Brent Eastwood: Collaborative Tai Tokerau efforts acknowledged at 2022 NZ Recreation Awards

Accepting the award are (from left): Kiri Pope (RSL), Brittany White (Sport Northland Special Projects Lead), Jamie Delich (Sport NZ), Trina Henare (Sport Northland Pou Hiwa) and Brent Eastwood (Sport Northland Pou Herea/CE).

OPINION:

A collaborative regional planning project undertaken by the play, active recreation and sport sector in Northland was acknowledged at the 2022 NZ Recreation Awards recently as the winner of the Outstanding Research, Planning & Policy award category.

This planning work involved the concurrent development of three planning documents: Kōkiri ai te Waka Hourua - the new region-wide strategy for play, active recreation and sport - and two district-level spaces and places plans for the Far North and Kaipara districts. The existing Whangarei Active Recreation and Sport Strategy (completed two years ago) also informed the development of Kōkiri ai te Waka Hourua.

Undertaken as a collaborative project by Sport Northland, the Northland Sports Coalition, Te Kahu O Taonui (Iwi Chairs Collective), Northland Regional Council, Whangārei District Council, Kaipara District Council, Far North District Council and Sport New Zealand, this piece of work provides a strategic framework to guide decision-making for play, active recreation and sport in Te Tai Tokerau.

While Sport Northland was the driver behind the development of the strategy, it was the collaborative nature of the project that the judges of the award acknowledged set this work apart from the other finalists.

The regional strategy was intended to provide a blueprint to guide sector decisions in Tai Tokerau. Two recent examples of how this has worked effectively are the Northland Sports Coalition, who are using the strategy to guide their annual plan development, while Sport Northland has just completed the development of its own strategic plan through until 2027, with the contents of Kōkiri ai te Waka Hourua being used extensively during its development.

Since being published in mid-2021, no time has been wasted in getting actions from the strategy under way. An Implementation Group has been established to oversee and drive Kōkiri ai te Waka Hourua forward. This provides a space for major stakeholders to collaborate and drive big pieces of work together (for example, the Northland Aquatics Facilities Plan), as well as stay accountable for their individual efforts in the implementation of the strategy and the spaces and places plans.

The vision for the strategy is “keeping Te Tai Tokerau moving in partnership, using our tikanga [way of doing things] to guide how we act now and in the future”. This vision reflects a double meaning of keeping Northlanders moving (active), as well as the sector moving forward in partnership, rather than in isolation.

First and foremost, the strategy looks to create a bicultural future for play, active recreation and sport in Te Tai Tokerau, with the name Kōkiri ai te Waka Hourua reflecting a desire to move forward under the waka hourua [double-hulled canoe/waka] partnership, allowing people to give effect from a tangata whenua [iwi/hapū/marae/whānau] approach and a tangata Tiriti [people of the Treaty/non- Māori] approach.

We are just over one year into the 10-year strategic period and seeing great impact already. If you’re interested in understanding more about this piece of work, contact Brittany White, Sport Northland special projects lead, at brittanyw@sportnorth.co.nz.