A new employment initiative aims to create partnerships between grassroots groups and government agencies to generate jobs in the Far North. Kerikeri woman Ruth Marsh is launching the project in Whangarei and Kaikohe. A workshop on August 27 at the Mid North Motor Inn in Kaikohe will bring together Internal Affairs, theFar North District Council, beekeepers' associations, Top Energy, Hokianga community groups, and businesses such as Bunnings. The workshops will look at ways to generate jobs in the Far North during the current economic climate. Ms Marsh said it was highly likely that real strategies and ideas to tackle unemployment would result from the project workshops. The project was necessary because the current economic model was not solving unemployment problems in the Far North, she said. "Initiatives that don't come from the community are ineffective. What people create locally they step forward and own and take responsibility for while having a strong sense of being involved." The Far North cycleway and other construction projects were positive for the region but employment would not necessarily create permanent jobs. Northland communities had been hit hardest by the economic downturn. With unemployment sitting at 7000 and unemployment rates at around 10.7 per cent, she said youth featured disproportionately in the figures.
"We need something that is Northland specific - previous initiatives didn't really address what was going on in the community in the Far North," she said. "There has been a 'buy-into' someone else's idea rather than local ownership." She said her project had a different approach - it would provide an opportunity for a cross section of people from the community to lead their own projects, possibly in collaboration with government. Kawakawa-born Mrs Marsh has a masters degree in natural resource management and has worked for the Ministry of Fisheries and in aquaculture. For the past 10 years she has run a business called Our Common Future facilitating groups and individuals to work together on projects. Mrs Marsh has worked and volunteered on environmental and community projects in 11 countries including Zimbabwe, Vanuatu, Vietnam, India and China.
