Subscribe via RSS
Browse by Date
NDRF News
- Kenya: Change of Land Use Threatens Food Output
- Urgent Call For United Action In The Sahel Region Of West Africa
- Pakistan: UN and Government request additional funding for post-flood recover
- Pakistan delayed international response to floods, report says
- Immediate action needed to prevent Sahel famine, says WFP
New base for Christian World Service...
25 January 2012 -- Christian World Service has leased a modern new national office in central Christchurch.
The new office at 7 Halkett Street should mean an end to over a year of constant earthquake driven change to the working environment.
As the only Christchurch based international aid and development agency CWS has been directly impacted by the quake cycle that began in September 2010.
“It's been like a master class in resilience, adaptability and staying operational without lots of the tools you take for granted most of the time,'' says CWS national director , Pauline McKay.
Starting with the September 2010 magnitude 7 quake CWS had lost access to their former Manchester Street offices many times, with the February central city quake making the building off limits ever since.
Staff had been able to get in several times for some retrieval of office items but other than that the former national office remained in the heart of the red zone.
A limited office space had been obtained for some administrative staff and meetings at the Christchurch North Methodist Church complex in Papanui.
An online portal system had been set up to replace many normal office functions and staff had got used to meeting and working in clusters on planning and projects.
This hybrid system had managed to work well especially when it was considered that many files and archives were out of reach for the forseeable future.
“Like many of the Christchurch stories ours has been a quiet one of just getting on with it in what to outsiders often seem like impossible circumstances,'' said Pauline McKay.
It had been noted that although things worked well there was an inevitable slippage in day to day shared awareness of what was happening.
“We have pushed the boundaries a lot in terms of running a virtual office but for areas like data processing and accounting you have to have stability and certainty.
“The new office at Halkett Street will provide this and a way for us to strengthen our new operational style which effectively means doing more with less in what is still a very demanding environment,”she said.
Christian World Service will take up the new office lease in February, starting what everyone hopes is a more stable chapter in their 66 year history.
