Workshops to tackle poverty in North

Two workshops exploring ways to reduce poverty in New Zealand will be held in Northland this week.

The Tackling Poverty NZ workshops, which will be held tomorrow in Kaitaia and on Friday in Kaikohe, will be focused on the local communities.

They follow workshops held in December last year where 36 people aged 18 to 25 wrote a booklet on how to address poverty in New Zealand.

The workshops will include a group of youth presenting the booklet which outlines proposals for policy change.

There will also be panel presentations, discussions and exercises to identify who is affected by poverty, how different groups are affected and ways to combat the issue.

Speakers at tomorrow's workshop in Kaitaia include Dr Girol Karacaoglu from the Treasury, general manager of Kaitaia's Moko Foundation Deidre Otene, and more.

Jim Luders, principal of Northland College, and Tania McInnes, chairwoman of the Kaikohe Social Sector Trial and Far North District Council deputy mayor, are two of many who will be speaking at the Kaikohe meeting on Friday.

The Kaitaia workshop will kick off at 9am at the Te Ahu Centre and the Kaikohe workshop will be held at Kaikohe Memorial Hall from 9am.