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If you’ve been a regular reader of our irregular newsletters you may have noticed that our newsletters this year have focused on what we think of as ‘the hope to action pipeline’. Hope is the enabling principle that allows us to keep moving forward, even against all odds with the belief that change is possible.
In the words of the author, Rebecca Solnit,
Hope is a belief that what we do might matter, an understanding that the future is not yet written. It’s informed, astute open-mindedness about what can happen and what role we may play in it. Hope looks forward, but it draws its energies from the past, from knowing histories, including our victories, and their complexities and imperfections.
This year, hope has sparked action in so many beautiful and meaningful ways. The adversity and divisiveness of the Treaty Principles Bill has been met with kotahitanga and solidarity as Māori and Tangata Tiriti have stood together and demonstrated the spirit of partnership that is central to the spirit of Te Tiriti.
It has been awe-inspiring to see how rapidly and effectively people have organised and mobilised, and sprung into action this year. Ngā mihi to the many organisers behind the scenes who have worked tirelessly this year to keep us moving forward together.
Tēnā rawa atu koutou mō tō koutou kaha me tō koutou ngākau nui ki te mahi i ngā mahi mō te painga o te katoa.
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Don’t forget to complete your submission opposing the Treaty Principles Bill.
Submissions on the Treaty Principles Bill are open until the end of January 7, 2025. The Spinoff has a good overview of the select committee process here and a more detailed interview with the MP chairing the committee that will hear the bill here. A lot of people have put together helpful guides to making a submission:
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Te Tiriti is Us has put together a very easy to follow overview of the process with links to other submission guides and resources.
- Riana Te Ngahue has shared a really useful short guide to submitting in this Instagram post.
Key points:
✅ Do make a submission before January 7 ✅ Do write an original submission in your own words. Your submission can be short, but it will carry more weight if you share your own reasons for opposing the bill. Or, you can support someone else’s submission. ❌ Don’t swear or accuse people of being racist - submissions deemed to be defamatory or offensive will be rejected.
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Christmas gift guide
Gifts for Gaza Gaza has lost 94% of its water supply over the last year as the relentless attacks on civilians continue. The Tax Cuts for Gaza campaign has turned over $20,000 of tax cuts into safe drinking water for displaced families in Gaza this year, delivered via NZ-founded aid organisation, Relief Aid. You can help them continue this mahi by gifting safe drinking water this Christmas.
Wear your support for Te Tiriti on your sleeve with t-shirts or other kākahu from Together for Te Tiriti or Toitū Te Tiriti. Or, show your support ao noa, pō noa (all day, all night) with a Toitū Te Tiriti enamel pin from Maimoa Creative.
If you’ve got last minute gifts to buy, keep it local & indigenous
Innonative - hand-made products from indigenous owned and operated businesses from all around Aotearoa - based in Whangārei.
Konei is an online store supporting pakihi Māori and Pasifika owned by social enterprise Ngahere Communities. They also have a pop-up store in Manukau.
Moana Fresh is an Avondale-based marketplace and community space celebrating Pacific and Māori artists, creatives and authors indigenous to Moana Nui a Kiwa.
Ahu Boutique showcases the best of Māōri fashion and design with stores in Rotorua and Pōneke.
Summer reading
Te Tiriti o Waitangi short reads
Understanding Te Tiriti by Roimata Smail. At only 30 pages this is the perfect book for you if you want to get your head around the basics about Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi/The Treaty of Waitangi is a bilingual graphic novel by Toby Morris available at books stores throughout Aotearoa. Suitable for tamariki and adults, this book explains Te Tiriti/The Treaty in an accessible and engaging way.
Introducing Te Tiriti o Waitangi - a shorter, updated version of the classic text by Claudia Orange (first published in 1987), edited for BWB by Jared Davidson.
Introducing He Whakaputanga - Learn about He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni/The Declaration of Independence of New Zealand. This is a shorter version of the original illustrated publication by Vincent O’Malley, edited for BWB by Jared Davidson.
People, Power, Change: Organizing for Democratic Renewal
This book by legendary organiser Marshall Ganz has been an important read for us this year, and motivated our very first For Purpose book club event. This is a must-read (or listen) for anyone involved in advocacy campaigning and organising.
