|
Community Outcomes and Future Taranaki
|
|
|
Community outcomes
What do we want for the future in Taranaki?
On the way there, how do we know which signposts to follow and which milestones to celebrate?
Taranaki people in their hundreds answered the first question during a region-wide consultation process in 2003-04
Required by the 2002 Local Government Act to identify and work towards desired community outcomes, the region’s four local authorities (the New Plymouth, Stratford and South Taranaki District Councils, and the Taranaki Regional Council) pooled their resouces and used surveys, focus groups, public meetings and questionnaires to find out what the people of the region want.
The answer took the form of seven agreed goals, known as community outcomes:
- Secure and Healthy Taranaki - region is a safe, healthy and friendly place to live, work or visit.
- Prosperous Taranaki - regional economy is sustainable, resilient and innovative, prospering with the natural and social environment.
- Skilled Taranaki - region values and supports learning so all can play a full and active role in social, cultural and economic life.
- Connected Taranaki - region has accessible and integrated infrastructure, transport and communications systems that meet the needs of residents, businesses and visitors.
- Sustainable Taranaki - region appreciates its natural environment and its physical and human resources in planning, delivery and protection.
- Together Taranaki - region is caring and inclusive, works together and enables people to have a strong and distinctive sense of identity.
- Vibrant Taranaki - region provides high-quality and diverse cultural and recreational experiences, and encourages independence and creativity.
Top
Measuring progress
So began the journey to get there. The four councils joined four other agencies – the Taranaki District Health Board, the Ministry of Social Development, Te Puni Kokiri and the Venture Taranaki Trust – to form the Future Taranaki Facilitation Group to co-ordinate efforts to reach these goals and to measure progress and identify priorities along the way.
A series of statistical indicators has been developed under each of the seven headings and updates have been published in 2006 and 2007.
These updates, and other Future Taranaki documents, are posted on this page.
Top
Future Taranaki projects
Three projects have been established under the Future Taranaki umbrella:
1. Working Together for a Smokefree Taranaki
According to Statistics NZ figures, 22.4% of the Taranaki population are smokers.
This project objective is for Taranaki to become the first Smokefree province in New Zealand by Smokefree Day 2009.
The strategy involves helping adults to quit smoking by developing and promoting a smoking cessation service, promoting workplace smokefree policies and reducing exposure to smoking in public places including major sports stadiums.
Lead agency: Taranaki District Health Board
2. Safe Families, Safer Communities - Eliminating family violence in Taranaki
Between January and July 2005, police attended 494 domestic incidents in Taranaki.
In 2004, 131 applications were made to the Family Court for Protection Orders
Also in 2004, 357 women registered as clients at Taranaki Women’s Refuge.
This project aims to provide intervention and education on family violence by developing awareness, education and support in workplaces.
This will include introducing family violence resource/support officers in most Taranaki workplaces, along with efforts to encourage a workplace culture of non-tolerance of family violence.
Lead agency: Ministry of Social Development
3. Regional Skills Strategy
Surveys of employers reveal that skill shortages are the foremost impediment to business growth.
The Taranaki economy has experienced very positive growth over the past six years but there are still pockets of real poverty and indications of a widening gap between those who are benefiting from growth and those who are not.
Large employers in Taranaki indicate that job applicants frequently do not have the social or communication skills to succeed even in entry level positions, while there is a continuous need to upskill staff in the workplace.
Project objectives: To ensure that the region’s supply of labour meets its potential demand.
Action will include research on long-term skill requirements, establishing effective partnerships with relevant agencies and tertiary providers and supporting business and industry to improve staff retention and capability.
Lead agency: New Plymouth District Council
Top
Top
|
|
