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ACTIONZISSUE 19 |OCTOBER 2020

QSM AWARDEE MARGARET WESTERN | LIFE UNDER LOCKDOWN COMMUNICATING COVID-19 MESSAGES TO CALD COMMUNITIES

A perfect fitAnusha Guler of the Office of Ethnic Communities

SETTLEMENT

Language lessonsNicola Sutton moves on from English Language Partners

Con

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Features2 Lost in translation

How well has New Zealand been doing at communicating COVID-19 to its CALD communities?

8 Looking back at lockdownDuring lockdown, Palmerston North Welcoming Communities Coordinator Stephanie Velvin joined the Emergency Operations Centre. This is what she remembers.

10 A perfect fitAnusha Guler seems custom-made for her new role as Executive Director of the Office of Ethnic Communities.

14 Medal winnerA conversation with Queen’s Service Medal Margaret Western of Marlborough.

18 Language lessonsAfter nine years as the Chief Executive of English Language Partners, Nicola Sutton is leaving to take on fresh challenges.

Departments4 Sector Round-up

Including reports, events, and appointments.

Immigration New Zealand is part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, a New Zealand Government department. | The information included in this publication was current at the time of print. The Ministry cannot guarantee its accuracy. Views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Ministry and may not accurately reflect the Ministry’s policies. Inclusion of contact information for external agencies in no way implies an endorsement of that service or agency by the Ministry. | Copyright © Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment 2020.| Text may be reproduced without permission but acknowledgment of source is required.

Settlement ACTIONZ is published quarterly in print and online by the Strategy, Education and Engagement branch of Immigration NZ. To view earlier issues or subscribe, visit the Settlement ACTIONZ web page on the immigration.govt.nz website.

ISSN 2624-3814 (Print)

ISSN 2624-3822 (Online)

Editor/design/features/feature photography: Malcolm Wood | Printing: Excel digital | Distribution: Marketing Impact | Thank you to: Judi Altinkaya, Grace Bassett, Cecilia De Souza, Christine Dorsey, Elly Guo, Helen Steven, June Rout, and to all of our extraordinary contributors and interview subjects.

Building on its successful Work Connect programme, the Tertiary Education Commission has launched Pacific Work Connect, a 10-hour programme made up of workshops and one-to-one career coaching designed to meet the needs of Pacific migrants who want to understand the New Zealand job market. For more information, visit www.careers.govt.nz.

Invite us into your in-boxYou can stay in touch with developments in the settlement sector by subscribing to the quarterly Settlement ACTIONZ e-newsletter. Email [email protected] with ‘ACTIONZ’ in the subject line to subscribe.

Above: At Palmerston North Intermediate Normal School’s 2020 Multicultural Assembly.

https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us/media-centre/newsletters/settlement-actionz

http://www.careers.govt.nz

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October 2020 | Settlement ACTIONZ | 1

FIRST WORDSWhen they begin, crises often create unity. When New Zealand entered lockdown on Wednesday 25 March, we largely stood together as a nation.

We looked in on our neighbours, observed social distancing, put teddy bears in our windows to amuse passing children (and a few adults) and we followed the daily briefings, tracking the daily case count, taking pride as the numbers began to trend down. For those weeks of lockdown, we were that “team of five million” – and for more than 100 COVID-19 days afterwards we took pride in being the nation that had beaten the virus.

Why were we successful? One of the factors was something academics call social cohesion, the degree to which each of us, no matter who we are, feels included in and connected to the wider community around us. Social cohesion helped us win our first foray against COVID-19, and that first foray may have helped us foster social cohesion.

Even so, we are in for a long and difficult haul, one that even going by the most optimistic assumptions, will take us well into 2021.

If we are to come out of the present crisis as a safe, caring and inclusive society, a nation that others look to as an example, then the work of the settlement sector will continue to be vital.

In this issue of ACTIONZ, there are reasons to think that the sector is in good hands.

We have profiles of Queen’s Service Medal recipient Margaret Western and of the departing Chief Executive of English Language Partners, Nicola Sutton, both remarkable individuals with long records of public service. We have Welcoming Communities Co-ordinator Stephanie Velvin and her experience helping to oversee her community’s COVID-19 response. And we have a significant appointment: Anusha Guler, the new Executive Director of the Office of Ethnic Communities, who seems almost uniquely qualified for the position she now holds.

They are representative of a strong and resilient sector, one that will stand New Zealand in good stead.

Steve McGillGeneral Manager, Strategy, Engagement & Education Branch, Immigration New Zealand

2 | Settlement ACTIONZ | October 2020

Translating between languages can lead to amusing bungles, as many a backpacker trying to make sense of a foreign menu knows.

But it’s less amusing when content you are reading may mean literally life or death.

In Australia, an investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Association in August found that some Federal and Victorian coronavirus messages had been rendered ‘nonsensical’ after being translated into other languages.

Some had translation errors, while one – a poster – used a mix of Farsi and Arabic, two quite different languages.

Others were incoherent: “information in your language” in English became the equivalent of “use your language supplied information“.

Which perhaps raises the question: how well has New Zealand done in communicating COVID-19 messages with New Zealand residents for whom English is not their first language?

Some good people to judge may be CLING, the Community Languages Information Network Group.

I am on a Zoom call to Christchurch, where CLING is based, talking to four of its members: Dr Lesley Campbell, Dr Sally Carlton, Nicki Reece and Maria Fresia.

So how did we do? CLING’s verdict is mixed.

First some of the good things. CLING praises the use of New Zealand Sign Language interpreters at all press conferences.

It applauds the Ministry for Pacific Peoples for its regular and accessible written and video updates for Pacific communities, available in English and nine Pacific

languages, and Te Pūtahitanga, the South Island’s Whānau Ora commissioning agency, for producing the website Manaaki20 to support whanau.

The COVID healthline was, as advertised, an accessible service that provided interpreters – even if, in the first few weeks, as CLING’s report says, it required callers “to listen to two minutes of an automated introduction in English, before being asked to choose between six options again in English, before talking to an English speaking person to ask for an interpreter”.

And the COVID-19 website, which would eventually carry information in 24 languages, proved its worth as a single source of go-to information, was relatively easy to use, and was consistent in its use of branding and layout.

“The COVID-19 website was fantastic as key source of information,” says Sally Carlton.

But there are certainly things that could be improved.

For one thing, timeliness. On some of the sites monitored by CLING, translations were posted days after the English language originals.

“If the translators are on hand, it really shouldn’t take long,” says Sally Carlton.

“I liked the messages from the Police. They were very, very speedy. The day that the levels changed their messages were already there.”