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Our partners
It’s been a really tough year for purpose-led organisations and communities, with many struggling to keep afloat due to funding cuts and declining donations. We’re proud to have worked with so many amazing people who have continued to work with passion, skill and dedication to make a difference for their communities, for Aotearoa and for the planet.
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Friday Lunch and Learn sessions
This year we introduced monthly Lunch and Learn sessions to create opportunities for connection and learning. We have loved seeing new and familiar faces at these events and it has been a great learning experience for us too. You can catch up on past events (and newsletters) on our website. Ngā mihi to everyone who participated in these sessions this year, especially our guest hosts, Chennoah Walford, Adam Knobel and Arama Mataira. We’ll be back with more Lunch and Learn sessions next year. If you have any ideas or suggestions for our 2025 programme we’d love to hear from you.
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Trainings
We also launched a range of flexible training options for groups, individuals and organisations who want to build their campaigning and movement building capability. We really do have something for everyone, so please reach out for a chat if you’d like to know how we can help you.
We’re developing an online version of Building an Advocacy Campaign Strategy which we ran in person earlier this year. If you’re interested in this online training, register your interest and we’ll let you know when you can learn more and sign up.
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FWD+ Organise
Last week we spent two days with 400 other community organisers and digital campaigners and FWD+Organise 2024 in Naarm Melbourne. Kristin and Zenaida led a workshop, ‘Storytelling with Community: Applying Co-Design Principles in Collaborative Storytelling for Advocacy Campaigns’, which sparked some great conversations. We learned so much, and came away with a renewed sense of hope and possibility.
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Here are some of our top FWD+Organise takeaways:
1) Engage with unlikely allies In order to create impact, it's really important to get beyond our base and work with people who we don't agree with 100% of the time, but that we share common values and interests with. However, we need to think about how we might take care in doing this. Unlikely allies could have the power to access and influence decisionmakers that could make all the difference in a campaign, but this might come with risks such as upsetting core supporters or being seen as compromising your integrity or mission. This is a challenge that we have often encountered, so we found this a fascinating conference conversation, and it’s one that we intend to explore further. We look forward to working on this and sharing our whakaaro with you next year.
2) Effective advocacy conversations start with your why We found that there are parallel movements in Australia and Aotearoa in the move to repress indigenous rights. Following the no vote in the Voice to Parliament referendum in Australia, Queensland’s newly elected Liberal National Party government has fulfilled an election promise to shut down the Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry and repeal its Path to Treaty Act.
A key message is that each of us needs to understand why the treaty is important in our lives, personally. That should be our starting place for conversation and advocacy. This reinforces a central theme of our October Lunch and Learn kōrero with Adam Knobel of Australian Progress, where Adam shared insights from his experiences in Australia with referendum campaigns. Adam’s advice is that the most effective approach when engaging people in conversations about the Treaty Principles Bill is that we must speak from the heart and share why we believe in upholding Te Tiriti:
“...share personal stories. You invite connection and try to build empathy. You smile when talking to people on their doorstep. You encourage questions and civil conversation”.
This article from The Conversation also explores the problems with referendums such as The Voice or the Treaty Principles Bill and highlights the shared struggles of New Zealand, Australia, and Canada in confronting their colonial histories and the ongoing challenges in achieving true equality and justice for Indigenous peoples.
3) Storytelling is a process, not just an output In advocacy work, the process of storytelling is as important as the output. Storytelling is relational, and as a practice it:
- deepens understanding of what is
- offers a vision of what can be
- supports sensemaking
- builds collective identity.
This is an idea we first shared in a Lunch and Learn session this year. We developed this concept further in our workshop at FWD+ Organising, and it resonated a lot with organisers and campaigners in the room. Inspired by the Power Cube framework, Emma Blomkamp’s Shades of Co-design and the Ladder of Participation, we developed a tool to help changemakers reflect on and evaluate how power is expressed in your campaign by looking at the relationship between storytelling and sensemaking. You can download this resource here: https://www.forpurpose.nz/powerandpositionality
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Thanks so much to everyone who joined us and to the Centre for Australian Progress for being brilliant hosts and organisers. We were proud to support FWD+Organise and to have the opportunity to host a workshop.
Looking forward to 2025
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Ngā mihi mahana o te wā! For Purpose
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