16 Apr Responding to a post Covid-19 future
BAF, like all of organisations, have had to adjust to doing business in a Covid-19 environment. However, as well as adjusting to what we face now we are also turning our attention to what we will be like after Covid-19 – what are we learning as we all work remotely about future work strategies and processes, what are we being challenged to re-assess and ultimately what does BAF need to be in the new future to make sure we continue to be relevant and address unmet need as they are now being experienced.
We have already adjusted some of our project activity to make sure that it remains as relevant as possible within our changed and changing communities. This has included some rapid changes like re-framing activities so they can happen online / remotely including our programmes supporting older people to prevent social isolation and our programmes supporting children and young people, but it has also involved deeper re-thinking of our projects to ensure they can pivot so that the core outcomes remain meaningful and can still be achieved.
This process of reviewing what we do will continue, but we have made some immediate changes re-shaping a number of our more prominent projects:
ICT Gateway – is responding to Covid-19 by supporting key Taranaki Not for Profit groups. The focus is on the IT challenges relating to communication and service delivery during Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. The ICT Gateway is focused on supporting key groups and essential services who are delivering to our most vulnerable communities. The support offered is free, due to funding from BAF and the TSB Community Trust. There are limitations to the resources available, so we are keen to prioritise those organisation supporting our most vulnerable people and communities.
The ICT Gateway has already supported a number of community organisations offering essential services with their ability to communicate and also access their data from home over the last four weeks.
If you are aware of a group that is providing essential services to vulnerable people in our community, who would benefit from IT support, please email their contact details to info@ictgateway.org.nz
PIVOT – the Pivot Award that we developed with Massey University made its inaugural award late in 2019 to Farm Next Door. The award recipients have been impacted by the escalation of Covid-19 around the globe, but we’re working with the team leading the project to adjust to this new reality and we believe the impact of Covid-19 reinforces the value in enabling more people to turn their own gardens into productive sites for home grown fruit and veges. Farm Next Door co-ordinator Carl Freeman agreed that the outcomes of the project from Taranaki would encourage and enable more urban farming in the region and would create a growing supply of local and sustainable produce. This level of community sustainability will help communities remain resilient in times of crisis.
Te Hau Maiangi – working with our partner, Access Radio Taranaki, we have identified that the sharing of local voices of experience has become an even more powerful and necessary tool that will help our communities adjust as they emerge back into a Covid-19 impacted society. The voices we are seeking out, recording and sharing are helping inspire and equip people and communities to become more resilient, more sustainable and better able to thrive in the future. Despite our own funding difficulties we are committed to expanding this project so that we have as much topical content as possible and that it is as widely available as possible.
Social Enterprise – Manifold Co-Working, our partner in the Taranaki social enterprise hub, Get Social, has naturally been affected by Covid-19 and is temporarily closed, but we have been continuing to work with them to further develop what we can offer together to support start-up and scaling social enterprises. We believe social enterprise will be an important part of the economic recovery in our region as we look for ways to stimulate more diverse and sustainable business sectors. We are developing a one day boot camp style incubator programme that can help accelerate the growth of social enterprises. We will be working with Venture Taranaki to find the best way to utilise this within the wider economic recovery planning.