An impact report on Vibrant Safe Waitomo’s 2020/2021 Action Plan shows the strategy is making progress despite the disruptions and setbacks that came as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of the 40 actions in the plan, 26 or 65% were completed within the 2020/21 year. Seven actions were not delivered, and the remaining are either ongoing, or have been carried over to the 2021/2022 Plan.

Manager Community Development Clowdy Ngatai said this is a great achievement in what was a disruptive year for the district.

“The recently released report is a great indicator of the work that was able to be delivered in the contract year despite the significant obstacles facing our community,” she said.

“The Impact Report tells the story of the difference Vibrant Safe Waitomo (VSW) is making to those it is trying to help. It describes how VSW is fulfilling its purpose and working towards achieving change.

“It focuses on progress towards the long-term and big picture changes articulated in the VSW Strategy through a combination of data and trend analysis and storytelling.”

The report shows that since the VSW Strategy was developed in 2019, VSW has enabled a common understanding of the Waitomo District's key challenges, underpinned by local knowledge and data analysis.

“From this understanding, the VSW Regional Coalition, local service providers and community members have been able to work towards a shared vision for how to address these challenges,” said Clowdy.

“This existing framework has proven to be an essential tool in the local response and management of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began to impact the implementation of the VSW Strategy just a few months after its inception.

“The challenge for VSW going forward is to continue to proactively seek opportunities for collaboration, connect funders with service providers, and those working directly with the community to achieve the priorities of VSW.”

The work achieved to date in response to the VSW Strategy covers all people, ages, and ethnicities living, visiting, or passing through the Waitomo District.

A strong theme to this work has been intentionally seeking opportunities to add value to work that is already happening in neighbourhoods and communities, and doing more than business as usual.

This has manifested in making connections between service provides, funders, and local leaders to increase access to knowledge and funding and remove obstacles through collaboration.

This Impact Report uses the framework established by the VSW Strategy, assessing the impact of key actions within each of the four themes over the past 18 months using the Strategy’s impact measures as a guide.

Vibrant Safe Waitomo is a community-led collaboration that provides leadership and direction, with everyone working in partnership to create a safer community for all. The strategy is a road map to address community safety issues in the Waitomo District collectively.

The VSW Strategy works towards Vibrant Safe Waitomo’s vision to create safe and vibrant communities where people want to live and do business. 

Click here to view the impact report