More than 330 people now have an oversight of how emergency welfare supports and connects with Gisborne and East Coast communities, thanks to the efforts of Tairāwhiti Emergency Management Office group welfare manager Dallas Haynes.
It has been a key focus for Haynes during the past year and often required spending weekends and evenings training people in the community civil defence teams and building essential relationships to develop a system that ensures people don’t fall through the cracks.
Haynes said in a statement that things had changed since Cyclone Gabrielle.
“Our welfare response is now far more tailored and structured with a focus on how we identify and prioritise families or individuals who need help.
“The people who have trained now have a good grasp of what welfare means in the Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) context and have gained skills in undertaking essential needs assessments that make the system far more connected and responsive to needs.
“We want to reduce the risk of duplication so that those who need assistance get the right help.
“When thousands of people are impacted by an emergency event we need to have a slick system that can prioritise support as some whānau will need help more than others.
“The partnership between TEMO [Tairāwhiti Emergency Management Office] and the community is a key component.
‘It is the community who provide the boots on the ground. They know who is in their community and who is at risk or vulnerable.
“Engagement with our communities is vital and we have to partner with them and grow trust.”
When Haynes started in her role two years ago there was a welfare system in place, but she quickly saw it needed a switch-up.
“The agencies that were mandated in the national plan to provide welfare services didn’t understand what their function was,” she said.
TEMO is responsible for three of the nine welfare functions – household goods and services, needs assessment and emergency accommodation.
The rest sit with government agencies.
Haynes also chairs the Welfare Co-ordination Group, which is made up of agencies and providers who co-ordinate and deliver welfare support during times of emergency.
“I am very much a system and process-orientated person, so I want a framework that everyone can understand and work from,” she said.
Training sessions are conducted at the TEMO Emergency Co-ordination System and out in the community.
Haynes has been to communities throughout the region and more visits are planned.
“We want people to open doors to us, but it has to be a two-way thing. We are not just here to build relationships, but to also maintain them.
“It is not good enough to only have a number in your phone. You have to engage.”
New Zealand has 16 CDEM groups, but Tairāwhiti’s is the only one delivering tailored welfare training to connect communities into the welfare system.
“Our job is to develop and enhance what our communities have been doing for years, as well as getting new community groups trained and connected.
“The targeted training with our civil defence groups, whether they are in remote areas or built-up populations, is a game-changer.
“What we see now is a system that is understood, responsive and supportive,” Haynes said.
“We all need one another and no one group or entity can do this stuff on their own.”