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TE RUNANGANUI O NGATI POROU
George Reedy
I want to start off my report back for the year by expressing my sincere appreciation to the outgoing TRONPnui board and, in particular, former Chairman Ta Selwyn Parata, KNZM, with whom I worked closely. I very much valued their guidance and support during their tenure as directors, especially during the difficult times our organisation responded to the extreme weather events that have fractured our region.
I also want to pay my heartfelt thanks to our TRONPnui Group kaimahi for all their hard work. Over the past 12 months our staff have continued to go over and above what it says in their job descriptions. Month after month, I witnessed first hand our teams give everything they could possibly give to support whanau recovering from the continuing aftermath of the cyclones and severe flooding. Our kaimahi also supported our communities to grow their resilience and increase their sense of security. This is an extremely complex and delicate task to carry out, in an environment where anxiety and uncertainty is still felt across the rohe.
RECOVERY TO RESILIENCE
When I look back on the 2023/2024 year, it has played out to me like a game of two halves. In the first half, coming straight off the back of Cyclone Gabrielle, Ngati Porou was under pressure and we had our backs up against the wall. TRONPnui had to switch quickly from cyclone response into cyclone recovery mode. Our roading infrastructure had been severely damaged, our marae and homes were in serious need of repair, and our taiao had been littered with forestry slash. The recovery efforts of our organisation were focused on supporting communities to clean up the woody debris from waterways and whenua, find the resources to restore marae and kainga, and advocate for our roads and bridges to be properly fixed and not ignored.
In the second half of the year, our TRONPnui game plan pivoted more towards investing in community resilience work. Our Special Projects team went out to marae and communities to provide them with their own equipment, training and resources in the event of future civil emergencies and natural disasters. Our Ngati Porou Oranga teams supported whanau to become more resilient and increase their own capacity and capability in the face of future difficulties.
STRENGTH TO STRENGTH
It has always been a key challenge for TRONPnui to secure sufficient resources to support our whanau and communities. The past year has been no different, especially in these fiscally constrained times with the amount of government funding available for delivering community services decreasing. To counteract this, we have had to leverage off our key strengths: making the most of the resources we have; being agile to the changing needs of whanau and changing policies of government; and being resilient to the headwinds that could easily knock us off our direction of travel.
Resourcefulness, agility and resilience are also the key strengths I have observed in our Ngati Porou Oranga kaimahi. Over the past year I have witnessed Ngati Porou Oranga go from strength to strength, as the services they provide to our whanau have expanded. The social footprint of Ngati Porou Oranga has also grown and you can find out more about the positive impacts they have made to whanau and communities in the NPO section of the annual report.
TRUE GRIT
A series of Raumati Roadshows held earlier this year along the Coast showcased the whanau and community services offered by Ngati Porou Oranga, and also marked the one year anniversary of Cyclone Gabrielle. The Roadshows provided the opportunity to acknowledge and thank Ngati Porou communities for their resilience and “true grit” in the aftermath of Cyclones Gabrielle and Hale.
I have always been truly humbled by the strength of our Coast communities. Amongst all the awangawanga they have experienced in recent years, our whanau and hapu have demonstrated their own unique varieties of resilience such as “Whareponga grit”, “Maraehara grit”, and “Mangahauini grit”.
However it is important to also recognise that resilience does have its limits. A Whanau Voice survey undertaken during the Raumati Roadshows identified that our people placed mental health as their top hauora priority. I am pleased to say that we have already made moves towards supporting the mental wellbeing journeys of our whanau, and building our capacity to provide increased mental health support. For me, this is a positive development that came out of all the negativity from last year.
ANGA WHAKAMUA
Looking ahead to next year, I am looking forward to supporting our new board and new board Chair, with implementing the strategic plan they are in the process of developing. I am also looking forward to supporting the initiatives we are pursuing with our strategic partnerships: in health with the Tairawhiti Iwi Maori Partnership Board; in housing with Toitu Tairawhiti Housing; and in roading with Transport Rebuild East Coast (TREC).
We are also pursuing a potential Tairawhiti Recovery Authority, which would look like joint governance by the Crown, council and iwi/hapu, responsible for the maintenance, recovery and resilience work on State highways and local roads.
But most of all I am excited about supporting initiatives where we can ‘forge ahead’ as our Chair says, and turn up the dial on making a difference for our people. Instead of carrying on as we are on projects where there is little discernible change, I am keen to “anga whakamua,” rather than just, “mahi atu”.
Our changing Ngati Porou demographics also support this approach. Census 2023 stats showed that our Ngati Porou population had jumped from approximately 70,000 in 2013 to 102,480 in 2023. More than half of these Natis (56.7%) are under the age of 30 years. With a very youthful Ngati Porou population, TRONPnui will soon reflect the kinds of ambitious goals and aspirations these Nati ‘Gen Z’ have for their whanau, whenua and whakapapa.
NGA MIHI O TE WA
I wish you and your whanau a very Meri Kirihimete and if you are coming back home for New Years, don’t forget to register for your marae’s Pa Wars team. We’ll see you in Ruatoria on January the 3rd, 2025!
Aku mihi nui ki a koutou, ki a tatau katoa.
Nga manaakitanga,
George Reedy,
CEO, Te Runanganui o Ngati Porou
To read more korero from the 2024 TRONPnui Annual Report go to: https://www.ngatiporou.com/hui-a-tau-2024
