Community Research is run by a governance group with two caucuses – Tangata Whenua and Tangata Tiriti – and a small team based in Wellington.
Governance group
Tangata Whenua caucus members are:
- Pania Coote: Co-chair
- Erena Kara
- Donna Cormack
- Helen Potter
Tangata Tiriti caucus members are:
- Garth Nowland-Foreman: Co-chair
- Sally Fenwick Ridley: Treasurer
- Natasha Muir
- Caroline (Ligi) Harris
Tangata Whenua caucus members
Co-Chair Pania Coote (nee Simeon), Ngai Tahu, Ngāti Kauwhata and Ngāti Porou
Pania Coote is of Ngai Tahu, Ngāti Kauwhata, Ngāti Porou descent, lives in Bluff and affiliates to Awarua Runanga. She has a Masters in Social Welfare from the University of Otago, Dunedin, specialising in research, management and counselling. Pania is the District Manager, Māori Health at Southern District Health Board. Her background in social work and community development underpins her work in both health and Māori specific areas. Pania’s role includes overseeing Māori Health and Māori Mental Health secondary care services across the Southland and Otago regions. She also works in collaboration with primary care, Māori Providers to reduce disparities and improve Māori health outcomes.
Erena Kara, Ngāpuhi
Erena Kara is the Operations Manager at Te Hau Ora O Kaikohe. Erena has a Masters in Social Sciences (Psychology) and has a strong interest in kaupapa Māori research, evaluation, and transformation. Erena has worked within the health sector for most of her career, working in both the government and not for profit sectors. Currently, she is involved in the evolution of the Whānau Ora programme as it relates to her rohe in Ngāpuhi. Erena continues to be involved in research, particularly within the area of best health outcomes for Maori. Erena is involved in the Kohanga Reo movement through her tamariki, is a member of the Maori Health Gains Council, Northland District Health Board, and is involved in iwi issues via her directorship on the Ngāpuhi Asset Holding Company. She is married with two tamariki.
Donna Cormack, Kāti Mamoe, Kai Tahu
Donna Cormack is Senior Research Fellow with Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora A Eru Pōmare (Eru Pōmare Māori Health Research Centre),University of Otago, Wellington; Division of Health Sciences. Donna has been involved in work on the collection and classification of ethnicity data in New Zealand, particularly as it relates to measuring and monitoring disparities. Most recently, Donna has been focused on work examining disparities in cancer outcomes and access to cancer services for Māori. She is involved in the Differential Colon Cancer Survival by Ethnicity in New Zealand project as well as Unequal Treatment: The Role of Health Services with Te Rōpū Rangahau Hauora a Eru Pōmare. She has been involved in work on the collection and classification of ethnicity data in Aotearoa/New Zealand, particularly as it relates to measuring and monitoring inequities. Recently, Donna has been focused on work examining the impacts of racism on Māori health and health inequities.
Helen Potter, Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāpuhi
Dr Helen Potter is a co-director of Tīaho Ltd, a recently formed kaupapa Māori research, evaluation, and policy development group. She brings to ESRA a background in kaupapa Māori research across a range of fields including education, adult learning, health, housing, and whānau and environmental wellbeing. Helen was a research manager and political advisor for first the Māori Party and later the Mana Movement in Parliament, and was also a senior researcher with Te Wānanga, the Māori research unit at the New Zealand Council for Educational Research, and a former kaituhono of Te Mana Akonga, the national Māori tertiary students’ association. She is an Advisory Board member of the journal Counterfutures: Left Thought and Practice Aotearoa, a trustee of the left think-tank Economic and Social Research Aotearoa, and an executive member of Waikato Ki Roto o Pōneke, the Tainui taurahere rōpū in Wellington. Helen is from Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāpuhi and lives at beautiful Hokio Beach in the Horowhenua.
Tangata Tiriti caucus members
Co-Chair Garth Nowland-Foreman
Christchurch-based, Garth is a director of LEaD Centre for Not for Profit Leadership, working across Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific. For 18 years he lectured part-time in the Unitec NZ Graduate Programme in Not for Profit Management. Garth has researched and written widely on these topics and especially on non-profit funding, outcomes and accountability, social policy and advocacy, and strategic philanthropy.
Garth has a number of voluntary roles and has served on the boards of the Australia and New Zealand Third Sector Research (ANZTSR), the Lottery Grants Board, New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services (NZCCSS), and the Christchurch Methodist Mission. He chaired the Committee for the Study of the New Zealand Non Profit Sector and was also the first SAN registered Social Auditor in Aotearoa New Zealand. Previously, he has worked in a Cabinet Minister’s office and was national director of the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) for six years. Garth has two adult sons, one of whom has a number of disabilities.
Treasurer Sally Fenwick Ridley, JP
Sally is originally from the North however has lived in the Waitetuna Valley in the Waikato for most of her life. She is the Training and Funding Manager for Community Waikato, a community sector capacity strengthening organisation. Her focus is on community funding, research and development, building capacity and disseminating information. She has a Masters in Social Sciences and a Post Graduate Diploma in Community Psychology with the University of Waikato and a Graduate Diploma in Not for Profit Management with Unitec. Sally is the Chair of MSS Waikato, (Male Support Services Waikato), Insight Endometriosis and WEFST (Waikato Ethnic Family Services Trust).
Natasha Muir
Natasha is a born and bred Wellingtonian. She is the Manager, Fundraising, Marketing and Communications at Age Concern New Zealand. Natasha has over 20 years experience within the philanthropic, marketing and communication environments and has worked in corporate, primary industry, tertiary, public and community and voluntary sectors. Natasha has a variety of volunteer roles, with board and trustee appointments. Currently on six month leave from the Community Research board – due to resume board duties at the end of 2017.
Caroline (Ligi) Harris
Caroline is the national Pasifika Engagement Advisor for the Industry Training Organisation (ITO) Service IQ. She works across multiple industries in the service sector to advance Pasifika success outcomes. She is also a member of the Māori and Pasifika forum group at the Industry Training Federation (ITF). Alongside her work, Caroline was recently appointed a member of the Democratic Advisory Pacific people to the Auckland Council, she is also trustee for COMET, a council controlled organisation that aims to advance education in the city by supporting and connecting education initiatives in the Auckland region.
Caroline has worked in education for over 20 years in various roles as teacher, educator, course developer, education advisor, programme manager and leader of community initiated programmes. Her creative talents lies in thinking creatively outside the box and initiating new and innovate programmes for diverse people groups.
Staff
Jan Hinde – Director
Jan comes from the North of England where she spent over 10 years involved in Community Arts Development before joining the Arts Council in Ireland as Head of Arts Participation. She arrived in New Zealand for a placement with Creative New Zealand and has since taken diverse roles with the community and voluntary sector. She is a passionate advocate of small NGO’s. Jan is a member of the Treaty Relations Group of Quakers Aotearoa, a massage therapist, and New Zealand’s only female Uilleann Piper.