Pan-NGO delegate applications open today.

Ngā mihi o te Kirihimete me te Tau Hou...

and happy 12:12 12/12/12, everyone.  We've just sent an email to the organisations on our registry to let them know that this is likely to be the last message you will receive from us this year, and it is to announce that pan-NGO delegate applications have opened.

As you have heard from us before, following CERA’s invitation to identify a delegate from the NGO sector to join their Community Wellbeing Planning Team, OVTRK has worked with COSS and SSPA to develop the information about the role and the process our sector will use to appoint and support a delegate.  Relevant documents and information about our timeline are now available.  You are welcome to share this with potential applicants.

Click the link on the far right of the menu bar, or just click here to access the page.

Have a safe and happy holiday, everyone.  We look forward to receiving your applications and working together again in 2013.

Applications for Pan-NGO representative open tomorrow

Great to see some of you at the meeting today.  We had some helpful discussions about the role of the upcoming pan-NGO representative and the processes and priorities associated with that role.

We'll put up the latest information about the role and how you can apply for it when applications open tomorrow.  In the meantime, our group agreed that this letter to The Press on Saturday was worth reading.

THE PRESS, Christchurch

Saturday, December 8, 2012 page A21 

I had to understand

I know the time is coming when my five children, all under 10, will ask me, "Dad, why did you let these things happen in Canterbury?" and I will say, "I had to understand that our water had to be shared with Fonterra so they could make money for our country and that ECan needed controlling by the Government to make this happen.

"I had to understand schools needed closing to make education more effective and that children did not need a school in their local community.

"I had to understand that forcing land sales in our central business district and later selling it to a few wealthy people was the just thing to do,

"I had to understand that the Government leaving many homeowners to the mercy of insurance companies and EQC, with no one to advocate for them, was the only way to treat these people.

"I had to understand the old dungers, the heritage buildings plus our cathedral, had to be demolished to make way for tilt-slab boxes because Cera could not wait for their restoration and because the Government had their city plan for us."

My children will reply, "But Dad, why did you let John Key, Gerry Brownlee and Roger Sutton bully you?"

I will say, "Some of us protested, but most didn't. Many were just too tired from so many earthquakes and having to understand what was best for us."

"Dad, we understand, and now that we are bigger we will stand up for you."

And I will put my head in my hands and try not to cry.

PAUL COLEMAN 

Addington

Sector forum tomorrow-- see you there!

In the meantime, take a look at this quote...

"The more economy, money, and information become global, the more community will matter. And only the social sector nonprofit organization performs in the community, exploits its opportunities, mobilizes its local resources, solves its problems. The leadership, competence, and management of the social sector nonprofit organization will thus largely determine the values, the vision, the cohesion, and the performance of the 21st century society." 

   -Peter F. Drucker

NGO delegate developments and more to discuss at Tuesday's forum!

Important information about the next forum and an NGO delegate...

Hope everyone is enjoying this warm weather.  We have several updates to share.

Details for the open forum next Tuesday (important updates!)
The next Sector Forum for NGOs on our registry is next Tuesday, 11-December from 9am -11am at CWEA (59 Gloucester Street).  In our last email, we explained that we want to discuss OVTRK’s response to CERA’s invitation to identify a delegate from the NGO sector to join the Community Wellbeing Planning Team that is convened by CERA.   We would like to:

• Discuss the outline for this role and a system for identifying a delegate (click the link for a job description and call for applications)
• Share views on what this would include
• Discuss a system for supporting the delegate (click link for support TOR)The next Community Wellbeing Planning Team meeting is on 12-Feburary, so we would like to act in time to have a delegate in place for that meeting.  A more detailed timeline is available (click the link) and will be discussed at the forum on Tuesday.

This is an important opportunity for our sector, and we are looking forward to the input from OVTRK registered NGOs.  There will be time for a short panui at the end if anyone has something they’d like to share.


What else OVTRK has been up to

• We have been following up with the six statutory bodies as requested during the last forum.  Minister Brownlee did not accept our invitation, and our correspondence with him has been referred to the Corporate and Governance section of CERA.  We will keep you up to date as this correspondence continues.
• The OVTRK co-chairs met with Labour MPs who asked to meet with OVTRK for a briefing.
• The Council of Social Services has clarified the difference between OVTRK and COSS in the most recent COSS newsletter (click the link for the newsletter).
• Members of the OVTRK steering group attended the Association of Non-Government Organisations Aoteaora (ANGOA) seminar on the government’s “Better Public Services” work programme.
• Members of the OVTRK steering group attended the Social Service Providers Aotearoa (SSPA) lecture on Improving Productivity in the NGO sector.
• The OVTRK co-chairs attended two workshops on the Natural Environment Recovery Programme led by ECAN.

OVTRK plans for the rest of the year

• OVTRK will send someone to the 6-December Jim Diers' Building Strong Communities Session.
• OVTRK will have someone at the Community Leaders Meeting on 7-December.
• Denise Kidd will be giving us some feedback about the CERA wellbeing survey.

Data mapping
Notes from the CanCERN data mapping workshop are now available on their website(click the link for the relevant page).  For more information around using this resource, you can follow up with Brian Parker at brian [at] cancern [dot] org [dot] nz .


Registry reminder
We’ve updated the criteria for being a registrant of One Voice Te Reo Kotahi in order to bring out our kaupapa a bit more.  This information will be available on our website soon.  If you can think of an organisation that isn’t on our registry yet and should be, please direct them to the registration form or this site.

That's our big update!  Hope to see you next Tuesday.