An exciting opportunity to help Katikati progress is being offered through two new Community-led development (CLD) roles now open to applicants.

“The CLD Team, Whirihia te ara ki mua, needs dynamic people to support the CLD planning, action and evaluation and has received significant resource from the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) to employ two people, a Community Activator and an Information and Insights Administrator,” says Jenny Hobbs of Katikati Taiao, the backbone organisation which holds the partnership with DIA on behalf of the people of Katikati.

These purpose of these two part-time roles is to ensure the goals of the community are understood and developed. They will be 12 month fixed-term positions based in Katikati.

Katikati is a great community filled with many diverse, interesting, talented, caring and community minded people. It’s a town bursting with potential but not all voices are heard says Jenny. The two new appointees will enable more people to express their aspirations for the future of their town and get involved in making good stuff happen.

“Community-led development is based on the notion that local ideas, wisdom and locals working together is the best way to bring about the change we want as a community, by developing shared community aspirations and visions for future generations. This is not driven by a coordinator but rather by the community to ensure that change is long-term.”

The positions will be widely advertised to find the best people for the roles. “While it would be wonderful to find people within our community with these skills, applications are open to anyone from anywhere. Given the disruptions caused by Covid-19, there may be many appropriately talented people seeking employment,” says Jenny.
The Community Activator role is described as: beyond ‘just a job’, it is about growing your community. Utilising your facilitation skills is paramount to the success of this great opportunity, in bringing the ideas of the community to the fore, and in understanding what the community sees as success. As the Whirihia Community Activator, you have a clear leadership role to play in this initiative”.
The Information and Insights Administrator will work closely with the Activator and have administration and record keeping roles as well as preparing evaluation reports about the projects undertaken.
Katikati Taiao is the “backbone” organisation which holds the partnership with DIA to nurture the community-led development way of working in Katikati.
“As we do not have human resources capabilities for employing staff, we have asked Allan Wainwright of the Katikati Community Centre to be the employer, but staff will report to Whirihia to ara ki mua,” says Jenny.
She is encouraging anyone with the required skills and experience, and an interest in helping Katikati become an even more vibrant, resilient, and inclusive community.

Coming soon a news story on our two new team members.