Ideally, agencies should plan ahead, so that translations are available in a designated range of languages.

Similarly, every translation needs to be dated, and it must be clear who it is that endorses the translation and where it originated.

“With COVID-19, the dates are very important. When you have changing alert levels, people need to know if the information they are getting is current,” says Maria Fresia.

The videos produced by the New Zealand Police and the Ministry of Pacific Peoples were good examples of well-applied branding.

The videos produced by some other agencies, on the other hand, were unbranded.

“They were nicely done, but you had to wonder if they were people working for an agency talking about COVID, or were they reading a message from an agency in their languages, or were they reading out the official government translations on behalf of an agency? It sometimes wasn’t clear,” says Sally.

The English language original from which the translation has come needs to be available for comparison.

“People need to be able to refer back to the English version of what you are asked to share,” says Nicki.

And, as that Australian example proves, a professionally qualified translator should be used to provide quality assurance.

Perhaps, with so many agencies putting out information – among them, local and central government agencies, health boards and NGOs – there is a case for more shared communication.

So, in summary, how well has New Zealand performed in communicating with its CALD communities? I ask.

Perhaps a six or a seven out of 10, I am told: not bad, but room for improvement.

And New Zealand overall? Here the consensus is an eight or a nine.

Lesley Campbell singles out the

Lost in translationHow well has New Zealand been doing at communicating COVID-19 to its CALD communities? Malcolm Wood writes.

Videos produced by the New Zealand Police and the Ministry of Pacific People Peoples were praised for their timeliness and strong, authoritative branding.

About CLINGSet up following the Canterbury earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 to advocate for the provision of information for CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) communities, CLING (Community Languages Information Network Group) has seen Christchurch through the rebuild, the 2019 mosque shootings, and now the COVID-19 pandemic.

It has advised the Cancer Society, the Canterbury District Health Board, the Mental Health Foundation and the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority. And along the way it has documented what it has learned, beginning with the 2011 booklet Best Practice Guidelines: Engaging with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Communities in Times of Disaster.

During COVID-19 Alert Levels 4, 3 and 2, CLING collated and sent out regular round-ups to New Zealand’s CALD communities, culminating in the publication of Communicating with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities during disaster: Observations and recommendations from New Zealand’s COVID-19 response.

daily briefings led by the Prime Minister and the Director General of Health.

“They were believable and empathetic. They gave us the main messages. They did a terrific job,” she says.

Like many others, she looks back on lockdown New Zealand with a certain nostalgia. It showed us a kinder, more community-minded version of ourselves. Neighbours checked in on one another; strangers talked to one another on the street.

For Sally Carlton, the COVID-19 experience could be the impetus for positive change.

“The use of Sign Language

To request a copy of Communicating with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities during disaster: Observations and recommendations from New Zealand’s COVID-19 response, contact [email protected]

interpreters at all of the briefings came about because of the Canterbury earthquakes, and now it’s just accepted that a sign language interpreter should be there.”

At the time of the 2018 Census, about 23,000 New Zealand residents used Sign Language. Collectively, hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders speak languages like Samoan, Northern Chinese (including Mandarin) and Hindi.

“Maybe we should be thinking more broadly as we move forward,” she says.


mailto:[email protected]

Sector round-up


New reportsA number of notable settlement-related reports, papers and websites have been published since the last issue of ACTIONZ. ¶ From Refugees as Survivors New Zealand comes New Zealanders’ Perceptions of Refugees: Survey Report 2020 setting out the results of a survey conducted by Colmar Brunton in April 2020. These are sometimes disquieting – though, as the report notes, the fact that the survey was conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic and in the midst of Level 4 lockdown may have affected perceptions. The survey found, for example, that 27 per cent of correspondents thought that the current quota of 1,000 was too high and 21 per cent disagreed with the statement “New Zealand should accept refugees.” ¶ From Diversity Works comes the New Zealand Workplace Diversity Survey 2020. This surveyed 929 respondents in March 2020. For ethnicity as a diversity issue, the most widely held concerns were the under-representation of Māori and Pasifika. Cultural competency training seems to be gaining traction, with 25 per cent of respondents saying it was offered by their organisation in 2020 compared to 15 per cent in 2019. ¶ The New Zealand Asian Mental Health and Wellbeing Report 2020 produced by Trace Research for Asian Family Services draws on data collected in May and June 2020, during and immediately after Lockdown. Among its findings, the level of racial discrimination since COVID-19 is relatively low at 16.2 per cent, perhaps because of the “be kind” public messaging; and since lockdown, 43.9 per cent or more of Asians have experienced some form of mental distress. ¶ In the UK, ‘belong: the cohesion and integration network’ has published The Power of Sport :Guidance on strengthening cohesion and integration through sport. ¶ Our Australian neighbours have two new and interesting websites, Fathering Across Cultures, and Deep Collaboration, a site intended to help “First Nations and other multicultural Australians” find a new way to work and lead together.

Professor Paul Spoonley, one of New Zealand’s leading demographic experts, could hardly have published a more timely publication than The New New Zealand: Facing demographic disruption.

Belong Aotearoa has launched a community-led media campaign called #PASSTHEMIC to promote inclusion and challenge racism.


Francis Collins (pictured) and Thomas Bayliss have a new paper in Political Geography, ‘The good migrant: Everyday nationalism and temporary migration management on New Zealand dairy farms’. This is free to access at doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2020.102193.

Katie Higgins and Jessica Terruhn (pictured) have published a new paper, ‘Kinship, whiteness and the politics of belonging among white British migrants and Pākehā in Aotearoa/New Zealand’, in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

The Co-directors of the new Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies (CAPRS) Tāwhārau Whakaumu, Associate Professor Jay Marlowe of the University of Auckland’s and Dr Gül İnanç of Nanyang Technological University (Singapore). The Centre will inform and develop positive solutions to conflict and climate induced displacement. The University of Auckland-hosted Centre opened in July. Jay Marlowe’s latest paper is ‘Renegotiating family: Social media and forced migration’, published in Migration Studies.

In a campaign launched in July, Human Rights Commission is urging people in Aotearoa New Zealand to ‘give no voice to racism’ as it launches a new campaign featuring celebrated film maker Taika Waititi. Based on real-life experiences of racism, the campaign is meant to raise awareness of racist behaviour and the harm caused to those on the receiving end of it. Visit www.voiceofracism.co.nz.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2020.102193

http://www.voiceofracism.co.nz

Established Welcoming Communities accreditedSeven New Zealand councils and communities have been accredited as Established Welcoming Communities as part of the Immigration New Zealand-led programme Welcoming Communities – Te Waharoa ki ngā Hapori. They are Tauranga City Council, Western Bay of Plenty District Council, Palmerston North City Council, Ashburton District Council, Gore District Council, Invercargill City Council, and Southland District Council. The Welcoming Communities External Accreditation Assessment Panel assessed and accredited all the applicants at Stage 2 of the programme’s four-stage accreditation model. This is the first time the Stage 2 accreditation has been conducted in New Zealand.

