He Waka eke noa, We are all in this together.
We want to work with Marae in our district to build relationships and capacity between Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) and mana whenua.
We are currently working with CDEM to develop a Marae Resilience Strategy. The aim of this strategy is to work proactively with Marae communities in our district to prepare, plan and support their resilience.
What’s it all about?
At the moment, CDEM’s approach is to ask Marae during a natural disaster to help during an event. There is no enduring relationship in between events.
We believe this reactive approach needs to change to a proactive one.
Under the strategy, the parties will work collaboratively to uphold high standards of quality and promote the well-being and advancement of Marae ecosystems and local communities. (a Marae’s ecosystem includes its infrastructure and surrounding areas that connects to a local community).
Our Community Resilience Team will work in partnership with Iwi Authorities to support participating Marae within the Waikato district to help enable their aspirations, readiness, and resiliency planning.
The goal is to take an intergenerational approach by building relationships and capacity between us all to acknowledge and support the cultural significance, social cohesion, sustainable development, and capacity of Marae, whaanau and wider communities.
What’s happening now?
We have been working with Mangatangi Marae as a pilot for this strategy - to develop a framework and create a formal agreement.
This has been a rewarding process for all involved, with much being learned and celebrated during the koorero.
Once we have completed the pilot, we intend to formalise the strategy and develop agreements with each Marae accordingly.
How can you get involved?
Complete our online form and we will be in touch with more information and to arrange a time to meet.
Together, we can build resilience and improve relationships for all our communities by taking the ‘Noah’ approach and build the waka before the flood.