Māori Achieve Enhanced Levels of Economic and Social Prosperity

Context

While Māori have realised gains across many indicators of social and economic wellbeing, achievement levels continue to be measured against, and lag behind, those of the wider New Zealand population, a clear signal that Māori social and economic potential has yet to be fully realised. One of the key challenges is to understand the aspirations and preferences of Māori, and to shape interventions that respond to those aspirations and preferences, recognising whānau as the core unit of Māori culture and society, and the change agent through which inter-generational gains can be achieved; and building on the inherent strengths within culture. From a Treaty perspective, active protection extends to Māori interests generally, not just Article 2 rights, and Māori are guaranteed protection not just as tangata whenua, but also as citizens of New Zealand. Achieving equality of citizenship often demands the availability of different policy and service approaches, as recognised by the Waitangi Tribunal in its articulation of the principle of options.

It is widely accepted that the labour market and business profile of Māori will make them disproportionately vulnerable to recessionary effects, and that those economic effects pose heightened risk to wider aspects of wellbeing. Therefore, our most immediate concern is to support Māori through the current economic downturn.

What we are seeking to achieve

The outcome we are pursuing, and which is contributed to across Government, is for Māori to achieve enhanced levels of economic and social prosperity.

Achievement of this outcome would be characterised by a state in which Māori realise an equitable quality of citizenship in accordance with their own aspirations, preferences and norms. Consistent with our establishment legislation, the particular focus areas for this outcome are health, employment, and whānau level indicators of economic wellbeing. Accordingly, we have ascribed outcome indicators to reflect:

• Improvement in Māori life expectancy;
• Increased levels of Māori employment;
• Increased levels of Māori home ownership; and
• Increased levels of Māori household income.

At this stage, we consider these indicators to be important and relevant, but not a comprehensive reflection of a state of success for this outcome. Particular challenges arise, as data collection is typically undertaken at the level of individual achievement. In the future we will explore options for more whānau oriented measures of wellbeing and prosperity, to better reflect the intent of this outcome.

Other areas of particular importance, including education and collective wealth, are addressed in other outcome areas.

What we are doing to contribute towards achieving this

In the more immediate term, our particular priority is to ensure that assistance to Māori supports and maintains their social and economic wellbeing through the economic downturn. Key areas of impact which are able to be demonstrated through our activities include:

• Ensuring that consideration of the impact on Māori and whānau wellbeing informs key decisions made by Government in the focus areas of this outcome;
• Bringing a focus to ensuring that Māori are increasingly aware of and accessing their entitlements and other government funded services; and,
• Ensuring an enhanced availability and quality of Māori provider delivered services.

The objective of key dimensions of our work, which are expected to result in these impacts, is to positively influence the quality of life and experiences of Māori and the cultural institutions (including whānau and other collectives) to which they belong.

A new development this year arises from reprioritisation of funding within our existing budget to establish an Integrated Whānau Assistance programme, which will see the placement of community based Whānau Advocates charged with working proactively with Māori families to assist them to access their existing entitlements, and to facilitate access to government services.

Other key areas of work include:

Advice on enhancing the quality of life and experiences of Māori

• Influencing the policy settings across the employment, housing and justice sectors;
• Leading advice across government on the opportunities and benefits of whānau as a unit of intervention for policy development and programme delivery;
• Developing an evidence base to support, and leading advice across government, on the efficacy of Māori designed, developed and delivered programmes to deliver sustainable outcomes to Māori people and their families; and
• Providing discrete reports on the quality of life and experiences of Māori.

Community level interventions and programme management, including:

• Brokering and facilitating relationships and opportunities for Māori;
• Supporting the transition of Māori youth into sustainable employment and education;
• Managing and monitoring all investments made through Māori Potential Funds that support whānau wellbeing;
• Evaluating a selection of Māori Potential Fund initiatives that support enhancing whānau wellbeing, in accordance with the agreed Evaluation Strategy and priorities; and,
• Management of specifically appropriated for programmes or projects, including the Iwi Housing Support programme and the newly established Integrated Whānau Assistance programme, which incorporates the Māori Wardens’ project.

How we will demonstrate progress towards achieving this

The diagram on page 21 summarises our overall performance framework for this outcome area. Importantly, it demonstrates the linkages between our activities in this area, the impact those activities can have on supporting and maintaining Māori wellbeing during the economic downturn, and thus contribute towards the broader outcome of achieving enhanced Māori economic and social prosperity.