Pacific Island Community Trust Bay of Plenty
Finalist
By providing pastoral care and wraparound health services to seasonal workers, Pacific Island Community Trust Bay of Plenty is supporting vulnerable migrants and creating improved economic outcomes for employers.
For the past 15 years, the Trust has provided health and wellbeing services to Pacifica families in Tauranga and the wider Bay of Plenty.
It works with families that need emergency or transitional housing and also supports Pacifica youth and their after-school activities.
Through its Labour Mobility Programme, the Trust offers pastoral care and accessible health and social wellbeing services to seasonal workers in the onshore seafood processing sector.
Trust Board Chair Bevan Rakoia says 98 Pacific Island workers have participated in the programme in Tauranga, Opotiki and Marlborough.
The Trust has supported workers through health emergencies, bereavements, and assisted with dental appointments. Additionally, it has facilitated engagement with the local community through cultural and faith-based activities, working bees at childcare centres, visits with senior students visiting the Pacific Islands, and Ministry for Pacific Peoples’ Pacific Language Series.
“Inclusion is an important factor to consider for the wellbeing of the worker for the short-term they are in New Zealand,” Bevan says.
Providing this pastoral care has a positive impact on the performance of the workers and creates work-ready talent for a primary sector that is facing a technical skill shortage.
Partnering with an accredited Pacifica community health and social service provider to take care of workers' health and social wellbeing needs leaves employers free to focus on production and work performance, he says.
This has economic advantages for the sector, while the seasonal workers benefit from extra income earned in New Zealand and upskilling that can be used to advance their families and communities in the Pacific Islands.
“Workers who have saved money have supported their families through buying land, renovating their homes, and purchasing capital goods to fund small enterprises. They have been able to travel throughout New Zealand during their days off and holiday time.”
Bevan hopes the success of the model demonstrates that private sector employers can enhance their economic outcomes by partnering with a community provider to address the welfare of seasonal workers.
“We hope that one day a programme like this can work for other ethnic groups and other sectors.”
