Speech: National Volunteer Centre's Hui

I have a very fond association with this venue. The Holy Trinity Church Hall has hosted me in hui I have attended over the years relating to health; to whanau development and even to the Maori Party.

Indeed it is a hall with many stories – the cardiac support group meets here, there are peacemaker groups; and no doubt much more.

It is, indeed, a most appropriate venue with which to consider the rather weighty theme: the global economic downturn is an opportunity we never had.

We all know that the future is uncertain and that many events are outside of our control.

The prospect of extreme weather events; the pressures in economic growth accelerated by high oil prices and increased demands on the public purse; the significant ageing of the overall population while the Maori and Pasifika populations will be relatively younger – all of these issues will impact on the people who come to Volunteer Centres.

And across of these factors, the potential for socio-economic disadvantage to become further entrenched for particular communities – Maori, Pasifika, rural, younger – are but some of the changes that you will need to accommodate.

So the emphasis becomes fixed on three key concepts – the challenge of change; the need for resilience; and the urgency of collaboration across the sector.

The challenge of change is perhaps the one certainty we can rely on. The National Volunteers Centre will no doubt be preparing your own environmental scan, to help identify the future trends and factors that will impact on your communities.

How can your volunteers respond to these trends, to provide a useful point of reference for those in your region?

Throughout Aotearoa over a million people volunteer for some 97000 non-profit organizations. The service our unsung heroes give to improve lives and to care for communities is vital in helping people to help themselves.

I have always believed that all change starts with the whanau. If we strengthen the whanau, the family, and allow them to participate fully and freely in their communities, we can be confident that the difference will be long-lasting.

So part of the work of the volunteers centre will be to think, what are the new needs that changing circumstances will force upon families? How do you build on the opportunities and challenges of our future, to ensure we have a stable foundation?

What are the new ways you may need to develop, to unleash the potential of our communities?

That is where the call for resilience comes in.

We know that amongst the challenges you identify, amongst the biggest will be the constraints of the economic climate.

The opportunity we can all take up is to think about how we can encourage innovation, to do things smarter. One of the wonderful gifts for me in working in the community and voluntary sector, is to come face to face with some incredible initiatives; and some enterprising and revolutionary community champions.

Looking across some of your centres, for example, I see:

Volunteering Otago running training on using facebook as a communication tool;

Volunteering Waikato celebrating international volunteer day by providing all member organizations with gift hampers – the catch being that someone from that organization had to physically come in to pick up the hamper – and therefore enticing them in the door – connecting, communicating, networking;

Volunteering Auckland producing a DVD, ‘Volunteering beyond the stereotypes focusing on people with physical disabilities; as well as researching Indian, Sri Lankan, Pakistan people and their choice in volunteering.

That is what I mean by resilience.

This is about survival of the fittest. It is about being flexible to changing circumstances; looking over your operations do ask the hard questions – does what you do, lend itself to innovation?

Is what you are doing privileging certain groups – who misses out and why? How do you get the best bang for the buck – what are the outcomes that you are setting for yourself, to achieve your vision?

And this is where I come to my third bright idea - the urgency of collaboration across the sector.

I believe that the biggest challenge upon the community and voluntary sector is ourselves.

We must look to build trusting, long-lasting relationships with each other; in which the outcomes are focused on supporting strong and sustainable communities.

And I want to plant the thought that valuing diversity is not necessarily about spreading yourself too thin, and trying to be everything to everybody.

Sometimes the most honourable action you can take is to meet halfway, to talk with other communities about how you work alongside of them.

It might be that working with whanau, hapu and iwi will enable you an opportunity to support them to maintain their own tikanga and kaupapa in terms of what they believe to be important.

In other circumstances, it might be better value for groups with similar philosophies to take on the new trend – the joined up approach.

We need to think strategically about how services can be managed; how overlaps can be a source of conversation not competition; how we work with one another rather than against.

And most of all, we all need to take a good long look at the people we are serving. This is not the time for patch protection, for provider capture.

This is the moment for cooperation and collaboration; for a united vision to achieve outcomes which demonstrate the right investment in our community wellbeing.

This is about laying the foundation for our future – growing our communities to achieve the aspirations they set for themselves.

I see that tomorrow your session starts with the inspirational message, “be the difference”.

Volunteering centres – through the work you do in supporting volunteers – is in an amazing position to be at the front of the pack of dominoes. Your example – and the leadership you demonstrating in recognizing the contributions made by volunteers – is a key way of making change felt across our communities.

I know you have the capacity, the commitment and the knowledge to make the impossible possible.

I wish you all the very best in these two days, but more importantly for the challenges of the pathway ahead. I will be watching your response to this time with huge interest, as you indeed, become the difference we need.

Tena tatou katoa.