Reviving ngā kaupapa with Campus Co-Lab

installing larger external compost bins - 2020 and early 2021
Campus Ops & Facilities staff helped to install our two large black and green bins on the Pukeahu/Wellington campus, adding to one already existing composter. This means there are now three larger external bins on campus

• One under the northern end of Block 12
• One at Block 1 - fed by COCA Staff Kitchen and previously managed by Karen Adams (no longer at Massey)
• One at Entrance A

a network of collection points around campus - mid 2021
Fiona came up with a plan to put six smaller grey bins in different kitchenettes around campus. They were placed in:

• Block 1
• Block 9 Student Lounge
• Block 9 Campus Co-Lab Kitchen
• Block 10 Fashion Kitchen
• Block 12 Level C Kitchen

Awareness of these bins started out as word-of-mouth and some postings on MAWSA Social Media. Fiona initially took responsibility for emptying these smaller bins into the larger external bins, with the aim of looking at ways to get others on board. Keen members of the MAWSA Sustainability Committee offered to help with this. 

how can we help people understand how to use the compost bins? - mid 2021

• Info sheets, designed by Tallulah Farrar for their Zero Waste Zine, were pasted onto each of the small grey bins to help people understand what can and can't go into them.
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• Info for the external bins was also put up, including signs indicating which side of the bin is 'resting', and which needs to be 'fed' with compost. An info sheet is up on the Entrance A composter, which tells people what can and can't be put into the bins.
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how can we build momentum? - mid 2021.
Fiona came to Campus Co-Lab with hopes of bringing the composting project to the next level, and to explore the idea of a garden project. To help guide us, Fiona and Sam ran through the Concept Development and Assumptions sections of the Campus Co-Lab Facilitation Kit. This helped to outline the background of these projects, paint a picture of what we wanted to achieve with the composting and gardening projects. We found the main drivers behind these kaupapa, and the potential value for students were;

• Making sustainable activities accessible so that staff and students can gain knowledge and skills. Hopefully this increases their agency around sustainable activities
• Creating sustainability minded spaces and communities where people can connect. Opportunity to build relationships within Massey and with people outside of Massey.
• Create a sustainable, maybe even circular, system within Massey Pukeahu/Wellington campus - composting connecting to a garden, from which kai is fed shared back to the community.
• These projects will add to a vibrant campus culture

We articulated some key challenges for the projects and some assumptions that would need to be tested at some point.

• Getting people excited, engaged and building a community. 
• Finding ways to help see this mahi live on- are some specific people willing to do this? Can a club help with this? Can Massey provide more tangible support with staffing etc? Will the club, if its formed, be supported to keep these projects moving?
• Helping people understand the composting system- what's the best way of communicating and do people understand once it's in place?
• Finding a space to do gardening in, and maintaining it- can we use an existing space? Can people support us to get it up and running? Can we maintain it?
• Funding and resources- is there enough funding? What kind of limitations might there be around the funding?

We started thinking about these goals, challenges and assumptions including setting up a group of volunteers, a club, or another form of community, and started chatting with people about the potential for a garden space that students and staff can collaborate on. We decided the best way to start answering some of the questions about community was to have a kōrero / workshop about setting up a club and to get community input on the way forward.

It was not long after we started our discussions, and set up our plan for the kōrero when Covid-19 reared it's head again, sending us into higher Alert Levels once again. This was a bit of a speedbump; for the composting kaupapa as all of the smaller bins were taken away while the campus population reduced, and it became more difficult to connect with people from the Pukeahu campus community about the garden idea. We umm'd and ahh'd for a bit about whether to hit pause on everything.

It soon became clear that most people were not going to be able to return to Campus even in Level 3 and 2. However, we really wanted to keep the momentum we had, especially with the enthusiastic people who had expressed interest in supporting the kaupapa. We 'pivoted' to holding the kōrero online.

setting up the kōrero / workshops
The whole team, Fiona, Gen, Bonnie, Ruby, Mags and Sam worked together to tee up some key questions to pose during the workshops. We needed to narrow down some of the key questions from the list above that were most important in the initial stages, and the questions still needed to be really open as we wanted to hear as much as possible from the people who would attend.

We explored some facilitation tools and decided to make use of the Lightning Decision Jamboard (LDJ) approach and adapt it to fit the goal of our workshop. We also looked at online whiteboard and brainstorming tools and decided to go with Miro Boards. 

Then, we advertised through MAWSA Social Media, with people directly, and looked forward to holding the kōrero