Our foundation aspirations | Te pūtaketaka o ō mātau wawata
On this page
Whiria te muka takata, hei torokaha mau roa
Plait the threads of our people together, as a strong everlasting rope to bind us
Our vision
Developing a thriving regional labour market to transform the lives of all people living in Southland Murihiku, now and in the future
This first iteration of the Southland Murihiku Regional Workforce Plan (RWP) seeks to understand the changes and actions required to create a region where people thrive at work across all industries, sectors, ages, and stages. It is guided by the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, te ao Māori, and our preparation for climate change and decarbonisation. The RWP has the following foundation aspirations:
Aspiration 1
Southland Murihiku has strong collaboration across its leadership and community ensuring all labour market planning and investment leads to high-quality, equitable impacts for the region.
Southland Murihiku will plan strategically for its current and future skills and capability demands – removing skills shortages, preparing for the future of work, and ensuring that we are able to respond quickly when economic shocks occur.
We are working in a complex yet highly connected environment. The RSLG will work alongside Southland Murihiku leadership, our communities and our Just Transition and Murihiku Regeneration partners, to align long-term strategic planning where it has specific focus on our labour market. In the same vein, we are working alongside and feeding into relevant national strategies and bodies. This will include working alongside national Workforce Development Councils (WDCs) and Te Pūkenga, to understand and progress how actions and recommendations can be delivered in a vocational education context, in partnership with regional stakeholders (particularly the Southern Institute of Technology) and partners. Collectively this ensures everybody in the region has access to targeted advice and support that enables them to fully participate and thrive in the labour market. Having people in the region with the right skills, for the right jobs, is essential for sustained growth and to ensure that as a region, we can respond quickly when the labour market changes.
Aspiration 2
Southland Murihiku has the skills, flexibility, and resilience to meet current and future labour market demands.
Everyone has equal visibility of available career options and can easily access the support they need to enter and navigate the labour market throughout their working lives.
Through understanding the barriers which hold people back from entering and achieving success in tertiary education (including vocational education), employers, education providers and communities will then collaborate to remove these barriers and promote initiatives that help those in need.
Closer alignment of these stakeholders will ensure the qualifications and training programmes our rakatahi and wider workforce take part in, will provide them with the skills they need to thrive in Southland Murihiku’s labour market. To achieve this, the education sector will need to continue to build closer ties with businesses and be informed by industry needs. Rakatahi will then have full visibility of the career pathways (and learning options) available to them before they leave secondary school and they will also know, at each stage, where to access the support they need to take the next step.
Aspiration 3
Te ao Māori world view is embedded within everything we do, guiding our thinking to promote trust, understanding, empathy and compassion.
Te ao Māori world view is embedded within our approach to support greater investment in positive labour market outcomes for all, but particularly Māori, in Murihiku.
Built into our fabric, Te Tiriti o Waitangi is the foundation document that frames all considerations across our aspirations.
Culturally responsive individual learning styles will be supported through alternative, adaptive education models, to serve the needs of Southland Murihiku’s increasingly diverse communities. This will support a diverse, equitable and inclusive society, with a focus on mātauraka Māori expertise in education and careers advice that extends into the workplace. Southland Murihiku’s people and workplaces will be committed to their role in kaitiakitanga and environmental stewardship, for the sustained health of our whenua.
Aspiration 4
All employers in the region are considered great places to work. Southland Murihiku is an employee’s region of choice.
Southland Murihiku is renowned as a region where people enjoy quality work options and a fantastic lifestyle – making it easy to attract and retain a strong, engaged, and diverse workforce.
Southland Murihiku will focus on the positive outcomes of ensuring all workers are able to participate in decent work with ongoing development. The region will embrace initiatives and programmes where the safety and wellbeing of the workforce is valued and supported – in all workplaces.
Employers will seek to support intergenerational wellbeing and commit to providing a living wage (as a minimum). Progress will be made to create an environment where workplaces are bullying and discrimination free and initiatives that enable better work/life balance are encouraged. There will be continued drive to invest in and support our rakatahi, people with disabilities, Māori, Pacific peoples, ethnic communities, older workers, job seekers, refugees, recent migrants, and our rainbow community, so everyone is able to thrive in our labour market.