NZSL Board meeting summary - 18 & 19 October 2019

Catherine Greenwood, deputy chair of the NZSL Board with a summary of the two day meeting held on 18 & 19 October 2019.

Round Six of the NZSL Fund was open recently.  A total of 17 applications were received and discussed by the Board.  The majority of applications, 12 in total, were recommended for funding to Minister Sepuloni.  The Board reviewed Round Six processes and have identified areas that will be changes to benefit people making applications.

Advance notice of Round Seven will be announced in February 2020 so that you have enough time to make an application. 

A number of other strategic projects were also discussed and approved to strengthen NZSL.

The Board are committed to making informed decisions.  This is achieved through receiving information from other experts.  At the recent meeting, Rachel McKee presented on Language Planning principles which was valuable for the Board.

The NZSL Strategy (2018-2023) provides the priorities to maintain and promote NZSL.  Additional work is needed to help the Board monitor and report on progress.  Targets and measures for each of the five priorities was considered by the for future reporting.

The Board currently does not have any appointed Māori Deaf members however received four nominations for two positions.  Each of the nominees were invited to attend the meeting on Saturday 19 October, participating in the Language Planning presentation and discussion around the targets and measures of the NZSL Strategy (2019-2023).  This provided them the opportunity to understand the work of the Board.

The Board had the opportunity to identify the achievements of the past year and opportunities for the year ahead, that will be shared with Minister Sepuloni as part of the Board's annual reporting.