Rob Campbell: Haka from Dave Letele’s BBM charity team after adviser role announcement

OPINION:

A thundering haka greeted me from BBM team and programme participants when Dave Letele gathered the team at the Manukau HQ this morning to tell them that I was taking on a role as adviser to BBM.

I’ve been working, first as an early morning workout/boxfit participant, then gradually getting more involved in the funding side of BBM, for some years now.

When I was first asked about taking on the role of what became Te Whatu Ora both Dave, team leaders and some participants urged me to do so. We all thought I could maybe make a difference at that level, that my experience as a director who had some contact with flax roots health and social issues would be worthwhile.

I hope it was, though I did find the experience frustrating and often exhausting. Gradually I came to question more and more of the new structure which had been created for us, with the readiness and capability to progress change at all management and policy levels, and the funding straitjacket from Government. I clearly made that too well known and we parted company.

Along the way, my passion for an equitable modern health system had deepened. I kept up my relationship with BBM and was also privileged to visit and learn from a wide range of community-level services, especially Māori and Pasifika services.

I learned much more about the stress on staff in clinical and care roles, the dangers that caused, and the indifference at higher levels to that stress. I just could not understand why the governance and management of the health services system as a whole from Beehive to basement remained so distant and indifferent.

In the past couple of months, I have shared that experience publicly and with people from all levels of the system. There have been proposals of ongoing involvement with some parties which I really appreciate and have considered closely. The BBM role is where I think I fit best.

Rob Campbell, former chairman of Te Whatu Ora. Photo / Michael Craig

BBM is well known around the country – to a big extent because of Dave Letele’s larger-than-life character, energy and commitment. It has grown far beyond bootcamps (though these remain popular) to encompass food share services, rangatahi employment training, sophisticated courses like “From the Couch”, online training courses, disaster relief and support, vaccination and even census services and others wherever the need appears. Our teams are now well-trained in their roles and leaders are grown from within those participating. Results are proven in practice and research.

As adviser, my role is simply to support this huge energy and commitment across the team.

We aim to extend and deepen BBM services across the motu. We will do this in partnerships with generous philanthropic sponsors and other community services, working with and for communities where the need is.

We will also be deepening our partnership and relationships with Government agencies. As our teams work with those on the front desks in these agencies there is agreement that cutting through hierarchies and bureaucracies is essential to get resources to the communities where they are effective. These opportunities span a wide range of agencies and the flax roots groups, who are often ignored, suffocated by paperwork, monitored in tedious and irrelevant detail, know what needs to be done. They offer solutions the big agencies just cannot. BBM works with and amongst the solutions.

So this is a great opportunity to put my energy and experience to work from the level of action and involvement. Not to “lead” or govern but to serve with those people. The ones who are not themselves “hard to reach” but who do find it hard to reach those who hold the money and power.

Rob Campbell is a professional director and investor. He is Chancellor at AUT, Chair of Ara Ake, Chair of NZ Rural Land, adviser to BBM Charity and former chair of Te Whatu Ora.