Thanks to the great work by Play Lead at Sport NZ, Scott MacKenzie, former chair of IPA Aotearoa NZ (2013- MARCH 2015) and others, PLAY is now recognised in Sport NZ’s strategy as being one of the 3 pillars of a healthy active Aotearoa, alongside Active Recreation and Competitive Sport. Two weeks ago, Grant Robertson gave more detail about the first major release of funding from the $265 million Sport Recovery Package announced at Budget 2020. 

This funding is available for the Play/ Active Recreation/Sport sector over the next 4 years to help all Aotearoa NZers to get back on track, healthy and active, post-Covid-19. Recreation Aotearoa have put out an extremely informative webinar regarding this new funding, called the Sport Recovery Fund. Here is a link to the webinar,: https://vimeo.com/440173367

As part of this funding release, the second round of the Community Resilience Fund is open today (August 3, 2020) for applications. This will be administered through New Zealand’s 14 regional sports trusts due to the strength of their networks into their local sport and recreation communities. Eligible organisations can apply for a maximum of $25,000 towards their fixed and operational costs over the coming months. Applications close on September 6, 2020.

The criteria has been loosened since the previous round of Community Resilience Fund was allocated, with organisations no longer required to be affiliated to Sport NZ national partners in order to be eligible. Instead, Sport NZ have put membership of either IPA Aotearoa NZ or Recreation Aotearoa as one of their criteria for funding and defined play as follows: 

“Play

To be eligible as a provider of physical activity opportunities through play, organisations must:

• have a primary purpose of supporting active play for tamariki aged 5-11 years, and
• be a financial member of either the International Play Association Aotearoa New Zealand or Recreation Aotearoa.

Play must be intrinsically motivated, freely chosen by tamariki, for no predetermined outcomes, and with limited or no adult-led involvement. Our focus for play is an opportunity that happens outside curriculum – any delivery that is aligned to play-based learning (curriculum) is outside this scope.”   

It is FANTASTIC that our government is valuing play enough to invest in it! We need to spread the word to all our contacts that funding is available for PLAY, particularly if they can show that they are helping to fill the gaps in Play provision for our tamariki and rangatahi, which Sport NZS have identified as being in 4 particular areas, namely 

• girls and young women, 
• Māori, 
• those with disabilities, 
• those in areas of deprivation. 

We would love to hear from any groups that are offering play to our tamariki and rangatahi. Please spread the word through your networks, and reach out to us, if you have any more questions. We would love to know about YOU, and to support you on this exciting playful journey in any way that we can. 

IPA Aotearoa NZ