Jane Stevens

Jane Stevens: Manager,
Community Advisory Services

Ko Aoraki te mauka

Ko Takitimu te waka

Ko Waitaki te awa
Ko Tahu Potiki te takata
Ko Ruahikihiki te hapu
Ko Kai Tahu te iwi
Ko Otâkou taku marae
Ko Jane Stevens taku ingoa

Jane is manager of our community advisory services. She has worked in community development for the past 35 years. Before joining Community Waikato she worked as a Community Advisor in the Hamilton South and East communities. She has played key roles in the evolution of Ngaruawahia Community House, Melville Te Whare Kokonga Community House, and Hamilton East Waimarie Community House.

Jane moved to Hamilton from the Wairarapa where she was manager of the highly successful Wairarapa Polytechnic Community Skills Certificate programme, a pioneering programme run as a collaborative programme between the polytechnic and local Community Workers Association. She also played a key role in establishing and governing Southern Links, a capacity strengthening organisation working in the rural south Wairarapa community.

Before working with the polytechnic, Jane was employed as National Training Officer for the performing arts sector. Her main role was to establish an industry training organisation to provide opportunities for back-stage workers to undertake apprenticeships and ongoing professional development. She has also worked as National Coordinator of Te Roopu Rawakore o Aotearoa (the national unemployed and beneficiaries movement) and was instrumental in establishing the Wellington Unemployed Workers Union, which evolved into the Wellington Peoples Centre.

Jane has a wealth of experience working alongside local community groups and initiatives, developing strategies for positive change, advocacy, planning, resource and group development. She is a strong advocate for community input into decision-making and enjoys the challenge of taking a creative and lateral approach to her work.

Jane and her whanau have lived in Ngaruawahia for the past 14 years. She hails from Oteputi – Dunedin, but has spent most of her adult life in Wellington, the Wairarapa and now the Waikato. Jane has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Not-For-Profit Management with University of Waikato, specialising in the area of employment equity and conditions in the not-for-profit sector. She is currently involved in running a national pilot project exploring employment conditions, practices and relationships in the sector, strategies to improve the employment practices and increase recognition of the value of the work undertaken in the sector.