Health & Active Transport Alliance formed
CAN and Living Steets Aotearoa have formed an alliance with several health NGOs: Obesity Action Coalition (OAC), the National Heart Foundation (NHF) and the Cancer Society of NZ (CSNZ). Contact is also being maintained with Diabetes NZ. Both NHF and CSNZ support walking and cycling for their health benefits.
This alliance will look to join forces where appropriate to lobby for increased investment for cycling and walking at a national level. Some excellent co-operation has already been happening: For example, the Cancer Society joined the Getacross team in their lobbying over cyclist and pedestrian access to the Auckland Harbour bridge.
From CAN's perspective, the new dimension in this initiative is the agreement between CAN/Living Streets and the health NGOs to communicate and work together.
Each organisation will continue to make individual submissions, but the alliance will allow us to be sure we are giving the same message to the agencies involved.
The aim of this alliance is to ensure that cycling is not seen as just a transport issue but also as one solution to some significant health problems. Each member of the alliance can benefit from the added weight of support from other members.
A working group has been formed with representatives from CAN, LSA, OAC, NHF and CSNZ.
Any enquiries on this alliance and how you can contribute to this, please get in touch with Sridhar Ekambaram.