February 26, 2018
Provincial fund a boost for people power
A Northland iwi chair has welcomed an infusion of $17 million into the region from the first round of grants from the $1 billion a year Provincial Growth Fund.
The fund, which was set up as a result of New Zealand First's coalition deal with Labour, will initally target Northland, Tairawhiti-East Coast, Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu-Whanganui and the West Coast of the South Island.
Harry Burkhart from Ngati Kuri, who also chairs the Tai Tokerau Northland Economic Action Plan, says his region had projects ready to go, including the Footsteps of Kupe cultural centre in Opononi, another centre in Whangarei, a tourism hub in Kawakawa and a totara industry pilot to explore a new market in the forestry sector.
"What we've got to do is back people with ideas and build capacity and capability around that and as we see them come to fruition we back them further and if they get a bit of a wobble on we take the learnings out of the back end. No one bats 100 percent but we definitely need a culture of people testing things and being able to learn from them," he says.
Mr Burkhart says communities need to take ownership of the projects for them to be successful.
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