A lot can happen in 8 weeks! Since our May update, we have started to see some of the major research projects we have co-funded and supported over the past 12-24 months reach a conclusion point, and several others major new projects have also kicked off. You can catch up on these below.
We are starting to see some definite links and threads to our workstreams. For example between food, organic waste, climate change and water/river quality. There are also some very clear interconnections between people’s perceptions (and measures) of wellbeing and key factors such as housing availability quality and affordability.
As described in our Business Plan, our role with this important work is to listen to whanau voice and amplify the insights uncovered to facilitate change. With every insight project we support to completion, we make sure there are opportunities to share the work and the knowledge generated. Please take the opportunity to have a look at the work and join in the conversation.
We are also keeping a close eye on our progress against the KPIs in our business plan. Overall, our programme is progressing positively.
The main areas where we have not fully met our targets is in relation to update of our stories and information on our website and social media channels. This is due mainly to a slightly quieter period for the WWP as several of our major projects have been slightly delayed (e.g. kai and housing stocktakes) and as we move from Season 1 to Season 2 of Lots of Little Fires. Our engagement rates are still significantly above the industry average of 1.63% for NFPs (Average Engagement Rates for 12 Industries [June 2024] (hootsuite.com) and we are often below our own targets by less than 1%.
Project co-funding remains a challenge for the WWP. Overall, we have secured $1.75m in in-kind and cash co-funding for the WWP and we expect to reach 74% of our 5 year target ($3m) by 2026. In addition to the WEL Energy Trust, our largest cash co-funder has been Trust Waikato ($450,000 over 3 years). We have also approached a range of other regional and national funders and enquired about co-funding.
At the end of June we sadly said haere ra to Amber Hammill. Amber joined the WWP in May 2023 for 12 months, to lead our Kai Challenge. In that time Amber brough incredible energy and passion to the role, reactivating the network of WWP kai change makers across the Waikato and making new connections across Aotearoa. With the guidance of our SDG 1/2 Manu Taki, Amber has built a programme to enhance our baseline understanding of the Waikato kai system. Two major projects have been commissioned in this space and these will be completed by October this year.
We have completed our recruitment for a person to lead Te Arara Poutama and were fortunate to receive a huge number of very high-quality candidates. We will be making an announcement on the successful candidate very shortly.