Madison Chang has been appointed Drowning Prevention Advisor – Asian Community by Drowning Prevention Auckland. In this role, Madison will be developing a drowning prevention strategy to educate and support groups identifying as Asian, and delivering sustainable water-competence educational programmes to Asian communities.

Before moving to New Zealand to give his daughter a western education, Madison worked with Deloitte in mainland China. Madison has worked with the Electoral Commission to grow understanding of New Zealand’s government and democracy with Asian communities. He has also volunteered in a public relations role for Rotary and assisted ethnic community leadership within the Auckland Police.

Madison has been rock-fishing and boat-fishing off the coast of the Coromandel and understands the risks.

Samantha Gunther of Drowning Prevention Auckland says the organisation is “thrilled” with the appointment.

Almost one fifth (17.2%) of the people who drowned in Auckland in 2019 were of Asian descent. This equates to seven lives lost, through activities such as swimming, scuba diving and shell-fishing. Six Asian-identifying Auckland residents drowned outside the Auckland region.

Palmerston North Mayor Grant Smith with Aung Myo, the recipient of the English Language PartnersNZ 2020 Refugee Achievement Award, and his wife. The award is worth $2,000. Aung works full time for Palmerston North Panel and Paint Ltd. He is also studying English, helping to raise his three sons, and pursuing an apprenticeship in automotive refurbishing. Aung and his family were driven from Myanmar by political upheaval and spent 10 years in a Thai refugee camp before being accepted for resettlement in New Zealand.

The Waitaki Newcomers Migrants Network meets in Oamaru. This session was about local places that can be visited free of charge.

Sector round-up


On Tuesday 28th July, more than 60 councillors, staff, stakeholders and community members who have contributed to Palmerston North’s Welcoming Communities programme over the past three years gathered to celebrate gaining accreditation as an Established Welcoming Community.

The event was opened with karakia and mihi from Wiremu Te Awe Awe, kaumātua of mana whenua Rangitāne o Manawatū, supported with waiata from Palmerston North City Council councillors and staff. Mayor Grant Smith thanked the community partners who have brought Welcoming Communities to life, in particular members of our local Advisory Group, and spoke of his pride in how the city has long embraced the principles of the programme and his excitement

about what we can achieve together in the future.

We were also lucky to hear from Aung Myo, recipient of the 2020 Refugee Achievement scholarship from English Language Partners New Zealand. Aung received his award from the Mayor as part of this celebration after the original ceremony planned for April was cancelled due to lockdown.

The Mayor and Christine Mukabalinda, who manages the Manawatū Multicultural Centre and has been involved in the programme since its commencement, held the accreditation certificate together for the official photographs to close the formalities; the certificate will hang in the visitor’s reception area of the Council’s main building in the city centre.

Welcome newsWelcoming Communities Coordinator Stephanie Velvin writes

Palmerston North celebrates accreditation as an Established Welcoming Community.

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) would like to hear from local government councils that are interested joining Welcoming Communities – Te Waharoa ki ngā Hapori.


Palmerston North Welcoming Communities Co-ordinator Stephanie Velvin has come to know Palmerston North’s new state-of the-art Civil Defence communication centre well.This was where she worked seven-day shifts overseeing provision for the welfare needs of the Palmerston North community during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

It was a time – a strange break in normal existence – that she and her fellow staff of the Emergency Operations Centre look back on with pride.

Speaking to the New Zealand Herald, on the day before the centre finished operation, Emergency Operation Centre controller Chris Dyhrberg listed some statistics: the 800 signs and public notices printed and installed around public spaces; the 5,500 welfare requests met; the $1.1 million of food parcels, essential household goods, pharmacy supplies and accommodation assistance distributed to people in need.

For Stephanie, many aspects of the role were very new. At the beginning of 2020, she knew only the basics about Civil Defence. Nor had she ever co-ordinated large numbers of staff.

She was chosen for the welfare position because her role with the Palmerston North City Council. As the Welcoming Communities Co-ordinator she had become skilled at working with more vulnerable groups, such as newcomers, migrants and former refugees.

She understood some of the barriers people would face during the pandemic, of language, cultural understanding, and social isolation.

She knew that not everyone would have access to the internet or would understand the workings of the New Zealand health system.

She knew that some groups – such as Palmerston North international students who had lost part-time jobs or needed accommodation – would face particular hardships.

Most importantly, she came into the role with a network of useful contacts and well-established working relationships.

To relay information to the community, Stephanie and her fellow staff relied on designated community champions.

These were drawn from broader umbrella groups, such as the Multicultural Council, the Manawatū Refugee Resettlement Forum, and the Muslim Association, and from the leadership of Palmerston North’s ethnic communities.

There were also champions representing the needs of groups like the elderly and the disabled.

The champions helped their community members register requests through the welfare system set up by the Emergency Operation Centre.

Because many people were unable to shop for themselves or found themselves in need, food parcels were top priority.

Early on, the Salvation Army entered an agreement to combine forces with Palmerston North’s smaller food banks, working together to pack and deliver food parcels.

Runners delivered prescriptions, and as autumn arrived, warm clothes were sent out as well.

For some cultures, access to protective masks and gloves was a concern.

“You can understand why. It was quite a scary time, and in some cultures mask-wearing is a fairly everyday thing,” says Stephanie.

In theory, Stephanie’s role was office-based, and she remembers

“a lot of emails, a lot of calling, and I even zoomed a couple of groups to take them through how to fill out the welfare registration form”.

But she and the other staff were always willing to step into the front line.

“We did a few late-night and weekend grocery shops for people in emergency situations,” she says, “and over the public holiday weekends when other on-the-ground services weren’t available.

“It was eye-opening to see people in really tough situations. Mums and kids living on tins of beans before they were willing to call us and ask for help.”

It was all very intense. “Adrenaline pushed us through a number of weeks and it wasn’t until we hit level 2 that it wore off and we realised how many days straight we had been working.”

It is only now that she can begin to see the experience in the round.

In many ways, she sees it as having been positive.

“We demonstrated that the Council cares about people, and we built trust in the community’” says Stephanie.

She remembers the way new relationships were formed and bureaucracy fell away.

