Visionwest Community Trust’s commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a core part of their mission to build hope and transformation. Embedding shared leadership principles into the heart of the organisation involved the adoption of a shared leadership model alongside a kaupapa Māori framework.
On Thursday 8 August 2024, a special event was held at Glen Eden Baptist Church to celebrate this hugely significant step in which Lisa Woolley and Matua Fred Astle embarked on their shared roles as Tumu Whakarae and Tumu respectively to lead the Visionwest Waka.
Event Overview
The Shared Leadership Event included local dignitaries and representatives from throughout our local community. In addition to the keynote speakers specifically mentioned below, those in attendance included Sir Michael Jones, Sir Bob Harvey, national and local body politicians, representatives from partnering organisations including Housing First, Te Whānau o Waipareira, and Community Waitakere, and representatives from many of our funders including Foundation North, Wilderforce Foundation, The Trusts, Sky City Community Trust, and Foodstuffs.
Many of these brought greetings and spoke during the mihi whakatau leading up to the event’s keynote speakers.
Throughout the morning, Lofi and Tyrone from our Waikato Home Healthcare branch, both trained classical vocalists, presented two songs.
Event Keynote Speakers
Keynote speakers at the event included:
- Church and Trust Board representatives:
- Gary Grut, Glen Eden Baptist Church (GEBC) Senior Pastor.
- Daniel Barthow, Visionwest Board Chairperson.
- Representatives of the Pasefika community:
- Maleina Jones, Visionwest Board member and respected advocate for Pasefika wellbeing and development throughout West Auckland.
- Judy Matai’a, Visionwest Director of Housing and Pasefika Development.
- Baptist Churches of Aotearoa New Zealand Representatives.
- Reti Ah-Voa, the Northern Baptist Association Regional Leader.
- Luke Kaa-Morgan, Te Pouarataki mō te Hikoi, for Carey Baptist College.
- Lisa Woolley and Fred Astle.
- Ray Totowera (Closing Prayer), member of Te Whāriki team, Baptist Churches of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Throughout the celebration, each speaker took time to honour Fred and Lisa and applaud the humility and courage shown in embarking on the journey that Visionwest has been on, one of Te Tiriti o Waitangi acknowledgement and the subsequent move to a focus on how to best support Māori our support services, through to the decision to establish shared leadership.
Cloaking of Fred and Lisa and prayer
To mark the significance of this occasion, a cloaking was conducted where Matua Fred and Lisa were cloaked in beautiful korowai that had been made specifically for them. To signify the joint leadership, Fred and Lisa were cloaked at the same time, assisted by Billie-Jean Peita, Faye Pouesi, Nettie Burton and Animoa Goold. Pastor Gary Grut then prayed.
Lisa Woolley and Fred Astle
Lisa, Visionwest Tumu Whakarae, and Matua Fred, Visionwest Tumu, both shared of the Visionwest kaupapa Māori and Te Tiriti journey from their point of view with an emphasis on the path that led us to this point of shared leadership.
Lisa Woolley began by thanking those who had attended this event and honoured those who have been a part of the story from the beginning, namely Nettie Burton, Jean Abraham (Nana Jean), Mark Woolley, and Doreen Dodd.
“This is a great day of celebration for us here as we move into the shared leadership at Visionwest. It’s a day of honouring you, Matua Fred, in this role of Tumu, Deputy Chief Executive of Visionwest Waka Whakakitenga.
“Visionwest’s mission statement is all about building hope together, and we want to thank all of you here today for the years that you’ve journeyed with us to build hope in our community. As I look out, I see many people who we’ve journeyed with over the years and, even more recently, during COVID and the 2023 storms.
“I started here 26 years ago, and over those many years I have wondered how we could best walk alongside Māori and Pasefika who came to Visionwest. Then, in 2007, a group of us went to the Baptist Community Ministries conference in Kirikiriroa Hamilton. I saw a local church where community ministries were run in a way that you could see Māori were very much a part of the leadership and the service to their community. Something stirred within me, and I realised, this is what it should look like. Māori and Pakeha working together for great outcomes for whānau and the community.
“Over the ensuing years, we formed our Te Tiriti Policy. The board made a significant investment into the area, which is now called Huia Mai. I shared my continuing thoughts with our trustees and asked them for permission to explore what shared leadership could look like at Visionwest in a way that honoured Te Tiriti.
“A key event associated with this was a wananga which the trustees, church elders and our Exec team participated in in March. This was a significant moment and a marker in the sand for moving forward to where we are today.
“Together, we have seen that there was an intention for Te Tiriti when it was signed by Māori and Pākehā. The covenantal relationship was formed so that Māori and Pākehā could all thrive and flourish in Aotearoa. Our intention is that Visionwest Waka Whakakitenga will honour Ti Tiriti today through the shared leadership way of working to bring hope, healing, restoration and transformation.
“Matua Fred, thank you for your deep insights, your encouragement, your passion to see Māori, Pasefika, and all, to thrive under your leadership. I look forward to our ongoing working and leading together with both board and our wonderful team here at Visionwest Waka Whakakitenga.”
Fred Astle, like Lisa, spoke of the shared leadership journey from his point of view while also looking to the future and his enthusiasm for being a part of it.
“It has been an absolute privilege to be alongside Lisa for these nine years at Visionwest. To be able to be innovative in the way that we care for whānau. To look at things a little bit different than what I used to do back in the day.
“And so, I want to speak to what it has meant for me to be in this waka. The role is an extension of what we already have in our relationship. Shared leadership is about our relationship and the only way shared leadership can work … the only way a double hulled waka can work … is that it is connected through aroha. There’s no other powerful force that we can call on other than aroha.
“It has been my privilege to not only have a seat at the Executive table, but to see the aroha created by our rangatira. This is something I would never take for granted. We stand on her [Lisa] shoulders. She brought us into her story.
“So, it’s been a long time of planning.. I look forward to the future. I’m looking forward to Monday to getting to work. To preparing for more care for our whānau and Pasefika whānau. To champion aged care. To champion care for those with disabilities. To continue to see our kaupapa Māori continuing to thrive. To see all our services thrive.”
Ray Totowera – Closing Prayer
“A scripture that has been shared with us this morning a few times is, ‘How pleasant and wonderful it is when brethren are brought together in unity.’
“So, Father, we thank you for this time. Just put a feather cloak around everything. All the kōrero, all that we have talked about. All our dreams and all our visions, and upon these two, and upon all of us, and bless this food that we are about to receive in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.”