Reflections from Mike O'Brien

When I was first contacted about being part of the Peter McKenzie Project, I didn’t hesitate to accept because of the exciting opportunity to be part of a group with resources to progress some significant systemic work on one of our worst blights as a country, our ongoing consignment of so many tamariki and rangatahi to lives which deprive them of the resources and enjoyment which they should have as of right.  Everything I have seen since has reinforced for me how sensible that initial agreement to being part of the group was!!

My own activity over the years has incorporated a mixture of social services work on poverty and work on social security and related income policy issues. This has left me with a strong commitment to the possibilities and importance of government policy and programmes which can reduce poverty and its very harmful effects. The PMP project has strengthened that but much more significantly has highlighted for me the powerful strengths and impacts of localised, on the ground, involvement with groups in ways which both improve their lives and also build effectively towards creating the kinds of structural changes which will in time produce the structural and systemic changes needed to reduce poverty.

I have been privileged and lucky enough to work with and alongside a range of thoughtful, committed, creative people in these groups throughout the country as they develop and push ahead with their mahi. They have taught me a lot about the ways in which their daily work is effectively linked with a longer and broader strategic vision. Their commitment and capacity to give real meaning to that vision has been impressive, encouraging and inspiring. I am impatient for change that improves the lives of tamariki and rangatahi throughout Aotearoa. I want it to happen yesterday !! and I want future generations not to have to experience the deprivation and disadvantages so many children currently experience. The PMP Kaikōkiri have taught me an enormous amount about how to get there.

There has been another very interesting and important learning from these Kaikōkiri and from the engagement processes with them by my having the opportunity to be part of building and floating the PMP flotilla. That has come through the ways in which we have worked in partnerships that have been developed building genuine and real collaboration. We knew at the start when we first met as a Committee that we did not know in any more than a vague, general sense how we were going to meet the Project’s hopes and aspirations. Living and working with that uncertainty and trusting all those involved to be working towards the same goals has been a very powerful experience.

Working alongside the other Committee members and the staff, the shared vision and goals have steadily, developed into a fascinating, challenging and exciting piece of work in which Committee and Kaikōkiri have genuinely struggled to build a way of working which demonstrates and works towards practising a quite different approach to philanthropic work. It has been fascinating, exciting, at times demanding and challenging as we try to develop a genuinely collaborative and shared learning partnership between the Committee and the groups we work with.

The flotilla description that we developed is very apt here. There were numerous waka. We all shared the same destination, even if we were using different tools and travelled in different waka to get there. We weren’t at all sure about the route to the destination and we would need to work some of that out as we went. We had to develop an agreement that we were all in the same flotilla and we brought different gifts and strengths to the flotilla’s journey. To ensure that the voyage was successful, we had to build honest, trusting relationships with one another. Being allowed to be and able to be part of those processes was both exciting and challenging.

In traditional terms, we might have described what happened as some form of power sharing. But reflecting on the shared experiences and on the collective mahi, it was much more than that. It was fascinating and instructive to be part of the mahi involved in developing a flotilla which encouraged and constructively and proactively supported groups to work together. My own vision was greatly extended by being part of the processes of decision making and information sharing. There has been a level of shared learning and genuine partnership that we would never have dreamed of as the flotilla departed from shore. Being part of this has been a very encouraging and exciting experience.

An interesting and very creative aspect of this has been being able to work proactively with groups where there seemed potential to develop constructive ideas further. This meant that we weren’t simply approving or denying applications but were able to develop possible work further. This is and has been an important part of working in a positive and constructive partnership with groups and organisations. It has meant that I feel I could visit a group in a learning and collegial sense, not as a funder inspecting that resources are being properly used. This has built an openness which has been enjoyable to be part of.

One of the common experiences of philanthropy is the competition that is set up between groups as part of the decision-making process. This competition has been conspicuous by its absence with this project and this has enabled and supported us to develop the mahi proactively and in a collegial sense with growing clarity about the different parts and how they intersect, with shared understanding of the boundaries around the work in the small number of areas where those boundaries are needed. It has been exciting to see and be part of the development of the possibilities.

One of the other important learnings has been about taking risks. Often in philanthropic and social service work risk has meant worrying about what might go wrong. By contrast here we were able to approach risk as an opportunity to try something (thoughtfully and responsibly) knowing that it might not succeed. This freed us up to take initiatives and support work which in other circumstances would not have happened. Being able to use resources to positively and concretely allow groups to develop their proposals has been a very liberating and rewarding experience.