The Council and the community are more digitally literate than they were at the beginning of 2020 – something that has to be good in the long term.

And the Government’s “be kind” messaging worked.

“I did a little social media campaign over the weekend to mark World Refugee Day,” says Stephanie.

“I was bracing for the keyboard warriors to come out of the woodwork, and actually, the comments were overwhelmingly positive.”

Looking back at lockdown


Anusha Guler interviewQuestions:Who is Anusha Guler?History in South AfricaWhy New Zealand?What is her vision for the OEC?What does she bring to the position?Priorities for ethnic communities in NZ from OEC point of view?What can ethnic communities expect from OEC?How does she see post COVID landscape?How does she see agencies working together?

Attribution

In the past 18 months, New Zealand’s ethnic communities have been through two upheavals.

The first, the shootings at Christchurch Mosque on 15 March gave rise to a period of national reflection and, along the way, to Anusha’s appointment.

The second, the COVID-19 pandemic, has changed the world in ways that will only become apparent over time.

For Anusha Guler, COVID-19 means that the Office’s immediate need is to renew its understanding of community concerns.

“I think we need to go back to our communities, and ask what are your priorities now.

“We are hearing about migrants not being able to fend for themselves, about passport issues, about jobs, about funding... Whatever actions the Office chooses are going to be irrelevant if the community has different needs.”

I have caught up with her just a few weeks after she stepped into her role, and she is about to embark on an extended round of meetings and consultations.

Over lockdown, she saw out her time as Chief of Staff for the Wellington City Council. Her feet have barely touched the ground.

AnushA grew up in apartheid-era South Africa in a largely Indian community, which while part of a very divided society was highly cohesive. “I was telling my leadership team that I grew up in an all-Indian area. I went to an all-Indian school. I celebrated Eid, Diwali, and Christmas, because for us it was just the one community.”

Her parents were of modest means and education. Anusha, with the help of loan taken out by her father, was the first person in her family to attend university.

A perfect fit“Connecting with communities is in my blood,” says Anusha Guler, the new Executive Director of the Office of Ethnic of Communities.

When she emerged with an undergraduate degree, it was 1994 and apartheid was crumbling. One benefit for Anusha, now that South Africa was no longer an international pariah, was more opportunities to study abroad.

Anusha applied for a scholarship to study towards a postgraduate degree in New Delhi, then hesitated.

“My dad had just passed away, and my mum was unwell, and I thought ‘I won’t take the scholarship.’ But my mum absolutely insisted. She said, ‘I’m here and I am being taken care of by the doctors. If they can’t do anything for me, you can’t do anything for me.’”

On her return to South Africa, she took up a short-lived appointment as a select committee senior secretary.

“Within six months they moved me out of that; they said right, there’s a new constitution for South Africa, we need somebody to set up an upper house of parliament,” she says.

Did she encounter much resistance as a young woman in her twenties? I ask.

“I think it was different then, it was so new and exciting, people didn’t care. You just needed to do the job. It was a new South Africa. We were starting from scratch.

“When you went out to communities, they were happy to engage. It meant a different life for them. We were changing all of the legislation, removing all of the apartheid restrictions, and bringing in a democratic state. People wanted to engage with us. It was heartening to connect with communities.”

Anusha loved the job, but over time her life changed. She married a Turkish man and they planned a family. Crime rates in South Africa were high.

“He wasn’t used to that environment of bars and gates. As soon as my daughter was born, he said, ‘We are going to have to do something.’”


New Zealand, Australia, and Canada were their first-pick migration destinations.

New Zealand won out. “Based on qualifications, age and experience we qualified for residence almost immediately.”

“I have never regretted the decision,” she says.

The fAmily moved to Auckland, where Anusha worked for Auckland University, but after the heady experience of creating democracy in South Africa, it felt a bit routine.

So the family moved to Christchurch, where Anusha became the Christchurch City Council’s Democracy Services Manager.

In her new role, among other things, she promoted electoral participation, involved the public in the process of decision-making, and supported councillors and board members to connect and engage with their communities.

The job meant coming to grips with the political complexities of local government, which, she says, are easily the match of central government.

“I loved my time in Christchurch. I was the governance lead for the merger of Banks Peninsula with Christchurch City, and I set up two community boards. It was so exciting – but it was all about me,” she says.

All was not well. Despite being well qualified, her husband had trouble finding employment locally. “It was even suggested he change his name,” says Anusha, incredulously.

He began commuting to a job in Auckland.

“I had a six year old who didn’t think her father was coming home again, “ says Anusha. “It didn’t work for him or her, so I made the conscious decision to move.”

She became the Team Manager, Finance and Governance with Auckland City Council

Her arrival coincided with the creation of the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance, which would report back in 2009, recommending the set-up of a ‘super city’.

She calls it “the best move I ever made. Because I positioned myself to be involved in the merger of nine councils into one.”

After extensive community consultation – including drawing on the then Office of Ethnic Affairs for help in engaging with Auckland’s ethnic communities – Auckland City Council began operating on 1 November 2010.

Anusha had barely time to catch her breath before the Wellington City Council came calling.

“My director took three months to persuade me to come to Wellington. I wasn’t looking for a job change.”

Another good move. “The chief executive gave you wings to fly. He would say, ‘Here’s a problem, go fix it.’”

She advanced from Manager, Democratic Services to Head of Governance, to Chief of Staff, a role in which she found herself building Wellington’s relationships with its international sister cities.

meAnwhile, The office of Ethnic Communities was going through troubled times. The Office restructured in 2016, with director Berlinda Chin no longer reporting directly to the Chief Executive of the Department of Internal Affairs but to one of his senior staff. Chin left in early 2017.

In mid-2017, Wen Powles was appointed to the position, in turn leaving in December 2018.

In the interim periods before and after Wen’s tenure, the position


... representives from ethnic communities set out the qualities they wanted to see in the new Executive Director: someone with connection in the community; someone to be a role model for the young; someone with “backbone”.

was filled by acting directors.An Acting Director was in place

and recruitment was underway on March 15 when the Christchurch mosque terror attacks took place.

In the period of soul searching and recrimination that followed, one thing was agreed: New Zealand needed an effective, well-resourced Office of Ethnic Communities.

The budget was increased, staff numbers were upped from 24 staff to 42 (in Christchurch, the number of staff climbed from two to nine), the Executive Director of the Office was again made a direct report to the Chief Executive of the Department of Internal Affairs, and the Office embarked on a series of consultations with Muslim communities across the country, publishing the summary report Conversations with Aotearoa New Zealand’s Muslim communities: growing understanding after the Christchurch terror attacks on March 15, 2019.

