and distilling has occurred about what communities believe is really important, it has certainly focused people on what needs to happen and that has built a level of consensus about what the region needs, that probably wasn’t there in 2019. So, that’s made a big difference.
“The other thing is that there was a lot of aspiration and actions in 2019, however, there were not enough ‘sponsors’ to ensure all actions were completed. One reality check that has come to the fore and been endorsed by the steering group, is to be both aspirational and pragmatic — do not put in things that we can’t achieve because we don’t have the capacity, capability or resources.
“We need to clearly identify ‘low hanging fruit’, a few actions that we can clearly focus on this year, and another set of priorities and actions for the next year, and so on. We have been given a very clear instruction from the steering group that we do need to prioritise, short, medium and long-term priorities, actions and outcomes.
Rau Tipu Rau Ora, with the support of Habilis, will be conducting a prioritisation exercise to confirm if the six key themes that have emerged are correct, identify the priorities for each theme and: “If we commit to this then who is volunteering to stand up, to lead this; who else should be involved and do they have the capability — and the capacity — and if not, how can we assist or do we need to prioritise another activity.”
