Leaders from Iwi, the community, and local and central government came together in Tauranga last Thursday evening to mark the incredible efforts that kept the people of the Bay of Plenty-Waiariki safe during the unprecedented pandemic response of the past two years.

“The response to COVID, and in particular reaching isolated and vulnerable communities, demanded that we confronted this challenge in a way that was entirely different” said Bay of Plenty Regional Council Chief Executive, and co-chair of the Regional Leadership Group, Fiona McTavish.

“Our iwi and community partners challenged us to let them lead. They have the knowledge and trust of their communities. Backing them to do what they needed to do to support their people was not only the right thing to do, it was by far the most effective thing to do.”

Kirsti Luke, Chief Executive of Ngai Tūhoe and co-chair of the Regional Leadership Group reflects that although the path was often challenging, the results speak for themselves. “We had to challenge our government partners to work in ways that were foreign to them” said Luke.

“Trusting that iwi know their communities best and have the capability to respond and keep them safe was new for our government partners. Once they let us lead, and focused their efforts on supporting us, we saw what was possible. Working together we reached the usually unreachable 7,500 isolated whānau during the COVID outbreaks, enabling their wellbeing during periods of isolation, both strengthening their responses while protecting our communities. Our shared mahi saved lives – it’s as simple as that” said Luke.

The convener of the Regional Leadership Group, and Regional Public Service Commissioner in Bay of Plenty-Waiariki, Ezra Schuster sees the opportunity this response provided to prove the effectiveness of a new way of working. “Last night was an amazing event. It was so powerful to hear dozens of stories about the practical ways, small and large, that communities responded to the series of huge challenges over the past two years to reach and protect their people. It was a reminder to us, as public servants, why we do the work we do.”

“We’ve got hundreds of kaimahi and millions of dollars of investment in public services in our rohe. What COVID showed us is that we’ll get infinitely better results together” Schuster said.

“The response to COVID, particularly from iwi and our communities has been incredible, and has saved lives. But we have equally large challenges ahead of us. I’m heartened by the fact that we’ve proven the effectiveness of allowing the community and iwi to lead. Collectively, our job in public service agencies is to throw our support behind their leadership. The last two years have shown this is what works, and we’ll be backing it”.

© Scoop Media