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Friday 22 March 2024
Funding helps trust Get Sorted
Farmers more positive
Golden Bay Workcentre Trust general manager, Cait Tomlinson, left, and Get Sorted programme co-ordinator, Derryn Culverwell welcome youth to the new learning support programme. Photo: Ronnie Short.
According to a recent survey, New Zealand farmers are feeling more positive about the outlook for their businesses. Federated Farmers’ (FF) latest Farm Confidence Survey shows that rural confidence has improved since last year’s low. But concerns remain over high interest rates, high inflation, low commodity prices and “excessive red tape”, all of which are negatively impacting the bottom line. "It’s good to see the first improvement in farmer confidence for quite some time now," says Kotinga farmer and FF national president Wayne Langford, before adding a note of caution. "I want to be clear that it’s only a slight improvement and it’s coming off a very low base..." Wayne says most farmers are still making a loss, but optimism about the future is emerging. "Where we are seeing a shift is in the number of farmers who expect things will improve in the next 12 months." Compared to last July, the latest survey shows more farmers expect their production and spending to increase, and fewer farmers expect their debt to increase, in the 12 months ahead. Driving positive sentiment are a range of factors, including cooling inflation, stabilising interest rates and commodity prices, plus the new Government’s plans to repeal swathes of regulation – something Wayne sees as crucial for the sector. "It's all about cutting red tape, making compliance on-farm easier, and getting our primary sector humming again." The Government’s recent suspension of Significant Natural Areas (SNA) rules is an example of its regulatory roll back and is welcomed by farmers, who viewed them as impractical and liable to produce perverse outcomes. "Farmers opposed these rules because they infringed on our property rights and added endless layers of unnecessary complexity, compliance and cost – for very little environmental gain," says FF biodiversity spokesperson Mark Hooper. While regulation and compliance costs, including the Emissions Trading Scheme, are identified by the survey as significant concerns, the cost of servicing debt is paramount and has prompted FF to call for an independent inquiry into rural banking. "Farmers need to know why interest rates for rural lending have gone up so much more than for residential…," says Wayne, adding that the sector is far from being out of the woods. The full survey report is available at: fedfarm.org.nz/FarmConfidence.
RONNIE SHORT
Golden Bay Workcentre Trust (GBWCT) has secured further funding to support young people aged 12-21 in a new initiative the trust is calling Get Sorted. As an ākonga (student) programme, the aim is to support youth who are struggling with mainstream education. For the past three years, Ministry of Youth Development funding enabled the Workcentre to provide educational support aimed at those who were “at risk” or not attending education. Initially the funding was a two-year contract beginning in 2021 but was extended to include 2023. Cait Tomlinson, general manager of GBWCT, said, “Then they wanted people to reapply, so we applied... and we were successful in getting another two years funding, to the end of 2025.” In a recent press release, West Coast-Tasman MP Maureen Pugh stated, “I’m pleased to see West-Coast Tasman will benefit from this announcement… This programme engages ākonga… within the Golden Bay area who experience alienation from mainstream education to support them on a successful future pathway. Rural isolation disadvantages many young people with limited access to opportunities outside of school and who
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have no access to public transport beyond the buses to school. “The programme includes a wraparound service to each ākonga consisting of transport support, 1:1 mentoring and study support, and after-school programmes during school terms. Practical activities will be provided to enrich their wellbeing and provide life skills, such as cooking, nutrition and fitness, tools for managing anxiety and stress, hygiene, health and mental health. Other activities will focus on pre-employment skills and tools, field trips, access to counsellors, coaches and life skills practitioners, and referrals to other support services. The programme will be available 40 weeks per year with ākonga participating approximately 3-4 hours per week.” Get Sorted offers exactly what the name suggests. Services offered by the Workcentre include all the above plus NCEA credit recovery; pathway navigation and job seeking services; driver’s license support; and access to free counselling. Ultimately GBWCT aims to help students identify their goals by offering whatever support is needed. Two current staff members will run the programme, Derryn Culverwell as programme coordinator and Tom Lake as pathway navigator.
As Cait explained, “We started working with Tom last year because Linda Tame [past principal of Golden Bay High School] approached us about an opportunity to employ someone to work with youth, because they had some money for a role called pathway navigator. And that was for young people who were looking at leaving school without a plan... So, Tom worked with us for a year. It was really successful, really good collaboration with the high school. But there was no more money this year for that to continue, so we decided to fund it using the ākonga funding.” Tom liaises with trainers, mentors, and potential employers. “We provide individualised support for all our youth,” said Cait. Derryn supports Te Kura (Correspondence) learners, runs the after-school workshops, and takes students on field trips to gain experience outside the classroom. A f t e r - s c h o o l c o u r s e s s u i t a b l e fo r 12–15-year-olds include bushcraft, circus craft, crochet, and coding workshops, from 3.30pm5.30pm, one afternoon a week for 10 weeks. Get Sorted started from 1 January this year and currently has 15 participants. “Hopefully we will just keep increasing those numbers,” said Cait. For more information, see notice on page 9 and/or email admin@gbwct.org.nz.
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