New Zealand Diversity Forum

The 2011 New Zealand Diversity Forum was held on 21-22 August at the Claudelands Events Centre in Hamilton. It was preceded by powhiri at Turangawaewae marae for representatives of diverse communities on Friday 19 August and for members of the Muslim community on Saturday 20 August.

You can access presentations and papers from the forum here

Photos from the forum are available here

The forum was jointly hosted by the New Zealand Human Rights Commission and the Hamilton Multicultural Services Trust, with support from the New Zealand National Commission for UNESCO, the Settling In Programme of the Ministry of Social Development, NZ Police, the Office of Ethnic Affairs and other partner organisations. A national youth diversity forum was held concurrently, with youth delegates both meeting separately and participating in the wider forum.

The forum is a unique national convention, now in its seventh year, at which people involved in race relations, human rights and cultural diversity come together to share ideas and good practice. The emphasis is on practical action. It is more of a marketplace than a traditional conference, with a diverse range of organisations hosting their own forums and events that together make up the programme. These range from professional meetings (for example for researchers, librarians, local government community staff, museum and gallery staff) to forums on topical issues and projects. The annual New Zealand Diversity Awards were presented by Kingi Tuheitia at a ceremony on the Monday evening.

The forum presented an opportunity for government, community and business organisations that are engaged in work relating to race relations and diversity in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions to engage in a national conversation with their counterparts from throughout the country. There was a particular emphasis in the programme on projects and initiatives that have been undertaken in these regions. At the same time, there were forums that tackled the race relations priorities identified in this year’s race relations report.

Programme (Diversity Forum 2011 Programme (A3) [PDF] or Diversity Forum 2011 Programme (A4 pages) [PDF])

Race Relations Priorities for 2011

NZ Diversity Action Programme

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