It was more than ever important that the new Executive Director be the right person.

Talking to Newsroom in July 2019, representatives from ethnic communities set out the qualities they wanted to see in the new Executive Director: someone with connection in the community; someone to be a role model for the young; someone with “backbone”.

Anusha’s appointment was announced in April 2020.

inTernATionAlly, migrAnTs And ethnic communities have been deeply affected by the consequences of COVID-19.

Migrants are over-represented on the front line in sectors like health, aged care and hospitality. Often they are in jobs that are among the first to go during hard economic times. Some, who

rely primarily on a first language other than English, find it difficult to access accurate information. Lacking local connections, they are at greater risk of isolation, and many will be worried about their friends and family overseas.

During lockdown, despite the absence of its new Executive Director, the Office of Ethnic Communities proved its worth.

It helped groups access the Ethnic Communities Development Fund, which was given additional funding and greater latitude in its funding criteria.

And, drawing on its community relationships, the Office produced videos in more than 20 languages addressing topics like ‘staying safe during Covid-19’, ‘life at level 2’ and ‘how to access government helplines’.

under AnushA, The Office is now consolidating some of the work it did under lockdown by setting up a multilingual network, which will be used to translate and distribute resources .

Anusha points out that a number of District Health Boards are already making use of community-based translators.

“At the moment the network is in its initial stages. We’ve put out a call for expressions of interest to connect volunteers and translators before we get on to the next step of looking at key messages.”

To address the racism and xenophobia stirred up by misinformation around COVID-19, the Office and the Human Rights Commission have collaborated on the $1.3 million VOICE OF RACISM anti-racism campaign, fronted by Taika Waititi.

An ethnic data dashboard of ethnicity and ethnic groups across New Zealand is on the way.

“If you want to find out what’s

the make-up of Hawke’s Bay or Dunedin you can drill down in this database.”

“It’s mainly aimed at other government agencies. We are saying, ‘When you are doing your policy, make sure it aligns with the communities you are delivering to.’”

Anusha is reaching out to other Government agencies to see how the Office can work with them. “My personal view is that we need a ‘New Zealand Inc.’ approach,” she says.

She is thinking about how the new staff members will be embedded as part of the team, and how they will work together collectively.

“My team have told me that they have been in a reactive space. It’s my job to support them and give them a long term view of where we are going and how we are going to get there.”

inTerviewing AnushA, iT’s hard to avoid the thought that karma is somehow at work. It has certainly occurred to Anusha.

On her LinkedIn page she has posted an inspirational quote. “...every time I thought I was being rejected from something good I was actually being re-directed to something better”.

She knows she is fortunate. She has the staff, the funding, and the mandate to make a difference.

The work of the previous directors has given her a foundation to build on.

“I feel I have come full circle and I am exactly where I need to be,” she says.

“My life journey has always intended me to land here. Connecting with communities is in my blood.

“The Office of Ethnic of Communities is where I belong.”



Medal winnerA conversation with Queen’s Service Medal recipient Margaret Western.

In this age of social media, it is hard to escape the world’s attention, no matter how modest you are.

For Margaret Western, who was awarded Queen’s Service Medal in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday list, that attention came from as far afield as a professor in Scotland and a family in Spain.

From nearer at hand there was a letter from the Mayor of Blenheim – who praised her as “a champion for unity and diversity” – a profile and photographs in Stuff, a spot on Breakfast TV, and a letterbox crammed with cards.

And while it has come to be expected that people who are honoured profess to being humbled and surprised, Margaret is absolutely honest when she says it.

It took her several days to accept the award, deciding finally that it was not about her but about celebrating newcomers and the way in which they enrich the Marlborough community.

The work, she says, has been its own reward. “I have seen people celebrating each other’s successes when times are good, and lifting one another up during tough times. I have seen the true meaning of bonds of friendship, connectedness, and support in action.”

rAised in picTon, Margaret began working for a legal firm before transferring to the Marlborough District Council in 1984, and worked for many years as the executive

assistant to the chief executive and the mayor. In these roles she ran civic ceremonies ranging from ANZAC services to citizenship ceremonies.

Outside of work, she tutored ESOL, becoming the inaugural chairperson for ESOL Home Tutors (Marlborough) when it was set up in the early ’90s.

The family of her first ESOL student would later host her and husband Alan when they visited Northern Thailand.

“I’d like to think I will be involved with them [English Language Partners] in the future, when I have a little more time,” she says. She qualified as an intercultural

awareness and communication trainer, and raised an adventurous, well-travelled family.

When New Zealand went into lockdown, she had a son and daughter-in-law in Finland and a daughter working in Bali. “It was a great relief to have them back in New Zealand,” she says.

mArlborough is noT the most cosmopolitan region in New Zealand: at the time of the 2013 census, 16.0 percent of people in Marlborough District were born overseas, compared with 25.2 percent for New Zealand as a whole, and 89.2 percent belonged to the European ethnic group, compared with 74.0 percent for New Zealand as a whole.

But over time, particularly in recent years, it has become more and more diverse as employers such as wineries, seafood processing plants, health clinics, schools and rest-homes have hired migrants.


Centre fell vacant, and Margaret took up “the opportunity to work in an environment that I was very passionate about”.

The Centre’s annual report gives a picture of the breadth of its work.

There are festivals, like Diwali and the annual Marlborough Multicultural Festival. There are pot-lucks and morning teas. There are intercultural awareness and communication courses and seminars for local managers, such as wine industry supervisors, and migrant workers and the community.

There are computer classes for migrants, run in partnership with REAP, and driving courses run in partnership with the AA.

But much of Margaret’s work at the Centre was one-to-one with newcomers, supporting them in their dealings with New Zealand’s public agencies.

Common issues included employment, immigration, legal disputes, health issues, schooling, navigating language difficulties and – more often than Margaret would like – dealing with racism.

She treasures the relationships she formed. Margaret tells of supporting a young women from Kiribati, whose husband could not be there, through an emergency caesarian. “She was very alone, and we had formed a very close bond,” says Margaret, who hates the sight of blood.

Later she was there for the second birth, also a caesarian, this time with the husband present. “And he wouldn’t go into the operating theatre without me either.“

Alan and Margaret became the Kiwi “Nana and Pop” to these two Kiwi-Kiribati godchildren – and since then have added two more.

“Marlborough is globally connected now. It couldn’t operate without newcomers,” says Margaret.

In 2007, Marlborough’s changing demographic composition led to it being chosen as one of seven regions to be part of a Ministry of Social Development-funded initiative called Settling In.

