Our Role, Functions and Approach

Our Role and Functions

Te Puni Kōkiri works within the public sector, and with Māori communities, to support Māori collective success at home and globally.

We do this in three main ways:

• Ārahitanga
  By providing strategic leadership advice and guidance to Ministers and the state sector on the Crown’s ongoing and evolving partnerships and relationships with iwi and Māori collectives.
  
• Whakamaherehere
  By providing evidence-based advice to Ministers and direction to the state sector on the barriers to, and opportunities for, achieving better outcomes for Māori and, especially, those most vulnerable.
  
• Auahatanga
  By developing innovative trials and investments to test policy and programme models to address barriers to, and achieve better outcomes in, Māori economic, cultural and social development.lopment.

How we carry this out

We are an agile and multi-disciplinary agency.

As a Policy Ministry we are committed to providing well-informed and strategic advice to address the needs and aspirations Māori hold: as hapū and iwi partners to the Treaty of Waitangi; as culturally distinct peoples; and as whānau members and citizens.

Through our national and regional network we are committed to facilitating effective relationships between Māori communities and stakeholders, and to assisting others to understand and respond to the needs and aspirations of iwi and Māori communities, and their whānau.

As an investment agency we are committed to smart and accountable investment to evidence new policy and programme approaches to support Māori-led development and better outcomes.

Our functions, and the mix of ways in which we apply them, are critical to how we deliver the best possible support to the Māori Affairs and Whānau Ora portfolios and priorities, and the diverse range of issues which sit across them.

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