Employment initiatives by Ellesmere Sustainable Agriculture through its flagship Project Tinaku is creating career pathways for Cantabrians.
Project Tinaku was set up to create jobs, restore indigenous biodiversity, improve the environment and water quality and support Ellesmere farmers in achieving this goal.
The project is funded by the Ministry of Primary Industries and its Jobs for Nature programme, and has so far created over 20 full-time and part-time jobs in the region.
Some of the staff are cutting their teeth on their first job while others are using Project Tinaku as a stepping stone to learn new skills or make a career change.
Reuben Hunt said it had been a life-changing opportunity working for Project Tinaku. It recently lead him to a new role as senior project manager with Environment Canterbury.
“I’ve been planting a lot of native species, which are tailored for the right environments, and look after the maintenance as well once they are planted,” Hunt said.
Hunt and colleagues on the project had also been setting up trap lines to monitor and kill pests, while replanting natives destroyed by the pests.
“The work with Project Tinaku has been a great opportunity and really has been that stepping stone from my conservation work into my new permanent role.”
“There has been training provided both on the job and actual certification training. ESAI really looked after me and made the step from where I was, to where I was going pretty seamless.”
Project lead David Hewson said he was sad to see Reuben go.
“But his work with Tinaku created a pathway for him to a more senior role at ECan, which is exactly what the programme is all about,” Hewson said.