Margaret was appointed to the steering group, and a report, Settling In Marlborough, was commissioned to look at Marlborough’s needs.

“It was very evident that there was an urgent need for a physical entity that would support the changing demographics,” says Margaret.

one consequence wAs the Marlborough Multicultural Centre, which was launched in January 2007, “in a small office in a community building shared with English Language Partners and lots of other agencies”.

Margaret chaired the Centre’s governing committee for three years. Then, in 2014, the position of manager of the Multicultural

“In times of stress and uncertainty, family becomes paramount,” she says.


mArgAreT ThoughT ThAT her next step after managing the Multicultural Centre would be retirement. She was wrong.

In May 2019 the Government announced an increase in the annual refugee quota to 1500. Marlborough was added to the list of New Zealand’s resettlement locations, with plans for it to become home to up to 100 refugees from Colombia.

The local resettlement agency, the Red Cross, began advertising jobs, including a Pathways to Employment Manager

The job appealed. Margaret had helped newcomers into employment and she was convinced of its central importance.

”If people are going to participate fully and integrate into their communities, employment is vital.”

And the time felt right.“I said I would leave the

Multicultural Centre when I felt it was in good hands, and it was. It was stable, financially sound, and had a very good governing board.”

Her swansong was the 2020 Marlborough Multicultural Festival. The first-ever Festival she organised attracted 600-700 people, she estimates; the 2020 festival attracted more that 5,000.

A little over two weeks later, New Zealand was in lockdown.

mArgAreT’s ThoughTs were with the migrant community. Some, she knew, would lose jobs, perhaps losing their pathway to residence. There would be worries about finance, and the ability to send remittances home. There would be worries about family.

“In times of stress and uncertainty, family becomes paramount,” she says.

Over the lockdown, she worked with the council, her community

Margaret with one of her four Kiwi-Kiribati godchildren.

An annual day-long excursion into the Marlborough Sounds, including a visit to the eco-village in Mistletoe Bay, has become a Marlborough Migrant Centre tradition. In 2019, 141 people took part . “These were families who would otherwise never have had the opportunity to do anything like that,” says Margaret. Thanks to Centre’s supporters, the charge was nominal. “And if families couldn’t afford it, that was okay, there was money there.”

contacts, and Crossroads Marlborough Charitable Trust to make sure no-one was forgotten, keeping tabs on anyone who might be in need of help, usually by phone.

“I didn’t want to leave anyone in a vulnerable position without support –and I didn’t.”

And ThAT’s iT. Our phone call draws to a close. Margaret returns to doing what she was doing. On a day off from the Red Cross she is reviewing applications for the local Community Organisation Grants Scheme, performing unpaid labour, making a difference in her community.

Language lessonsAfter nine years as Chief Executive of English Language Partners, Nicola Sutton is leaving to take on fresh challenges. She spoke to ACTIONZ.


T here are days that try the loyalty of the most ardent Wellingtonian; this is one.

For several weeks, the capital city has hardly glimpsed sunshine. Outside English Language Partners’ national office, high in a building on The Terrace, the rain falls in sheets.

Nicola Sutton plans to watch a grandchild play hockey this evening. She is wondering if she has enough layers to stay warm.

Her mood seems end-of-school, beginning-of-holidays buoyant.

“I am not sure it has quite sunk in. I have a list of jobs I want to get done. I am keen for a smooth transition for the new chief executive.”

IT ALL BEGAN, she says, in West Auckland in 1993.

Nicola – not, according to her, one of life’s natural language learners – was learning Croatian at night classes, when it occurred to her she could exchange English for Croatian by home tutoring.

She knew about the local volunteer ESOL home tutor programme through a friend, so she signed up.

“Of course, once I got matched with this Croatian couple from Bosnia, I realised that their needs were so great that language exchange was never going to be a feature of our lessons together.”

About six months later, Nicola’s involvement grew. She had visited the ESOL home tutor co-ordinator who was based at the local polytechnic to collect resource material. One thing led to another.

“She said, ‘I need someone for four hours a week to do some

resource work in the library.’ I said, ‘Well I can do that for you.’ I had four young kids, I was looking for a bit of part-time work, and it appealed.”

Her path was set.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE PARTNERS’ origins stretch back to the 1970s, when pioneering ESOL tutoring initiatives were set up independently in places like Wellington, Hawke’s Bay and Auckland.

In some instances, as in West Auckland, ESOL home tutoring was an extension of polytechnic language classes; in others, volunteers set up their own groups to help new neighbours settle in.

At first, these focused on the language needs of women migrants, who found themselves isolated at home; over time the needs of refugees would become more of an emphasis.

By October 1982, there were 835 home tutors working with almost 1,000 ESOL learners throughout the country.

The National Association of ESOL Home Tutor Schemes formed in 1992.

IN WEST AUCKLAND, Nicola’s involvement with English Language Partners increased by degrees.

“A new centre was set up and they asked me to create a resource library, then they lost their finance person, so I put my hand up and said ‘I can do finance.’ It sort of snowballed from there.”

She was elected to the Board of the National Association of ESOL Home Tutor Schemes in 1999, spending two years as deputy chair

Quick stats 20197,080 adult learners1,486 volunteers639 new volunteers trained361 teaching & support staff22 locations in New Zealand

1970sESOL home tutoring springs up in a number of New Zealand regions.

1992National Association of ESOL Home Tutor Schemes (Inc.) formed.

1995Government announces direct funding for the Association.

2002National Ethnic Advisory Group formed.

2009The Association becomes English Language Partners New Zealand.

2011Nicola Sutton appointed Chief Executive.

2013New Zealand Certificates in English Language delivery starts.

2014English Language Partners amalgamates from 23 distinct legal entities into one.

2016New Work Talk programme delivered nationally.

2020Deliver face-to-face online classes to 2,000 learners.


For New Zealand, the first three months of 2020 were punctuated by reports of a new virus and growing global pandemic. The arrival of the virus on our shores led to New Zealand moving, at 11:59pm on Wednesday 25 March, into a nationwide lockdown. Across the country, English Language Partners 22 centres closed their doors, all classes on hold. The connection between English Language Partners’ 350 teachers and support staff, 1,500 volunteer tutors and around 3,700 learners was severed.

If English Language Partners wanted to reach out to its community to provide teaching and support, it would need to do so online – and this would demand a major reset.

English Language Partners is no digital latecomer – it uses the latest in student management software – but its teaching has almost always been centred on face-to-face, same-room interaction.

There are good reasons for this. English Language Partners’ priority, the group from which it derives most of its funding, are learners with low levels of English and high needs.

