Kia ora, Talofa and Greetings

My name is Chris Mene and I am thankful to the many family, friends and colleagues who are supporting me in standing for the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) and the Shirley Papanui Community Board (SPCB). A big thanks to my wife Leanne and my two daughters for sharing me with our wider communities and for supporting me in standing. Thank you also to Maria Pasene and Deborah Callahan for nominating me in these local body elections.

I work as a Project Manager, Facilitator and Trainer. My recent work in health has involved smoking cessation, community pharmacies, youth health and stakeholder leadership for the Canterbury Clinical Network. I have previously served on the CDHB’s Community and Public Health Advisory Committee.

I am Deputy Chair of the Spreydon-Heathcote Community board and my responsibilities include serving as a District Licensing Authority panelist and Resource Management hearings panel member.

In this election I am standing as an independent candidate for both the CDHB and SPCB.

My health priorities are:

• Youth (15-24years),
• Pacific Peoples
• Refugee communities
• New Migrants communities

My community board priorities are:

• Positive Youth Development
• Community Engagement
• Community Development

I have more than 20 years experience in community relations and stakeholder engagement and I am a member of the International Association of Public Participation ( www.iap2.org.au )

I currently serve community boards and committees including Neighbourhood Support Canterbury, Stopping Violence Services, Wayne Francis Charitable Trust and CPIT Bachelor of Applied Science (with speciality).

I offer you diverse experiences and knowledge from government, business, community and philanthropic sectors. These include Health, Social Services, Education, Police, Justice and local government.

Thank you for considering me as a candidate for these two roles. I invite you to contact me and share your health and wellbeing priorities. The easiest ways to communicate with me are by:

Email: chris@menes.co.nz

Website: http://chrismene.ning.com

Twitter: chrismenenz

Mobile: 021 610 931

Top 5 Issues

1. Positive Youth Development
   
   It has been a privilege to have had involvement with a range of youth focused activities over the past 20 years. It has allowed me to experience the issues facing young people from a variety of perspectives and I am aware of the following areas of activity happening with a focus on 'Youth'.
   
   I have a noticed a coalescing of leadership from across education, social services, health, employment and housing over the past few years. This has manifested itself in at least three notable ways.
   
   The first is a document called 'Positive Youth Development Principles' which has been developed by the Youth Advisory Group of the Wayne Francis Charitable Trust. This document is currently being edited after more than a year in development and will be launched at the INVOLVE Conference in November ( www.involve.org.nz ).
   
   The second is a response to Youth Health care sparked by the closure of 198 Youth Health. This is currently being led by Partnership Health Canterbury with a steering group from across health, social and other youth services. I am encouraged that so many of our organisational and sector leaders are widening their frame of thinking to engage other sector leaders in the visioning, planning and implementation of services for youth. I consider this to be ‘Next Practice’ and, if elected, will encourage collaborative systems thinking like this.
   
   The third is a discussion document titled Thought Starter - Accord for Christchurch Youth and the intent behind this discussion document is to engage youth stakeholders in a dialogue building a consensus on a direction of travel for our city with respect to youth. You are welcome to read this document which can be found by going to this link http://chrismene.ning.com/profiles/blogs/social-initiative-gt-youth
   
   I want to thank Gillian Heald (former principal of Rangi Ruru and Unlimited Paenga Tawhiti), Trevor McIntyre (Principal CBHS), Jono Campbell (Te Ora Hou), John Harrington (National Youth Workers Collective & Canterbury Youth Workers Collective), Chris Jansen (University of Canterbury, Duane Major (24:7 Youth Work), Sally Mountfort (Wayne Francis Charitable Trust) and Jane Cartwright (Partnership Health Canterbury).
   
   Finally, I see value in distributive/decentralised decision making. I'm really keen to explore more effective and coherent engagement with young people in our communities. Our young people are empowered through early, ongoing and meaningful engagement.
   
