bg-tka-logoA successful strategic initiative taken over the last year is the Te Piringa Strategic Alliance, as reported on in the March 2015 issue of Kete Kupu.

Te Piringa is the coming together in an informal strategic alliance of NZCCSS and Te Kahui Atawahi o te Motu, as supported by the Working Together More Fund | He Putea Mahi Tahi.

This is an alliance that maps back well to, and is woven within the Strategic Imperatives that NZCCSS has set itself.

As a starting point a series of regional hui have been held for each side of the alliance to be introduced to each other and to build relationships – in some instances meeting for the first time.

Kete Kupu caught up with Miri Rawiri to gain some whakaaro on the alliance from her perspective as the executive director at Te Kahui Atawhai o te Motu:

“These hui have given us a venue for showing what collaborative relationships can look like, at a level that doesn’t cross a line into treading across each other.

“These hui have been about understanding common strategies and objectives, with NZCCSS bringing capacities that we need, and together sharing a collective hope for the well-being of whanau, hapu and iwi”.

“The hui have prompted questions and unlocked doors. I would also say that with someone like Trevor, who is fluent in te ao Māori, can walk in and out of our sector with ease and who knows how to tread carefully in the world of Wellington, we have a platform that offers strong mutual respect.

“We need these opportunities to be shaken out of our comfort zones. The feedback has been positive, with our members feeling valued and not patronised.

For Miri, the relationship is putting her members’ pure focus on being for Maori and by Maori, side by side with people with experience in articulating strategic objectives at a time when “means and resources” are under pressure.

“In areas where we might feel out of our depth, like policy work or analysis work, an alliance with NZCCSS both creates a certain critical mass and increases our two-way knowledge. The magic is in that mix, and it’s more than just signing an MoU”.