If we are to truly be a resilient, prosperous Bay of Plenty, it is essential that our people can access decent, skilled, sustainable work and the training they need to find that skilled employment, writes Turi Ngatai. Photo / Thinkstock
If we are to truly be a resilient, prosperous Bay of Plenty, it is essential that our people can access decent, skilled, sustainable work and the training they need to find that skilled employment, writes Turi Ngatai. Photo / Thinkstock
OPINION
Regional resilience is a concept that has been well tested in our rohe over the past weeks and years.
The impact of Cyclone Gabrielle has particularly highlighted the challenges of a changing climate for a region like ours with a significant agriculture, forestry and fishing sector.
If we are to truly be a resilient, prosperous Bay of Plenty, it is essential that our people can access decent, skilled, sustainable work and the training they need to find that skilled employment.
We can do this if we do what the Bay does best — work together for a common aspiration.
We have some complex challenges to navigate — some unique to our region and others more universal.
These include overcoming the challenges to training and education access in our rural centres, such as for driver licence training, and the lack of suitable and cost-effective digital connections in some places.
Historical inequities for some of our Māori communities continue but have been exacerbated by Covid-19.
Finally, we share challenges with other regions around the country such as the continuing disengagement of school-age students from education.
Addressing these challenges and taking advantage of workforce opportunities is one of the functions of the Bay of Plenty Regional Skills Leadership Group (RSLG).
RSLGs are independent advisory groups set up in 2021 to find and support better ways of meeting future regional workforce skills and needs.
We are a core part of the Government’s reform of vocational education, alongside Te Pūkenga and Workforce Development Councils.
Our work is about finding regional solutions for regional labour market challenges, like making sure we have local training in place for local jobs — and that workers are learning the skills that will equip them for jobs only just on the horizon.
So what does our mandate mean in practice?
Our role as one of 15 RSLGs around the motu is to inform, shape and influence skills and workforce development in and for our region.
The leadership groups are leading a more joined-up approach to workforce planning that brings regional labour market players together — worker representatives, industry, trainers, iwi/hapū/Māori, community groups and so on — to agree on how we can improve employment outcomes.
This leadership role also includes connecting with central government agencies as a regional voice on labour market issues.
Our group is building a common understanding of the Bay of Plenty labour market, drawing on RSLG members’ insights and on those of others active in our labour market.
The aim is an agreed view on what sectors and workforce populations we need to focus on as a region and what interventions will create a more highly skilled, resilient workforce with ongoing access to decent, rewarding jobs.
Our plan focuses on key areas including seasonality where we consider how to co-ordinate and share labour resources between seasonal sectors, and technology where we are focusing on improving the profile of tech careers for rangatahi.
Other key areas include climate change where we are raising the discourse in our region on workforce planning as our environment changes, and finally, workforce resilience where we are looking at Māori models of worker resilience to lift good examples and push them region wide.
Our workforce plan is just a starting point and will be refreshed and reviewed regularly as progress is made and we bring other sectors and population groups into clearer focus.
As an RSLG, we have set some ambitious goals on behalf of the Bay of Plenty people.
The regional partnerships we are building will be essential to achieving these, as will the broad expertise, passion, deep networks and mana our members bring to the table.
We now have openings for new members to join this mahi.
You can find out more on the MBIE website about opportunities to be part of work that I can personally promise is both rewarding and important. Applications close on March 15: mbie.govt.nz/rslg-recruitment
Turi Ngatai. Photo / Supplied
– Turi Ngatai is co-chairman of the Bay of Plenty Regional Skills Leadership Group, an independent advisory group on skills and workforce issues. Turi also holds several other board positions. He is a board member for Muka Tangata (Workforce Development Council), the Food and Fibre CoVE, deputy chairman Ngaiterangi and a board member of Te Wananga o Aotearoa. Turi is also director of the Māori-owned and operated Te Awanui Huka Pak and the Māori relationship manager for Seeka.
