13 MAY 2019

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PREAMBLE

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Mitimiti on the Grid is a telecommunications infrastructure project that continues to provide opportunities to its small marae community in Aotearoa / New Zealand.

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This second paper in the Mitimiti on the Grid White Papers Series outlines the impetus for the project, the opportunity, the challenges, and the timely coincidences that made it possible to proceed. Read the first white paper here.

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IMPETUS FOR CHANGE

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Globally, governments grapple with stressed environments, climate change and massive population growth. The necessity to optimise the way that food is produced is a reality that is starting to displace primary sector economies. It is expected that soon regulatory measures will affect, for example, red meat consumption as efficiencies in the food chain shift to labs and urban farms (Wyman 2018).

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Although it will likely force farmers out of their traditional practices, New Zealand’s primary sector does not appear to have widely accepted this inevitability. For example, Beef + Lamb NZ hopes instead to position itself as world leaders in specialty premium meat. This may be naïve. Millennials[1] are acting on their social values and have new eating patterns, and the sheer size of this market is driving change (Beef + Lamb New Zealand 2018).

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There is an increasing risk for Māori landowners who are an integral part of the rural economy and ecosystem, and who have a significant proportion of land holdings in the primary sector[2] (Chapman Tripp 2017). The move to a higher technology-driven primary sector economy is inevitable, but the numbers of Māori in high-value technology fields is critically low. While recent reports and statistical information indicate that the numbers of Māori in Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) is rising, they are more likely to be in lower skilled occupations than non-Māori, and earning lower incomes on average[3].

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OPPORTUNITY OF MARAE AS ECONOMIC CENTRES

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Marae are long-standing community assets. They are never sold or repurposed, and come with a community that is committed to its inter-generational responsibility to maintain the ahi kaa – keeping the home fires burning. There are over 1,000 marae in the country.

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Marae are a logical focal point for digital enablement and are often the centre of the wider community’s well-being and cohesion. They are the obvious gathering places during disasters and emergencies as they can immediately cater for, and accommodate displaced groups of people who may be under stress. Micro-economies can potentially spring out of rural marae settings.

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In light of this, Mitimiti on the Grid was not simply an anomaly in the telecommunications landscape, but a step towards a much bigger goal. It aimed to improve the chances of a marae community participating in an increasingly digital and technology-dependent economy. The aim was to unleash long-term economic, cultural, and social impacts that could be scaled to other marae.

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WHAT A SUCCESSFUL PROJECT NEEDS

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Community programmes only work in those that already have a certain level of attachment and commitment to place and community (Ronson 2017). Particularly for rural marae, this is an inherent characteristic and strength.

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Strong leadership and commitment from local leaders are crucial (European Network for Rural Development 2017) as are Digital Champions – community leaders who feel responsible for the community’s future, are motivators, and are in possession of the skills and knowledge for moving the project forward such as grant-writing and tech-savviness (Ronson 2017).

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Success factors include a shared vision, community readiness, a focus on outcomes and relationships, community capacity-building, and long-term and adaptable funding arrangements (Social Policy Evaluation and Research Unit, Quigley and Watts 2015).

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Initiatives should be grounded in cultural concepts, cross-cultural engagement skills (if people not from that community are involved), and a reflection on the impact of colonisation (Social Policy Evaluation and Research Unit, Quigley and Watts 2015).

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ASSESSING THE CHALLENGES

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Prior to committing several organisations, people and resources to Mitimiti on the Grid, it was necessary to identify and assess the challenges. The project team wanted confidence that anything that could potentially prevent implementation or derail the project could be managed. The following sections outline key challenges that led to unique approaches.

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CHALLENGE 1 – MARAE REQUIREMENTS

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Community projects ideally demonstrate genuine engagement. The recipient community should be in a position to understand, contribute, and formulate the best possible outcomes for itself.

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Mitimiti on the Grid sought to facilitate early, strong and sustained engagement while ensuring that local leadership was supported. In this case, the project was initiated by a member of the marae and hapū[4] who had also worked in the technology sector and alongside government and several Māori groups for some years. Therefore, engagement was aided by existing relationships, the connection to the place, and trust.

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In the early weeks before the project’s initiation, information sharing with the Marae Trust sought to build a common understanding of what a telecommunications infrastructure, internet connectivity and mobile coverage might comprise, and what the impacts might be.

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While there was excitement about the opportunities and the potential for positive economic impact, there were also some justified fears. For example, given the very low-level of resourcing, the Marae Trust asked whether they might be compelled to accept low-quality or end-of-life, second-hand technical equipment that would result in poor performance and unexpected future expenses.

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However, an essential discussion related to the impact on tikanga – the customs and traditional values  – and how the juxtaposition of tikanga and technology was going to be tested. Ultimately, the Marae Trust wanted to understand how it would maintain its ability to uphold tikanga in a new technology-enabled environment.

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CHALLENGE 2 – LOCATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE

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The minimum technical requirement was access to the fibre. It would provide the backhaul for everything else – the localised mobile coverage device, fibre internet services, wifi and more. Without the fibre there would be no project.

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Also, the location presented several challenges including poor access to, and high costs for resources, skills and travel; frequent power outages and floods; and harsh coastal weather conditions. Therefore, the design and selection of equipment would be influenced by the need for a resilient and rugged solution.

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As part of the government’s Rural Broadband Initiative, telecommunications infrastructure company Chorus had recently laid fibre to the local school that ran past the marae, some 140 metres away. Mitimiti needed permission to connect to the RBI1 school fibre. If the company agreed, it would make Mitimiti a frontrunner site with a technical solution was going to be unique and untested.

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CHALLENGE 3 – FAST DECISIONS

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Most small marae trusts combine governance and operations together and the decision-making processes enable people to fully consider the options and implications – with past, present and future generations in mind. The style is consultative and inclusive, and doesn’t generally favour a rushed approach. It is not unusual for important decisions to be considered across a sequence of monthly meetings.

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The Marae Trust at Mātihetihe marae also operates in this manner. However, the project timeframe from the date that it gave its formal agreement to go ahead[5] to the go live date at the end of February 2015, was just three and a half months. In addition, New Zealand’s long summer, Christmas and New Year holiday season meant that for several weeks many key people would be on holiday.

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There was a strong incentive to make decisions and to act fast as the opportunities would unlikely come around twice. The project needed to respond quickly to limited-time offers for equipment and skills, and to take advantage of any contract work that was being scheduled in the area and that would bring much needed electricians, diggers, cherry pickers, fibre maintenance crews, etc.

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Therefore, the challenge for the Marae Trust was in understanding how it could make fast decisions in a sector that its members had little experience in, while maintaining its fundamental remit to protect the interests of its community.

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CHALLENGE 4 – MANAGING REMOTELY

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Māori cultural practices include a preference for kanohi-ki-te-kanohi (face to face) meetings particularly amongst older people who value the concept of sharing the hā – the air that we share and that connects us together when we are in the same space.

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However, there were multiple organisations, people and resources from all over the country to coordinate and manage. With the marae a five-hour drive north of Auckland and most of the tech team in full-time work either in Auckland or Wellington, frequent trips back and forth (and probably only on weekends) would present a considerable risk to the project’s success.

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The core tech team would need to design the solution, and provide equipment and expertise together, from wherever they were. Also, equipment needed to be delivered, checked, tested and prepared before being brought on site.