These are people who often lack the access to computers, tablets and Wi-Fi taken for granted by so many of us. Some, particularly former refugees, have had limited schooling, even in their first languages. Many have family responsibilities.

So Nicola Sutton was careful to keep her expectations in check. “I thought that if we got 15 to 20 percent of our learners online

we’d be doing quite well.”The experience turned out to be

transformative.The first lessons were delivered

on Thursday 26 March, the day after lockdown, with teachers using their home computers and phoning learners to tell them about the classes and how to access them.

The platforms they used were a grab-bag of what was available: WeChat, WhatsApp, Facebook Live, Google Classroom and, of course, the app of the moment, Zoom, for which English Language Partners would purchase multiple licences and provide training.

English Language Partners programmes team started sending out weekly email newsletters with links to resources and teaching tips.

Freed from geographical constraints, some learners teamed up with classes in other regions.

In one class, a learner reported in live from the farm, explaining the process of setting up a silage pit.

With help from their families and their teacher, two seventy-something year-old learners – one from Samoa, the other Cambodia – adapted to the digital world.

“Neither had very much literacy in their own language, and at first they couldn’t get into the Zoom classroom,” says Nicola.

“But everyone persevered, and once they managed to get into the classroom they didn’t miss a lesson.

“They learned to do things like

annotate their work and send it back electronically.

“For one, it was the first time he had sent an email. It was the most incredible thing.”

One ESOL home tutor would drop worksheets into her learner’s letterbox, following up by phone and WhatsApp.

Another put together short videos in WhatsApp for her learners about what was happening in her life under lockdown.

By the time the nine-week lockdown was lifted and the centres began to return to face-to-face teaching and learning, 53 per cent of English Language Partners’ learners were online. Collectively, they had clocked up 60,104 hours of attendance in small face-to-face online classes with qualified ESOL teachers.

Digital delivery had kept learners engaged in learning, and, by providing structure and social contact, supported their mental health and wellbeing.

It also provided meaningful work for English Language Partners’ staff, who were kept busy delivering classes and creating new resources.

“Normally, a shift like this would have taken years, with lots of planning and development and small scale piloting,” says Nicola.

“We’ve been discussing online learning for years, but we had imagined something quite different. COVID forced us to get on with it. It has created a whole new way for people to learn English no matter where they live in New Zealand.”

Online learning goes viralThe COVID-19 lockdown has revolutionised English Language Partners’ approach to digital teaching and learning.

LEARNERS

Former tutor and current volunteer Penny Robinson demonstrates a concept to an English language group in Whanganui.


and six years as chair.In 2007, she and her family

moved to Christchurch, where Nicola picked up a part-time job as a programme co-ordinator and volunteer trainer, “and then it turned out they needed a teacher for one of their classes”. In what time was left over she did accounts work for a law firm.

Towards the end of 2008, she moved to Wellington to become full-time Operations Manager at the national office, eighteen months later she was appointed Deputy Chief Executive, and in June 2011 she became Chief Executive.

In the 16 years since she began volunteering in West Auckland, she had occupied or engaged with almost every role in the organisation.

THE UNIFYING ENGLISH Language Partners’ brand, was introduced in 2009, but behind it there were still 23 separate incorporated societies, each with its own governing committee, staffing, finances and history.

247 1,034 2,115 1,366

4,761

FemaleAGE AND GENDER

159 431 1,014 7142,318

Male

16-25 26-35 36-55 56+

Asian �� 4,829Middle Eastern �� 948South American/Mexican/ Central American �� 550European �� 329African ��222Pacific Island ��198Other �� 4

ETHNICITY

WORK STATUS

Employed�� 2,056Homemaker ��1,964Retired ��1,195Unemployed/seeking work�� 978Student ��681Other/not stated �� 206

English Language Partners Annual Report 2019.

Logically, it made sense to amalgamate.

Over an extended period, Nicola trekked the country, going from meeting to meeting, explaining the case for change and managing a wide range of supporting and opposing views.

When the centres finally voted in favour of amalgamation, the organisation moved swiftly.

Continued on page 23


Nicola Sutton is blunt in her assessment: “If we were focused on profit, we wouldn’t have a volunteer ESOL home tutoring programme involving around 1,500 volunteers.

“There is the cost of training the volunteers, coordinating the programme, and assuring the quality of tutoring, record keeping and reporting. Plus you need to make sure that the experience is successful for both the volunteer and the learner. All of that is really costly. We do not get public funding for volunteer training – we have to raise money for this.

“It’s more affordable to put a teacher in front of a class of learners than to put a volunteer in front of an individual.”

But, volunteering is still an important tool for the organisation.

It has been central to English Language Partners from the very beginning. The original ESOL programmes were all delivered by volunteer home tutors – group classes with qualified ESOL teachers were a later introduction.

“When I trained with Auckland West, volunteer tutoring was the only service being run by that centre,” remembers Nicola.

And while the use of volunteers may not stack up as the lowest-cost way of teaching English, the other benefits are huge.

“Volunteers allow us to teach learners who could not get to a class: someone that has little kids at home; someone who has health issues; someone doing shift work. All of those things can prevent someone from getting to a class.”

Volunteering is also great for building cohesive communities that welcome newcomers, Nicola says.

“There is no way that 1,500 Kiwis could make weekly visits to the homes of migrant families without the ESOL home tutor programme. And when you home tutor a learner, you suddenly realise that the person who doesn’t speak English – or very good English – is a person just like you.

“They have hopes and ambitions, they have kids and hobbies, they have frustrations and family squabbles – all the things that you do in your normal everyday life, they do too. Tutoring is a great equaliser.”

Volunteering creates empathy and inclusion.

“You’ve now got volunteers out there who think, ‘It’s jolly hard

work making a new life here, and I am going to be kinder when I see a newcomer in a difficult situation. I am not going to walk away.”

Volunteering is personally fulfilling in a myriad of ways, as English Language Partners found when it conducted research into the costs and benefits.

It creates career opportunities, and builds competency at work.

“One tutor said that volunteering helped her model and teach her work colleagues about intercultural competency and communicating with people from different backgrounds, says Nicola.

Others see it as a stepping stone towards gaining ESOL qualifications and becoming teachers themselves.

It is also good for mental health.

“One volunteer said that volunteering as a home tutor helped her stay positive about life and manage her depression.

“And for most, tutoring is very much an act of generosity, a way of giving back to the community, and that is rewarding in itself.”

Finally, volunteering is fun, creates friendships and opens a window on our unexamined assumptions.

“You get to discover the weird things in your own culture when you have to try and explain it to someone else.”

