Check-in from Blenheim, EDNZ conference
What a great day in Blenheim for the Economic Development NZ annual conference. With a theme of ‘inclusive growth’, this year’s kōrero focused on delivering economic growth that is distributed fairly across society, creating opportunities for all. Quite some challenge.
The top four takeaways for us from Thursday’s sessions included:
‘Think like a system, act like an entrepreneur’ was the pithy message from the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). We liked the RSA’s four domains of inclusive growth, including inclusive livelihoods, inclusive wealth, inclusive voice, and inclusive futures. But most of all, we liked how these four domains were anchored by ‘identity’. So true as we consider the differing needs and aspirations of communities across NZ.
New ways of thinking about intergenerational issues and community engagement are currently in play. Strategies such as the Te Tauihu Intergenerational Strategy provide a new way of approaching regional development. A longer-term focus allows for inclusiveness, extended forward planning, and connected decision-making. The community conversations held to inform the Te Tauihu Intergenerational Strategy have been a raging success and instrumental to informing the Strategy. A good model to replicate elsewhere in NZ?
Local government is in a prime position to champion inclusive growth. Former NZ Prime Minister and UNDP Administrator, Helen Clark, commented on the important role of local government in enabling communities to determine their own futures. In line with current thinking regarding localism, opportunities exist to review the performance of local government over the past 30 years and reconsider the split of functions between central and local government.
Regional analysis is great, but don’t forget the sub-regions. MBIE has developed a Regional Economic Activity Web Tool, useful for comparing high-level regional indicators between regions. Less useful for those of us operating at a sub-regional level, such as Wairarapa (within the Greater Wellington region). However, it’s a start.
Looking forward to a successful conference again next year. Although Blenheim, as a location, will be hard to beat!
Photograph courtesy of Colin McDiarmid and EDNZ