Proactive Engagement

The unique characteristics and strength of our Engagement Team’s relationships in specific regions and priority communities provides the Foundation and our communities with a dedicated resource for proactive community engagement.

Based from Te Kaeo, Dargaville, Ponsonby and Manukau, this team purposefully seeks, engages, establishes and maintains relationships with communities, recognising that they are the change agents and acknowledging the value of community voice and lived experience.

The team connects with priority community stakeholders and with initiatives and opportunities that address priority areas of interest, all the time gathering insights and learning alongside community. Having explored needs and potential together, groups receive advice on funding, co-funding or partnership pathways, as well as access to technical advice on submitting a funding request when they are ready to make an application. Internally the team continues to be alongside with post-application support, providing expert context to inform the Foundation’s decision processes.

A shift towards a more flexible and interactive funding approach has been particularly evident in our Rapid Response funding throughout COVID-19. Through active engagement with our communities, urgent support to people who needed it, such as food and wellness packages was enabled. Support was provided to Iwi and marae taking leadership in the pandemic response, particularly with increasing vaccination rates to protect whānau.

In Te Tai Tokerau, Hokianga Health Enterprise Trust received funding towards their rapid mobile health response. To ensure equitable access to the COVID vaccination programme, the trust hired mobile motorhomes for registered nurses to administer vaccinations and covid swabs to isolated whānau in the Hokianga. The trust found that delivering services in this way led to a better vaccination uptake in the community, whilst simultaneously allowing them to identify other health issues in whānau. Due to the success of the project, the trust has now purchased their own mobile van for ongoing health services.

In West Auckland, Youth Horizons Trust was granted funding to deliver a one-day Walk-In Vaccination event for youth and their whānau in West Lynn. The event was held in partnership with Pasefika Family Health Group who provided their “Busifika” vaccination bus and a team to deliver the vaccinations. The event, which was later named “JAB for L.A.B tickets” incentivised young people to get their vaccinations through giveaways with enticing prizes, including tickets to Kiwi reggae band L.A.B. Eighty-six people were vaccinated at the event, and further funding was granted towards a second event in March 2022, which had a focus on administering booster shots.