Volunteering for the good of New ZealandOperating a nationwide team of volunteer tutors is expensive, but it’s worth it.

Employed ��686Retired �� 394Student �� 112Other/not stated ��104 Homemaker �� 102Unemployed �� 88

VOLUNTEER WORK

STATUS


English Language Groups ESOL Home Tutoring

ESOL Literacy and ESOL Intensive English for Migrants

English for EmployeesESOL Road Code

Work TalkBusiness funded programmes

NZ Certificate in English Language

LEARNERS ACCESSING 2019 PROGRAMMES*

3,7541,656

1,083

600

18959

* Learners can access more than one programme. For example, a learner can have an ESOL home tutor and attend an English Language Group.

853

323233

Whanganui ELP Manager Jane Blinkhorne runs the weekly English language group.


But she has experienced some enduring frustrations as well.

One of the largest is New Zealand’s failure to address the lack of English language provision for temporary migrants.

Here, temporary can be a misleading word, for by renewing temporary visas, or applying for new ones, some migrants and their families have ended up living in New Zealand for many years.

Some would benefit from English language lessons. The problem is that English Language Partners and other providers are not publicly funded to help them.


Within twelve weeks, she and finance manager Deirdre Stallinger established a payroll system, wrote almost 200 individual employment agreements, set up new finance systems, disbanded incorporated societies, set up a charitable trust and recruited national staff.

She shakes her head in disbelief at just how smoothly it went.

Another source of pride is English Language Partners’ Level 1 rating in the New Zealand Qualifications Authority External Evaluation and Review.

“We can say, hand on heart, we know we offer a quality learning experience and we’ve got the evidence to prove it.”

When she arrived, English Language Partners held NZQA’s level 2 rating. In 2015, it achieved level 1, repeating the accomplishment in December 2019.

New courses have been developed during her tenure.

There is Work Talk, an intensive 48-hour course delivered over four weeks, which is giving people the skills they need to navigate the New Zealand job market, and ELP now also delivers the New Zealand Certificate of English Language, a qualification often used as a measure of competency for undertaking tertiary study.

Continued from page 21

Learners at Whanganui’s weekly English language group.


“It shouldn’t be about temporary versus permanent migrants,” says Nicola.

“The community misses out when people can’t participate in community life because their language skills aren’t strong enough. No one wins.

“They are contributing members of our society. They are paying taxes. They are purchasing goods and services. They are a part of society.

“Even if they are only here for a year, wouldn’t we want them leave with stronger English skills and a good impression of New Zealand?”

Nicola also believes that it will be much easier to address the issue of migrant exploitation in the workplace if workers have the language skills to raise concerns.

Nicola thinks that funding ESOL services for temporary migrants makes economic sense. It is a matter of overcoming the natural nervousness held by some government agencies.

“Twice in the past five years, I thought we were making progress on the issue of access to ESOL and both times it has fallen apart.”

Why hasn’t something happened? One barrier, she says, is the turnover of public service staff, with each departing staff member taking with them their embedded knowledge and relationships.

Even so, as a public good, English Language Partners does manage to include temporary migrants among its learners by raising income from philanthropic grants and some councils, and by charging learners a small fee.

“About 1,000 out of our 7,000 learners would be non-permanent residents.”

HOW DOES ENGLISH Language Partners fit within the ecosystem of other English language providers?

“We think that the range of provision gives learners a choice about where and when they learn and the kind of English they focus on. It might be an evening class teaching workplace language or a day-time class focused on everyday language.

“Within this ecosystem of provision, English Language Partners has the advantage of

scale, national coverage, and years of prudent financial management.

“We can draw on our own resources to supplement government funding or develop a new programme if we identify a need.”

Nicola appreciates the support English Language Partners gave to her ongoing development over the years. This included a Graduate Diploma in Not-for-Profit Management, a Master’s in Commerce and, more recently, a Post-Graduate Certificate in Public Policy.

“It was through this study that I realised it was time for a new challenge. I was introduced to lots of new ideas and was fascinated by the thinking taking place on issues like poverty, inequality, climate change and productivity.”

She is leaving the organisation in a strong position, and she is confident that the in-coming chief executive will rise to the challenges created by the pandemic.

In the immediate future, Nicola thinks English Language Partners’ will need to be agile and able to


=ELP CENTRES

Whangarei

Auckland

North Shore Auckland Central & West

Auckland South

Hamilton

Tauranga

Rotorua

TaupoNew

Plymouth

Hawke’s Bay

Palmerston North

Whanganui

Levin

Wellington Porirua Hutt Wellington

Nelson

Blenheim

Christchurch

Timaru

Dunedin

Invercargill

NORTH ISLAND

SOUTH ISLAND


respond quickly to changing needs. “For English Language Partners,

there’s an opportunity to meet previously unmet ESOL needs in the wider community. There will be a real need for people to have strong language skills to remain in work or to find new work.”

NICOLA IS NOT too prescriptive about what she does next. It could be a policy or leadership role in the community or government sector. It just has to match her interests and values.

“I love community building, and think that strong connected

communities are the answer to many of New Zealand’s challenges.”

Nicola’s first-ever student from West Auckland keeps in touch.

“It’s been 25 years and we still visit each other. She’s worked hard and made a success of her life here.”

Nicola might return to volunteer tutoring, when life allows.

“I live in a community with quite a few migrants. I look out my window and think ‘I could tutor someone in my neighbourhood who needs help with their English’.”

English Language Partners announces new Chief ExecutiveThe new Chief Executive of English Language Partners is Alison Molloy, who will take up the position in late October.

Alison, who currently works for the Laura Fergusson Trust (Wellington), has more than 30 years of leadership experience, and has served as the chief executive of Site Safe New Zealand and Autism New Zealand Inc. Alison has deep experience of and commitment to the not-for-profit sector.

She is skilled in education service delivery, government relations and working with Māori and with the private sector.

ELPNZ Board Chair Karun Shenoy says the Board “is delighted that we have been able to make such a strong appointment as we plan and prepare for readiness, recovery and renewal”.


Find your Local Settlement Network

Astrid van Holten [email protected]

Ben Dunbar-Smith [email protected] Brendon Gardner

[email protected]

Philip Hastings [email protected]

Tony McNeill [email protected]

Faamata Laumalili (Pacific Skills) [email protected]

Local Settlement Networks bring together local settlement stakeholders to share information and best practice and to work together towards shared goals. If you want to find a local settlement network, would like to help set up a network yourself, or have other questions, contact a Regional Relationship Manager or the Pacific Skills Relationship Manager.

Gerard Martin (External Providers) [email protected]

Nelson Sheridan (National Manager) [email protected]

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