ActionStation: A Campaign of Hope

Independent, crowd-funded, community campaigning organisation, ActionStation, answered the Peter McKenzie Project’s call to crowdsource big ideas in response to the challenges presented to Aotearoa New Zealand in the wake of COVID-19.

ActionStation has partnered with The Workshop, Tokona Te Raki and Whakaaro Factory to develop a values- and evidence-based vision for a system centred on caring for the earth and one another. A narrative to nest that vision within will then be created, followed by the design and delivery of an impactful campaign.

Coming together as people with lived experience; Mātauranga Māori and systems change expertise; narratives for change, campaigning and storytelling expertise; the plan is to sketch out the pathways Aotearoa New Zealand must choose to walk together for a fair and flourishing future for all.

The Campaign of Hope will show New Zealanders that the solutions we need to build new systems are all around us, and that we can shape our future together. The goal is to generate widespread public support for transformative systems change through this campaign which will be designed to shift the dominant economic narrative away from individualism towards collective and whānau wellbeing.

While acknowledging the significant challenges being faced by many people at present, Laura O’Connell Rapira, Director of ActionStation, feels hopeful as well.

“The possibilities for us to collectively thrive are endless: there is creativity being unleashed, partnerships between people being ignited, and incredible energy and community care on display. This moment offers us an opportunity to change systems, so they are better for our children and their children's wellbeing,” she says.

ActionStation’s mission is “to tautoko (support) and whakamana (uplift) everyday New Zealanders to act together in powerful and coordinated ways to create what we cannot achieve on our own: a society, economy and democracy that serves all of us - everyday people and Papatūānuku, the planet we love.” It’s this mission that has gained support and momentum across the nation, with members crossing social and political divides.

“ActionStation is a deliberately broad tent of fair-minded people who want to make our tomorrows better than our today. It’s our shared values, plus a willingness to act, that makes someone an ‘ActionStation kind of person’. Not their age, income, postcode, ethnicity, gender or political affiliation. We are a vehicle for people to unite independent of the usual labels that divide us,” says Laura.

Laura is a collaborative changemaker and was recently a keynote speaker at Alternative Aotearoa, a one-day seminar to provide solutions for the environmental, social and economic transformation of Aotearoa. 

ActionStation is seeking to build on its solid record of achievements by building, deepening and fostering relationships and connections across the progressive movement to shift mental models and dominant narratives, and achieve transformative change.

“Over the long-term, we would like to build a future-focused movement of people and organisations that will take us far past the COVID-19 challenges and into the challenges we are yet to address. The way we will do that is by seeding, growing and nurturing a coalition of tāngata whenua, creatives, academics, students, union organisers, community leaders and entrepreneurs who work together for an Aotearoa without poverty or pollution, and with prosperity and dignity for everyone,” says Laura.