organising services in the community

One way of organising services is to ensure co-operation by putting in place systems that facilitate that to happen.

Currently every Government department has it's own plan, fights against the others for a budget and a lot are out of touch with what the community needs. I work in the health sector and currently there are mumblings about having localities. It will be interesting to see if those localities correspond to City Council, Housing, Education, Oranga Tamariki, Corrections, Police and Fire service localities. so Recommendation no 1 - make locality areas for each department correspond.

Secondly each "locality" would be served by a team representing each service, including primary health care, Iwi, NGOs, members of the public. This team would meet weekly at the beginning to agree on roles, do a survey of need in each of the different areas of service, from drains to social and environmental. On the basis of this survey (the health people are recommending populations of 10,000 as far as I am aware) a plan to be drawn up for priorities and a budget established as a whole locality for the investment needed to make that locality thrive. Recommendation 2 budget for locality services as a whole not service by service.

Thirdly Budgets would need to be short term and long term, they need to be based on need and be considerate of what income is needed to meet the expenses. Most of this income will be from taxes both local and government, but local businesses can also contribute by increasing employment locally. Recommendation 3 ensure thriving communities with budgets that allow all to thrive.

Fourthly The locality plans and budgets would need to be amalgamated to feed in to national plans and budgets but at least would ensure that each locality is heard and the needs taken into account, so that no one section of the community is left out. Recommendation 4 by amalgamating plans and budgets consistency of delivery of services can be met in all areas. These services will not be the same in all areas but will allow for consistent standards of service delivery in each organisation involved.

This could all be done gradually and build on the locality plans of Pae Ora. The needs of tamariki and rangatahi cannot be met by health services alone. Investing in support for whanau is a top priority so that they can have the money to be able to thrive. Whanau need much more than a basic MSD benefit. They need enough money to be able to afford nutritional food, warm dry housing that doesn't change at the whim of private landlords, ability to contribute to the cultural life of the community whether it be on the marae, in sports clubs, in school activities. Education services need to meet cultural needs, teach skills for living not just passing exams and be aware of and meet the needs of the neurodivergent tamariki as well as the super intelligent or sporty.

When communities thrive they feel like the members belong. That means everybody (or their representative) being able to contribute which means encouraging membership of NGOs, volunteering, and having a say. People generally will only "have a say" if they feel it makes a difference, which means Government services hearing, communicating and acting at a local level.

I believe this idea is important as it is one approach to removing systemic barriers to having thriving communities for all.

Prejudice, racism and discrimination are all individual but also societal. These societal attitudes create systems that then prevent all our tangata to benefit. These systems need to be changed. The health system is trying but all our systems need to cooperate to do this together as they are so inextricably woven together.