New lease of life for Pasifika Centre

The Pacific Island Education and Resource Centre (PIERC) is a private training establishment for Pasifika peoples. It has been in existence for almost 30 years, which makes it one of the longest-running Pacific PTEs in New Zealand. It is currently based in Otahuhu.

Pauline Winter is the managing director of Interpacific ­ the company that is providing executive management of PIERC. She is also a director of the Pacific Business Trust.

PIERC is undergoing a renewal and rebranding process under the enthusiastic guidance of Pauline Winter, a director of the Pacific Business Trust and a successful businesswoman in her own right. Her company Interpacific has been providing executive management of PIERC for the past 18 months.

"I was only supposed to be here for a short time but I fell in love with the place, and so I'm going to stay on a bit longer to bed down new frameworks, and a new structure," says Pauline.

"The organisation has had a bit of a struggle in recent years because it strayed away from its core competencies of providing stepping stones to further education in larger tertiary institutions, and also preparation skills for employment. My task has been to gear up for the future and get back to those core competencies."

Pauline says the centre has a real community feel, with young, old and sometimes whole families coming in to learn a range of skills, from language and computers to work skills.

"For 30 years PIERC has been a place of teaching, of resource and sometimes refuge for Pacific peoples," she says.

"We like to bring the older people in here; we bring them in for a coffee. They like to come in and share stories with the younger people and it gives the place a nice feel."

Pauline is guiding the centre through the transition phase that will see it renamed the Pasifika Education Centre (PEC).

The rebranding has meant establishing a new strategy and vision and eventually a move to new premises.

"We have been very motivated by the advent of the Tertiary Education Commission. It made sense for us to align ourselves with their strategy. They have a clear vision for the next five years and that is what we have also tried to do.

"We reaffirmed our vision of educational skills for all Pasifika peoples. Their success relies on places like this working to open young minds so that people get switched on to what they can achieve."

PEC offers foundation skills courses and introductory courses for teaching, computing and Pasifika languages and culture. They will extend these foundation steps to careers in nursing, policing, early childhood and social work.

"We recognise the importance of incorporating literacy and numeracy skills as a core component to all our programmes of study.

"We are focused on learning, getting good support and making good choices about study or work," says Pauline.

"The best things we can do for people here is develop good study habits and enable them to seek a learning pathway for themselves.

"I want to see us encouraging people to engage and talk, and be interested in the world.

"If we can give them the tools for self-navigation – even it if it is about being a good parent – then we are helping them contribute to themselves and New Zealand."

She also wants to see career development help available for Pasifika students.

"We want to work with Unitec, AUT, MIT and other tertiary organisations to help keep people in the education system. This will include having people come here to talk to students so they can ask about careers and courses in a safe way.

"Financial literacy is another way in which we can make a key contribution to their lives. I am very passionate about not adding to the level of our people's debt.

"There are situations where Pasifika peoples take on study and loans, they end up with no qualifications, but a lot more debt. This is something that needs to stop."

Another of the centre's goals is to create a resource centre for the community. The centre already offers a comprehensive and well-used resource library which is open to the community, but Pauline envisages an expanded service acting as a Pacific advisory centre.

"Pasifika people often rely on word-of-mouth information when they need advice," she says.

"I feel confident about the centre's future and the future of Pasifika people."

"I'd like to see us putting people in touch with people who can assist them."

PEC also operates a homework/study centre.

"We have whole generations studying here," says Pauline.

"They come here instead of the library because it is a family atmosphere with singing and noise–things they are used to.

"I feel really confident about the centre's future and about the future of Pasifika people in general. I really believe that this is our time now. Our energy is ready to be unleashed."

The new logo...

Pauline Winter says the new logo being used for the centre is based around the concept of the fale.

	The new PIERC logo.

"The island hut or the fale is common to all Pacific Islands. It is the home where individuals are raised in a nurturing environment and the starting block of a lifetime of learning and growing. It is where one feels ownership and a sense of belonging 'at home', where characters are pretty much determined and where leaders and followers are both raised with no discrimination. And where members have a role that changes with maturity.

"The fale is a living thing that evolves with the occupants. The fale's contents, size and stature goes through an endless journey of adjustments determined by the occupants' growth and experiences but all the while maintaining it's warmth and always welcoming you home!"

The logo

The fale concept is illustrated with a clean but strong icon that represents the rationale above. The colours between the pillars give life and the impression of activity and life.

The colours

Dark red
The colour of the ink extracted from bark which was the traditional way of recording history and information – communicating through the ages.

Light brown
The coconut tree, which is the most useful plant in the Pacific. Every part of the tree is used in the construction of the fale – from the root to the very tip of the leaves.

Green
Vitality, life and growth.

Black
Formality, authority and strength.