This report, published by Te Puni Kōkiri, is a pivotal work that explores the success factors of iwi and Māori providers in New Zealand.
The report is crucial for understanding how these providers contribute to building Māori community capacity and addressing disparities between Māori and non-Māori in various sectors such as health, education, employment, and the economy. The research involved qualitative methods within a Kaupapa Māori approach. It included interviews with 57 Iwi and Māori providers across five regions in Aotearoa, covering sectors like housing, health, employment and training, social services, justice, and education. The interviews focused on the origins of these organisations, their development journeys, facilitators and barriers to success, and their evaluation and monitoring practices. Key findings from the provider interviews highlighted the importance of being guided by ancestral vision, operationalising Māori values and practices, mutual respect in relationships, collaborative approaches, self-evaluation, and stable yet flexible funding environments. Barriers identified included limited capability and capacity, inadequate funding, staff burnout, unrealistic community expectations, and unbalanced partnerships with the Crown. The report also includes insights from government agency interviews, emphasising the importance of fulfilling contractual obligations, capacity and capability to deliver services, relationship building, and effective communication with government agencies. Policy developments and the role of Māori women in leadership were noted as significant. The research underscores the need for coordinated policies, power sharing, appropriate resource allocation, and effective evaluation of agencies and providers. It calls for collaboration in policy design, emphasising Māori-driven development priorities, and highlights the need for more targeted support in capacity and capability building, particularly in workforce capability and culturally based services.