   
2. Community Engagement
   
   I am a 'Process Advocate' for respectful and meaningful Community Engagement. As a professional Public Participation Practitioner and member of the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) I have committed to a Code of Ethics and below I have included this code. I encourage anyone with an interest in Public Participation to visit the IAP2 website on: http://iap2.affiniscape.com/
   
   As members of IAP2, we recognize the importance of a Code of Ethics, which guides the actions of those who advocate including all affected parties in public decision-making process. In order to fully discharge our duties as public participation practitioners, we define terms used explicitly throughout our Code of Ethics. We define stakeholders as any individual, group of individuals, organizations, or political entity with a stake in the outcome of a decision. We define the public as those stakeholders who are not part of the decision-making entity or entities. We define public participation as any process that involves the public in problem-solving or decision-making and that uses public input to make better decisions.
   
   This Code of Ethics is a set of principles, which guides us in our practice of enhancing the integrity of the public participation process. As practitioners, we hold ourselves accountable for these principles and strive to hold all participants to the same standards.
   
   PURPOSE. We support public participation as a process to make better decisions that incorporate the interests and concerns of all affected stakeholders and meet the needs of the decision-making body.
   
   ROLE OF PRACTITIONER. We will enhance the public's participation in the decision-making process and assist decision-makers in being responsive to the public's concerns and suggestions.
   
   TRUST. We will undertake and encourage actions that build trust and credibility for the process among all the participants.
   
   DEFINING THE PUBLIC'S ROLE. We will carefully consider and accurately portray the public's role in the decision-making process.
   
   OPENNESS. We will encourage the disclosure of all information relevant to the public's understanding and evaluation of a decision.
   
   ACCESS TO THE PROCESS. We will ensure that stakeholders have fair and equal access to the public participation process and the opportunity to influence decisions.
   
   RESPECT FOR COMMUNITIES. We will avoid strategies that risk polarizing community interests or that appear to "divide and conquer."
   
   ADVOCACY. We will advocate for the public participation process and will not advocate for interest, party, or project outcome.
   
   COMMITMENTS. We ensure that all commitments made to the public, including those by the decision-maker, are made in good faith.
   
   SUPPORT OF THE PRACTICE. We will mentor new practitioners in the field and educate decision-makers and the public about the value and use of public participation.
   
   
3. Community Development
   
   I am passionate about personal, family and neighbourhood development. These three areas are the building blocks for community development and these are the areas that I will focus resources if elected onto both the CDHB and SPCB.
   
   Through elected and appointed roles I have and currently work with a variety of groups building and nurturing community development around our city and region.
   
   My experience has shaped my opinion that it is through a sustained approach of developing and supporting decentralised and distributive local leadership that we will build resilience in our neighbourhoods and communities. At this time you don't need to look too far to see the importance of resilience in a crisis and recovery response.
   
   It is in the community organisations, residents groups and neighbourhood support groups where Councils and Community Board should invest significant and sustained resourcing.
4. Pacific Peoples Health
   
   I want to thank my friends and colleagues of Pacific heritage and others who have the health and wellbeing of Pacific peoples at heart. Over a period of 15 years of you have supported me to grow and learn about service, respect and leadership. It has been and will continue to be a privilege working with you. If elected I intend to be a voice for Pacific health on the CDHB.
   
   As a public health promoter and facilitator I am keenly aware of the burden of disease that continues to impact at much greater rates on some of our communities in Canterbury.
   
   Pacific People are one of these communities and I am committed to ensuring CDHB engagement and leadership with Pacific community and health leadership over the next three years.
   
   It is in the best interest of all Cantabrians that we support and empower people and families/whanau in higher health risk communities. This can be done effectively through taking increased responsibility for personal and family health; increasing access to primary health servces and other social support services.
   
   There is a growing base of emperical clinical evidence complementing the known anecdotal eividence that health and wellbeing services are most effective in a 'Pacific for Pacific' context.
   
   To my mind this puts the spotlight firmly on the importance of continued resourcing and development of Pacific Health and Wellbeing workforce development. There are already many great initiatives in place and I will work to enhance and increase the number opportunities available for developing this workforce of the future.
   
