Inclusive Aotearoa Collective Tāhono – UPDATE #28 –

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Talofa lava,

Our team of facilitators have been busy and have held a number of conversations/hui last month in Whakatane, Auckland and via Zoom for our three key focus areas.

Media as allies: How media can best support an inclusive Aotearoa New Zealand

Anjum, Anna, Aram, Tim and Talie engaged with the media participants and set up a number of hui via Zoom. They spoke with journalists, community access broadcasters, Maori media, Pacifica and Ethnic media groups. The conversations were extremely helpful and it was wonderful to get some great insights. In an increasingly challenging media environment, there is considerable interest in better representation of and connection with diverse communities. We are now working on next steps for this focus area.

Te‌ ‌Toto‌ ‌Kei‌ ‌Roto:‌ ‌A‌ ‌Treaty‌ ‌that‌ ‌resonates‌ ‌with‌ ‌all‌ ‌Kiwis‌

Graeme and Keriana held their hui, at the Eastern Bay REAP centre, Whakatane. The aim was to facilitate conversations so those present could share their perspectives of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. They wanted to provide a safe environment where diverse ideas and opinions could be voiced and heard.

Both the morning and afternoon hui had 17 people in each session. The diverse group included students from Trident and Whakatane High School and members of the Eastern Bay Villages. Both sessions were facilitated using the DeBono 6 Thinking Hats.

This process enabled a free flow of discussion and willingness to share diverse ideas. Responses from each ‘thinking hat’ ensured everyone gave a range of views and insisted that participants think about the many opinions, feelings, positives and negatives about Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Once these were expressed, heard and validated the group was encouraged to think about what could be achieved if they had the ‘power, authority, time and resource’ to create something wonderful. Finally, they were asked to commit to action.

Some ideas that came up were:

  • bring the conversation to the local Council
  • support existing activism / movements
  • locals facilitate sessions with organisations
  • build up a team of facilitators that can do the work in organisations, provide an opportunity to meet again

IACT is planning more Te Toto Kei Roto hui in Otautahi Christchurch and Otepoti Dunedin this month.

Having the important conversations

Tim and Ara engaged in a series of pre hui around “Having Important Conversations in Auckland face to face and via Zoom from around the country. They explored what mattered to those that joined, using a Discover, Dream and Design process where they engaged a range of across sector organisations and individuals who would never normally share the same space together. What emerged were some concrete ideas on what collaboration might look like around this focus area. Participants talked about some of the things that would need to be in place to reduce discrimination held in place by systems. Discomfort is part of a truly collaborative process which was just one of the insights that emerged from the hui.

We would like to thank all our participants who participated last month in our hui and who provided great insights and knowledge for our focus areas.

If you would like to participate in any of the hui or if you have any questions, please, send them through to [email protected].

Winners Voting – 2021 People’s Choice Accessible Business Awards: 7 June – 13 June

Just a reminder that IACT are a Finalist for the – 2021 People’s Choice Accessible Business Awards (The Access Alliance)

IACT has been selected as a finalist for the Social Inclusion & Leisure ‘area of life’ category! We thank Access Advisors, who recognised that we work hard to make sure everything we do is as accessible as possible. We always welcome feedback so that we can be better! We would also like to thank the public for their support in voting for our organisation – we really appreciated this!

Click here to vote.

Please note:

  • You can only vote once for ONE winner out of the three finalists listed in each ‘area of life’ category.
  • ‘Winner’ votes must be cast between 7 – 13 June in order to be eligible.
  • The finalist in each category receiving the highest number of votes will progress as the winner of that category, to be announced at the 2021 People’s Choice Accessible Business Awards Celebration.
    Visit the Awards home page for more information.
  • The 2021 People’s Choice Accessible Business Awards Ceremony will be on at 6:00pm, Tuesday 15 June 2021

More information can be found here.

Thank you again for your support, we really appreciate it!

In the News!

Q + A with Jack Tame – Q+A panel discuss Budget 2021, Ports of Auckland and the National Party

Tau Henare, Anjum Rahman and Russel Norman spoke to Q+A about a range of issues. For the full interview click here.

BERL webinar on value and values

Recorded 4 May 2021, our webinar on value and values explores what it means to be values-driven and asks, what’s the value of values?

Panelists include:
Anjum Rahman – Inclusive Aotearoa Collective Tāhono
Dr Jason Mika – Te Au Rangahau, Massey University
Jo Cribb – Consultant, director, and author

For the full interview please click here.

The Threat to multicultural Australasia from white extremist terrorism

The Australian Council of Christians and Jews and the Council of Christians and Jews Victoria present a discussion of the threat to multiculturalism in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand from white extremist terrorism. This presentation features an expert panel: Anjum Rahman MNZM (Project Lead, Inclusive Aotearoa Collective Tāhono); Professor Greg Barton (Professor of Global Islamic Politics at Deakin University); and Associate Professor Debra Smith (Principal Research Fellow, Victoria University).

For the full interview please click here.

IACT Volunteers

It’s not too late to sign up to our Volunteers Facebook Page (closed group) – so please feel free to join and we can approve your request asap – here.

This page is for our volunteers to organise and discuss how they can support the work of IACT. It is a private group, and any materials is confidential to the group members.

People are welcome to share IACT articles and events.

If you would like to join our volunteers group, please feel free to make contact with us at [email protected] or sign up on our Facebook page as per the link above.

Events

Manuia le vaiaso o le gagana Samoa!
Samoa Language Week 2021 Sunday 30 May – Saturday 5 June

The theme for this week is
“Poupou le lotoifale. Ola manuia le anofale”
“Strengthen the posts of your house, for all to thrive.”
When you’re building a foundation for a fale (house) it can’t have a weak foundation or posts.

This is the same for the foundations of our families, schools and churches that play an important role in strengthening Gagana Samoa (the Samoan Language). Language is important for the foundations of our overall wellbeing.

Activities and events will be held through Aotearoa to embrace and celebrate Vaiaso o le Gagana Samoa.

Some activities and events are available on Gagana Samoa i Aotearoa Facebook page.

Our Resources

We have several resources that you can access, so please take the time to review our website.

Mapping Directory

We’ve put together a mapping directory of groups and organisations working in the Belonging and Inclusion space which can be found on our website here (make sure you scroll down the page and select the region). If you would like to be included in this directory it’s not too late. Please send your organisation’s contact details to Talie at [email protected].

Tools for getting started!

We have a number of tools on our website to assist with your journey.