Hui E! Trust Board – new Trustees: Register to Vote!
We have called for nominations for three new members of the Hui E! Trust Board, from the organisations that have signed up as Formal Supporters of Hui E! Nominations close on Friday October 9.
Signed-up organisations will have the chance to vote if there are more than 3 candidates nominated. If your organisation is not yet signed up as a Formal Supporter you can still do so at no cost at www.huie.org.nz
The 3 successful candidates will join the six inaugural members, who will retire over the next three years.
Trustees should bring a range of experience and skills – our skills matrix includes strategic thinking, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, commitment to Hui E! Purpose & Principles, critical thinking, organisational structures & systems, financial management, legal issues, knowledge of the whole sector, ability to focus on both national issues and regional diversity.
Go to our website www.huie.org.nz to see who are the current Trustees, and to register free as a Hui E! Formal Supporter
Hui E! Annual Meeting: Monday November 23, 10.30 am
Our Annual Meeting will focus on business issues. We’ll hold a face to face meeting in Wellington, but invite people in other centres to beam in via video conferencing. If you are able to host a group in your town or city to video in, please let us know.
Comments from Hui E! General Manager Peter Glensor:
Auckland Council and the Community Sector:
A warm thanks to the 60 people who took part in our meeting last week, hosted by Volunteering Auckland. People came from all over Auckland, with a good spread within the community sector. (After we looked at the spread of participants, when we asked “who here sees themselves as involved in community development”, we had a unanimous Yes!)
This was a chance to express some concerns, and ask questions, about the implementation of the Empowering Communities Approach (ECA).
Graham Bodman and Cissy Rock outlined the ECA, and provided some information about how it will be implemented. There will be 18 “brokers”, mostly working in Local Board areas, who will be a key point of contact between the Council and local communities. There will be a “Community Hub” of 50 to 55 people, which will include some people with specific subject expertise, available as a resource for the whole Council and for the community.
Local Boards will have a key role in defining local community priorities, and in making local funding decisions.
A small planning group which set up the meeting outlined to Graham and Cissy some of the sector’s questions and we began the process of addressing those.
There is a strong desire on the part of both parties to set up an ongoing process so the community sector can participate in the practical implementation of ECA. For example, it will be important to develop processes to deal with sub-regional and region-wide issues that affect a wider area than just one or two Local Boards. Sector people repeated our desire for more regular forums with Council as the ECA roll-out gets underway.
Already there are other similar meetings planned with other groups: – in Central Auckland, Western Auckland and possibly South Auckland. We’ll keep feeding out information about progress.
The working group is open to people who wish to progress this kaupapa. Contact one of the group members – currently Denise Bijoux (Inspiring Communities), Peter Glensor (Hui E!), Mary Dawson (ARMS), Pat Watson (Hui E!), Tony Mayow (which group do you choose Tony?), Kaeti Rigarlsford (People First), Cheryll Martin (Volunteering NZ). We are keen to keep good coordination of the community responses, and to keep the momentum going, especially while the practical implementation of ECA is still being worked through. Already there are practical suggestions that Council might set up a Q & A Forum, where the community’s questions and the Council’s responses can be posted.
A reminder that nominations are now open for three new Trustees of Hui E! A notice about it is posted on our website – www.huie.org.nz – and nominations close on Friday October 10. Each nominee must be nominated and seconded by a Formal Supporter of Hui E! and will write a one pager – why do I seek nomination and what do I offer.
It’s very quick and easy to become a Formal Supporter. Sign up on our website – www.huie.org.nz – confirm you support the kaupapa of Hui E! and give your contact details. It doesn’t cost anything and you can take part in choosing some of our Trustees.
We are building good links with a wide range of groups within our sector. Recently we were there to help celebrate the launch of Environment Hubs Aotearoa – a new network of local environment centres. We’ve opened dialogue with the Akina Foundation – set up to support and promote social enterprises. The Thinktank Charitable Trust – a philanthropic trust – has linked up with Hui E!, as has the RobsonHanna Trust – a collective of groups focussing on issues about justice. Groups range from the very local (Eastern Suburbs Lions Club) to large national groups like Barnardos. Take a moment now and link your group up.
I was honoured to speak at the AGM of Community Waikato recently. We all honour the work of Andrea Goble who has recently stood down as CEO, and we welcome the new CEO, Holly Snape. Community Waikato is a fine example of a regional body working effectively to build capability and capacity within the sector, and linking together the diversity of our sector.
The Hui E! Trustees have approved Terms of Reference for a Tiriti Working Group – mandated by our Trust Deed to support the work of Hui E! and to help us follow the principles of the Trust. More details will be available shortly about this new group, and how people in the sector can connect up with the Tiriti Working Group.
My own warm thanks to Maisie Sanderson for the excellent work on the large survey we conducted for the Department of Internal Affairs on community/ government interactions. The survey itself is reported elsewhere in this newsletter, but we owe Maisie our thanks for a job well done.
In November, Dave Henderson will be chairing a meeting in Istanbul of AGNA – national associations of NGOs, just like Hui E! Dave has been chairing this group for two years now, and his costs of attending the meeting are met by international contributions via CIVICUS – of which Hui E! is the New Zealand representative.
Forward notice that the second meeting of national umbrellas or networking organisations will be held on Friday November 13th, in Wellington. Formal invitations will be coming out shortly.
