Governance and Leadership workshops prove to be popular with the Deaf Community

Auckland Deaf Society received $21,000 from the NZSL Board in the second round of the NZSL Fund for its 'Governance and Leadership Training' project, which aimed to develop a governance, leadership and practical project management programme preparing Deaf participants for leadership roles in the Deaf community.

Three Governance and Leadership workshops were delivered to over 60 Deaf community members of different committees and sports clubs. A wide range of committee members in attendance were from Auckland Deaf Society, ADS Foundation Trust, Potters Park Events Centre, Wellington and Canterbury Deaf Societies, New Zealand Deaf Rugby, Deaf Sports New Zealand, Deaf Short Film Festival committee members, Auckland Parents of Deaf Children, Sign Language Interpreting Association of New Zealand, and Deaf Action New Zealand.

Auckland Deaf Society and Connect Interpreting worked in collaboration with Threshold Management to deliver the workshops. Multimedia resources were produced with NZSL interpretation. In the future, this resource will be more fully integrated with course delivery and will be made available for the Deaf community to use.

There is a need for ongoing training and mentoring for those in governance roles. Governance training also prepares those who may be considering a future position on a committee or in a leadership role.