It is with great excitement that the Wairoa Community Governance Group and Te Whare Maire o Tapuwae as the backbone agent for Local Commissioning – announce readiness to establish the Local Commissioning Table. Many members of our community attended several community engagement sessions for Local Commissioning late last year and as a result, the final Business Case was approved. Contract negotiations have now concluded, and investment is now available for Local Commissioning. We are now ready to establish the community table of 13 members – who will prioritise investment decisions.

The community engagement process was FIRM in the view that the community table, that will make decisions on prioritising and allocating funds for whanau to achieve success, should be made up of community people. Although a preference is to strongly aim to bring a grass-roots whānau perspective to setting priorities and choosing what to invest in. The community also said the table should reflect what the Wairoa population as a whole look like.

When looking at Census and other data – this means:

Ethnicity:            8 seats for Māori (67%) and 4 seats for non-Māori (33%) and one designated seat for a disability representative

Gender:               50% male and 50% female

Ages:                   16 – 24 years (16%), 25 – 44 years (25%), 45 – 64 years (35%) & 65 years+ (22%)

Rural / Urban:    50% of members from town and 50% of members from rural communities. Note that in order to preserve the rural voice, 1 seat each is allocated to appointees from Mahia, Nuhaka/Whakaki, Tuai, Frasertown/Te Reinga/Ruakituri and Raupunga (5 of the 13 seats in total)

Income:               People with incomes under $31,000 defined as ‘low income’ (as 56% of the Wairoa District population is in this income bracket)

Employment:     People who are machinery operators/labourers (as almost 40% of our working population work in these fields)

In addition to demographic representation, we encouraged nominees who might have other knowledge or skills such as business or commissioning-related expertise (contracting, financial management, business management, evaluation, data management) expertise. These skills are an added-bonus to the table – but the ultimate goal is to have a table that represents the people of Wairoa District

Our goal is to have a diverse array of 13 people from all over the District, with different skills and backgrounds, who TRULY represent what our population looks like and knows what it is like to live here. People who sit on the Community Commissioning Table will be the voice of the community, advocating for what will help whānau thrive, and making investment decisions that will transform whanau outcomes.

The support they will receive

The Community Commissioning Table members do NOT have to do all the paperwork – as Te Whare Maire o Tapuwae will manage the back office support all the administration, meetings, contracts, payments and audited accounts, based on the decisions of the Community Table. They will also arrange orientation for all members and any ongoing training needed. So you will NOT be alone or expected to carry the load. They will however be required to attend a monthly meeting (average 2 hours) and to read materials provided to you, so that you can participate in discussions and decisions on where to invest available resources.