Here's to our regional champions!

In the last few weeks Frank Engagement business manager, Ally Naylor and I have spent a bit of time on the road, travelling for work and meeting prospective clients kanohi ki te kanohi in Whanganui, New Plymouth, Wairoa and Gisborne. ?

It’s a privilege visiting these beautiful parts of Aotearoa to learn more about each region’s unique story, culture and wairua. ?See below for more on what we’ve been getting up to.

While each of these regions have their own taonga, qualities and quirks that make them unique – they also have some serious challenges in common and we are seeing those challenges repeated across regional New Zealand again and again.

They’re grappling with how to adapt to the crushing physical and financial impacts of climate change – not just in the future but now. Communities with small populations (therefore low rate incomes) are staring down overwhelming infrastructure bills following years of under investment (a consequence of the false-economy of pressure to keep rates down and the see-sawing that comes with 3-yearly political lifecycles).

They are disappointed at seeing years of hard mahi on all sides to build relationships between government agencies, councils and iwi slip backwards due to uninformed and divisive rhetoric. Council staff, particularly communications + engagement teams, are bearing the brunt of community outrage at rising rates and mistrust in the establishment. Community leaders are witnessing whānau struggling and businesses failing under the weight of recovery from weather events or just tough economic times.

While there’s good reason to feel like the future is a bit bleak, every day we meet people who are fighting the good fight for their communities. There are smart, passionate people within councils, government agencies, supporting businesses and not-for-profits working hard to make sure communities get clean drinking water, or stop their neighbourhoods flooding, or adapt to coastal erosion, or have a voice in equitable, local decision-making. There are teams of engineers, project managers and engagement advisors trying to improve safety so fewer people get hurt on our local roads and state highways. There are people volunteering their time to make sure families have food and clothes for their kids and warm, dry beds to sleep in. There are people fighting to keep their town’s local paper so we continue to understand what our community needs and can come together on solutions.

Those people give me hope. It’s those people who make a town not just a place, but a community. It’s those people who unite locals to fight for what they need in order to come out the other side stronger. ?????????

(If you’re still reading my indulgent pondering on the last few weeks...) Our mission at Frank Engagement is to connect those people – the community champions – so they can collaborate for change through local solutions. We make space to ensure the best people are at the decision-making table on transformational projects. We are curious about what communities need. We think long-term about how decisions now might impact communities in the future.

We help weave together the threads of goodness in communities so they can find local answers to those serious problems.

?“A small group of likeminded people can change the course of history." - Ghandi

On the road...

Whanganui – Whanganui has a special place in my heart after years of working on projects here. However, recently being welcomed onto Putiki Marae along with representatives from Horizons Regional Council , Whanganui District Council and NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi by tamariki from the nearby kura singing powerful waiata is something I will never forget. We were there to learn more about the Te Awa Tupua Act - groundbreaking legislation that recognises the Whanganui River as a legal entity and puts iwi at the head of the decision-making table on anything related to the awa, its tributaries and the whenua around them. Iwi leaders put down the wero for us all to make Te Awa Tupua the foundation of our mahi in Whanganui. ?

Taranaki – After spending the day on a field trip with an awesome team of engineers, geotechs and planners for a new project in the region, Ally and I took a quick detour up the maunga. We hiked through the snow to the recently opened swing bridge over the Manganui Gorge to breath in the mountain air. With Taranaki’s peak towering above, almost 50m between us and the gorge floor and the taniwha gifted by Ngāti Ruanui guarding the bridge, you can feel the energy of this place in your bones. We visited the stunning Len Lye Centre – I’m ashamed to say it’s my first visit since working on the project more than 10-years ago. It was surprisingly emotional turning the corner to witness what I’d become familiar with as 3D models and blueprints, with Lye’s huge installations filling the spaces with eery bings and bongs. ??

Wairoa – On a blue-sky day we looked out from the cool new Gemmells Food (#greatcoffee) on Marine Parade to the serene Wairoa River. However, driving just a few streets down with our local and knowledgeable guide, helped us understand what her community has experienced through the flooding in June and Cyclone Gabrielle in February last year. Whole streets of empty houses, some still yellow stickered, others showing signs of rebuilding. Hearing stalwart Mayor Craig Little telling Wairoa’s story on the radio is one thing but seeing it yourself hits you in the gut. What the people of Wairoa have been through is nothing short of devastating.

Gisborne – As a cold southerly tore up the country I arrived at Waikanae Beach to find an old friend parked out front, Dutch dredge The Albatros. It was doing its bit to keep Eastland Port channel clear for cargo ships coming and going from the region. I reflected on when I was able to go aboard The Albatros a few years ago when working at Napier Port . Amazing to see how what is effectively a floating vacuum cleaner-slash-dump truck works to ensure ships can safely navigate our ports ( Michel de Vos will kill me for that description). Standing on this stunning beach watching kite surfers whiz by, it is easy to think it’s business-as-usual here, but the hard slog of recovery from cyclones Hale and Gabrielle goes on. Farmland remains scarred and fallen trees lie on their sides. Frequent road works cause queues of traffic to stutter along SH3 and SH35 as friendly traffic management workers wave you on. The sun is shining but the threat of the next weather event looms large over Tairāwhiti.