Analiese Enoka Robertson is a familiar face to the Adult and Community Education sector.

At the age of 19 she was employed and trained as a literacy tutor at He Waka Mātauranga, in Grey Lynn, Auckland. A year on, in 1996, the manager at the time resigned and Analiese was promoted.

She enjoyed the responsibility and challenge of leading a kaupapa Māori organisation founded on the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Volunteers at that time, she remembers, while mostly well intentioned, sometimes displayed negative stereotyping about Māori and Pacific people. Her response was quick and clear: “You don’t have to agree with the fact that community educators in this organisation must follow TeTiriti principles – you can always leave!”

Analiese was the Manager at He Waka Mātauranga for 11 years. During that time she trained and worked throughout Aotearoa as a national literacy trainer.

In 1999 she became a board member of ACEA (now ACE Aotearoa) and joined the committee for what was then Adult Learners’ Week.

During this time she also became involved with the local community education network and got to know people from ACE in schools, Volunteer Auckland and those working in a number of community houses and community centres which were delivering ACE programmes.

Working in community organisations, she says, sharpened her hustling skills: “In an environment that relies on philanthropic funding to support what government provides, you need to hustle. I remember being freshfaced and rolling in the meet with Stephen Tindall and the Warehouse, asking him to sponsor marketing material. We were successful!”

In 2004 Analiese was selected to be the NZ representative attending the Asia and South Pacific Association for Adult Education (ASPBAE) Leadership Programme in Bangladesh. Since then she has maintained her relationship with this organisation, and in 2018 organised the first ASPBAE Leadership Programme hosted by Aotearoa. It was attended by 35 participants from 11 countries throughout the region. Analiese continues to actively support ACE Aotearoa representatives to take up the opportunity to participate in ASPBAE training programmes.

In 2005 Analiese resigned from He Waka Mātauranga and went to the UK for her OE where she maintained her interest in charitable organisations, working for the Nursing and Midwifery Council in Oxford Street: “Living abroad and learning to survive and travel was the best education ever.”

On return, Analiese went to work for Literacy Aotearoa as a full time National Trainer, travelling again around the country to deliver the National Certificate in Adult Literacy Education.

In 2009 she attended the ACE Conference and was elected to the ACE Board again, this time becoming the Tangata Tiriti CoChair.

A year later, she was encouraged to apply for the Director’s role, and although not successful, a new position was created for her – Professional Development and Networks Manager. Stepping down from the Board, Analiese accepted and relocated from Auckland to Wellington for the job.

Opening the ACE Conference 11 years later now as the new Director, Analiese paid tribute to her predecessors Dr Jo Lake (2010 – 2016) and Colin McGregor (2016 – 2021).

Analiese’s pathway to the Director role has been well earned. She has demonstrated complete dedication to community learning, coupled with a determination to get change, as quickly as possible, for the sector. Her over-riding goal is to make sure that everything the sector does is in the best interests of the learner.

This is evident in the work she has led: contributing to development of ACE policy including the ACE Teaching Standards and ACE Learner Pathways. Her role in leading the annual Hui Fono, an exclusive event that was established for Māori and Pasifika working in and across ACE and tertiary education, has seen thousands benefit from this indigenous platform. On the side hustle, she has secured multi-year Government contracts with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade to deliver Pacific diplomacy training for NZ High Commissioners and their staff posted to the Pacific region. She has also secured philanthropic funding for Pacific capability building in Auckland that has reached over 130 community organisations.

She is currently a Board member of Community Research, Inspiring Communities, and Ako Aotearoa where she is also the Chair of their Pacific Peoples’ Caucus.

Analiese is intentional about building a pipeline for young people to see ACE as a valid career pathway through community service. She has opened doors for many young people to engage in ACE and other spaces – including facilitation, governance and internship roles.

In her spare time, she is a dancer with the only Cook Islands dance school in Wellington, Īnano Dance. And she is currently training with the first Wellington based group to compete in Auckland for Te Maeva Nui, NZ’s largest Cook Islands cultural festival.

Analiese is the first Pacific person, Pacific woman, of Cook Islands descent, to be appointed to the Director role. She is a daughter of Tumutevarovaro (the traditional name of Rarotonga) from the vaka of Te Au o Tonga and Puaikura, Tahiti, and Hawaii and a descendant of Ariki, her late grandfather who held the title of Anautoa, a rangatira whose responsibility was to take care of the wellbeing of the people. Her appointment is not just a personal achievement, Analiese says: “This is just as much a tribute to the many community champions who are – and keep doing the hard yards. It is significant because of the Pacific women pay equity issue that is being discussed right now. We need to see our Pacific women in leadership.”

When she started at ACE Aotearoa, Dr Jo Lake told her, “You are not a Pacific princess anymore.”

Those words hit hard, she said, and taught her some important lessons about strategic thinking.

“It’s not enough to be brown. You need to be intelligent, walk with integrity and humility, and excel at the job you do. When I walk into the decision-making rooms, as a community person, surrounded by Government officials, academics and leaders, I take my ancestors with me. As well as the many mentors who have groomed me, to navigate with power for the people."