Kia ora koutou e te whanau,

We’re pleased to confirm that our partnership with Sport NZ was renewed in July for the next 3 years through to 30 June 2020. Sport NZ will be investing across all NZRA’s strategic outcomes which helps us to strengthen our services to members. You can read our business plan here.

The team has been busy getting the 2017-18 programme rolling, and as we’ve nearly wrapped up our membership renewals we thought it would be a good time to let you know what we’ve got planned through to 30 June next year.

Get Connected

Our conference programme is a fantastic way to connect with colleagues across the industry, across the country. With 3 already delivered (AUSTSWIM in July, JAWS in August, and Outdoors Forum in September) our focus now turns to the NZRA Recreation Conference 8-10 November in New Plymouth, Cemeteries & Crematoria Conference 11-13 April in Christchurch, and Green Pavlova 2-4 May also in Christchurch.

Along with conferences there will be a range of ways on offer to connect including regional groups, webinars, online forums, and our 2 special interest groups Parks Agencies Managers Group and the NZ Cemeteries & Crematoria Collective.

Feedback through our member survey has provided us areas to focus on to improve our connection activities. In particular we will aim to develop future focussed experiences that achieve better learning outcomes for you.

Quality Recreation

The Quality Assurance programme is expanding in 2017-18 to provide you with more tools in the toolkit to manage and deliver quality recreation experiences. Existing services such as PoolSafe, Yardstick and the National Facilities Benchmarking Tool will be complemented with Quality Pools (for accommodation and education sector pools), Green Flag and Parks Categories & Specifications for parks and open spaces, and PlaySafe for play spaces. The toolkit for facilities and parks will be accessible through an overarching Quality Framework which will give all of us a measure for how we are tracking on the journey to meeting standards, good practice, and participant needs.

For outdoor recreation we will be ramping up our involvement in the SupportAdventure initiative and begin developing good practice guidelines for outdoor activities not covered by the Adventure Activity Regulations.

Advocating for Recreation

Our annual Recreation Manifesto for 2017-18 has arrived on the desks of Local and Central Government policy and decision makers, and this will provide focus to the issues we will seek to influence during the year. Feedback through our member survey shows we need to improve the visibility of our advocacy work. Keep an eye out for changes to the website that’ll give you clarity as to what NZRA’s position is on a range of issues and what we are doing in practice to ensure recreation is well considered in policy and decision making.

Insights & Information Sharing

We will soon be starting the development of 2 knowledge hubs. One will be a one-stop-shop for insights into engaging people and communities that are not participating highly in recreation, and the other will provide a deep understanding of what the ‘good’ in good practice looks like for the delivery of recreation places and spaces. The hubs will build over the next 3 years and we’ll make sure the information sharing is varied and accessible so all our members can benefit.

Into the Outdoors

We’re very excited to announce a new initiative that is aimed at getting people into the outdoors. $50k per annum of our investment from Sport NZ will be distributed to initiatives that are targeted at people who don’t normally participate in outdoor recreation. Details are nearly finalised and keep an eye out for a call for expressions of interest around mid-October.

A busy year ahead for NZRA! So if you’re not yet on board with your membership, make sure you get it sorted soon. And spread the word about NZRA through your networks. There’s a big wide recreation workforce out there. The stronger NZRA’s reach, the stronger the outcomes we can collectively achieve for recreation.

Nga mihi nui.

Andrew Leslie

Chief Executive

NZ Recreation Association