   I want to acknowledge Jane Cartwright (Partnership Health Canterbury); Dr Martin Seers, Vince Barry and Steve Lavery (Pegasus Health); Peter Retimanu and the Pacific Reference Group board members; and the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs in their ongoing support of Pacific Community Engagement
   
   
5. Refugee and New Migrant Priorities
   
   I want to thank Wayne Reid (Partnership Health Canterbury), Shirley Wright (Christchurch Resettlement Service) and others for sharing their knowledge of the current situation for these communities. I am aware that there is a great deal of diversity within these communities and I am mindful of the critical importance of effective engagement, communications and decision making processes.
   
   If elected onto the CDHB board I will ensure a programme of engagement and communications with these communities to ensure the decisions I make and support are done so with a robust understanding of community needs.
   
   The recent publication of Asian Health Aotearoa in 2006-2007 was commissioned by the Northern DHB Support Agency. Amongst other findings the report finds inequities in access to health services for Asian people compared to other services. It also disproves the myth that Asians are both healthy and wealthy.
   
   In Canterbury our health system needs to consider the disparities amongst our second largest population grouping. The report's conclusions are outlined below:
   
   1. Asian people in New Zealand remain more highly educated than other New Zealanders; but they have lower incomes and are more likely to live in more economically deprived areas than Europeans, which limits their options for making healthy lifestyle choices.
   
   2. The prevalence of obesity has significantly increased among Asian adults in New Zealand from 2002-03 to 2006-07. This is consistent with the lack of change between the two surveys in the levels of physical activity and daily serves of fruit and vegetables, which both remain below those of Europeans.
   
   3. Lifestyle acculturation is occurring among Asian New Zealanders, with adverse health patterns for alcohol drinking, tobacco smoking and obesity increasing with length of residence in New Zealand.
   
   4. South Asian people have increased prevalences of treated hypertension, high blood cholesterol and diabetes, compared with Europeans. Other chronic diseases - such as asthma, bronchitis, arthritis and back/neck disorders - are less common in Asian people than Europeans.
   
   5. Asian people are not accessing health services to the same degree as non-Asians. Generally, they are less likely to: have a primary health care provider; to have seen in the last 12 months a range of health professionals, including medical specialists, pharmacists, and social workers; and to have used a private or public hospital in the last 12 months. Further, Asian women are less likely to have mammography or cervical screening tests than European women.
   
   6. Given the continual rapid increase in the size of the Asian population living in New Zealand, there is an urgent need for Asian health data from national and regional surveys, in order to monitor the health status of Asian people in Aotearoa
   
   Each of these conclusions creates a platform for action and I think that these platforms need to be acknowledged and validated locally then resourced through the CDHB and other central and local government agencies.
   
   Christchurch Resettlement Services
   
   CRS provides free and confidential services to people from refugee and migrant backgrounds that come to live in Christchurch. The agency has been in existence for more than ten years and they have five distinct and complimentary service delivery areas.
   
   These are:
   • Bi-lingual Community Work
   • Social Work
   • Youth Work
   • Health Promotion
   • Living Well in Christchurch/ Children's Service
   
   My intent is to emphasise at a CDHB board level the necessary resourcing of providers like CRS who are delivering high levels of service to refugee and New Migrant communities.
   
   

Personal Profile

I grew up in Redwood and attended Redwood and St Josephs Primary Schools, then St Bedes College. My tertiary education has followed a path through education, sociology, psychology, management and governance.

My first two homes were in Shirley and my wife Leanne and I have now chosen Papanui to build our next home and raise our family.

It was a privilege to grow up in supportive schools and sporting communities like Papanui Toc-H Athletics club. My sporting highlights have been representing New Zealand in athletics and bobsleigh and competing in the discus at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

After 11 years serving in the NZ Police, my wife Leanne and I turned our attention to various enterprises including a fitness centre and consultancy business. We currently provide services to central and local government agencies, business and community sector organisations.