Justice is multi-dimensional. Intersectional justice considers the different socioeconomic and cultural dimensions that affect justice outcomes and includes concepts of fairness and equity. Fairness and equity are contextual/temporal and differ across different justice systems. These systems are reflective of wider socioeconomic and cultural conditions and often continue patterns of historical discrimination.

Inequities with the justice system are commonly classified as being either distributive, restorative or procedural injustices. However, inequities often exist within the intersection of one or more of these types and can include concerns of intergenerational, environmental or indigenous injustices. You can find out more about intersectional justice here.

At the CSCGT, we aim to address intersectional justice issues by having a diverse board of trustees that are representative of Ōtautahi Christchurch’s multicultural community. By ensuring that we have tangata whenua/rangatahi representatives, members of differing ages and ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds, we hope to provide a safe space for discussing systemic issues that affect everyone differently.

We acknowledge that intersectional justice outcomes require active participation from everyone. Addressing intersectional justice inequities is an ongoing, dynamic process of listening and speaking with as many members of the community as possible. Our board, volunteers and community supporters come from all walks of life. We engage with our community daily by discussing issues that effect the CSCGT and wider community, working together to seek solutions to some of our most pressing social issues. Through open and honest engagement with stakeholders, we hope to support intersectional justice outcomes that achieve long-term and sustainable outcomes for all.

Everyone at one stage in their life has encountered adversity in one form or another – whether that be through racism or gender-based discrimination. Like other NPOs, we are constantly working to remain productive, sustainable and viable in the face of increasing financial and political pressure. We make a conscious decision daily to embrace adversity by continuing to play to our strengths while viewing challenges as opportunities to evolve.

Aotearoa New Zealand is a multicultural country as is recognised in our founding document, Te Titiriti o Waitangi. At the CSCGT we celebrate our motu’s multiculturalism by working with rūnanga, tangata whenua and Te Ao Māori and migrant community groups. We have plant signs in te reo throughout the gardens and are currently working on multi-lingual signage explaining our Kaupapa and gardening principles to be displayed outside. We are currently seeking a trustee who identifies as tanga whenua or is a member of rūnanga ā-iwi and can speak Te Reo to join our board. You can apply here.

Respect for each other, the environment and our community is at the core of what we do here at the CSCGT.

We respect each other by:

• provide a safe, welcoming and diverse work environment where everyone’s contribution to our mahi is valued and appreciated

• Having a strict, no gossip policy

• Providing free workers’ lunches for volunteers

• Listening to and collaborating with each other, external stakeholders and other community groups

We respect our environment by:

• Using crop production methods centred around the core tenets of responsible resource use: reduce, reuse and recycle

• Acknowledging that many of the resources we use in our crop production are precious and scarce

• Supporting closed-loop recycling and a circular economy in-line with CCC’s Waste Management and Minimisation Plan

• Continuing to support neighbourhood sustainability with our Waste Minimisation Project

• Reusing resources generously donated to us by our community supporters in our crop production and value-added products

• Running schools’ programmes centred on composting, worm farming and recycling

• Using low-input and high-output permaculture gardening methods

• Sourcing second-hand and recovered materials when possible

We respect our community by:

• Being mindful of our location in a residential area

• Minimising disturbance and nuisance from our crop production activities

• Engaging with our neighbours on a regular basis

• Working with our neighbours and local community groups to address concerns and issues

We are constantly learning from each other and our mahi. Learning is not a stagnant process, with a definitive end goal but rather a feedback loop that is constantly influenced by new information and experiences. We support continuous learning by engaging with each other, other community groups and research.

As a non-profit organisation, we are constantly facing challenges that require courage and being proactive. We work with internal and external stakeholders to come up with creative solutions to address issues as they arise and aim to be proactive in our approach towards challenges within the community sector.

Diversity starts with leadership – that’s why we have a board made up of trustees from a range of socio-economic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Our volunteers come from all walks of life and bring with them the skills and experiences that can only come from having different lived experiences. We welcome diversity by being a safe space for people to gain meaningful experience in crop production and community education/outreach while gaining valuable horticultural skills.

We do not tolerate discrimination in any form whether that be age, ethnicity, race, religion, gender, sexuality or class-based discrimination.

Good governance should be open, transparent and accountable with internal and external stakeholders responsible to each other and the community.

We ensure good financial governance by:

• providing financial statements to trustees and funders showing grant/fundraising money allocation and operational/wage expenditure

• having our annual financial statement audited by an independent, third party

• creating and sharing Cash Flow forecasts so that we can estimate future expenditure and funding shortfalls

• having savings and investments that supports our long-term economic sustainability

• monthly accounts reconciliation in Xero

• all operational costs and incidental expenses are logged

We ensure good leadership governance by:

• having bi-monthly board of trustee meetings

• making decisions are made by majority board vote

• selecting board members that come from diverse socio-economic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds and are gender diverse

• internal and external meetings are recorded and emailed to trustees and other relevant stakeholders

• engaging with other community organisations, inside and outside our sector

• constant and continuous feedback process