Over the last three years Te Aho has been exploring Māori wellbeing, in 2009-2010 we asked ourselves; how do we know that a Māori community is doing well? We received responses from 746 people living between Porirua and Palmerston North to that question.
Those responses were distilled down into 36 hiahia or indicators or Māori community wellbeing.
In 2011-2012 we have asked ourselves; what do we look for to know that a Māori whānau is doing well? Almost 350 kaumātua. rangatahi and whānau responded and we have 30 hiahia or indicators of whānau ora. Now as we plan for 2013-2014 we want to understand what iwi wellbeing looks like.

We have develop a Māori approach where expressions of kaupapa are measured to provide an indication of Māori wellbeing of a community, a whānau and now an iwi. It is based on the idea that:

• Māori are determined to survive as a people;
• Survival as a people will be happening when communities of Māori find the expression of kaupapa uplifting, rewarding and preferred;
• It is possible to actively pursue the expression of kaupapa through tikanga selected by the community; and
• The pursuit of tikanga can be planned and results measured.

Then, the wellbeing of Māori communities can be monitored by identifying the preferred tikanga of the community and measuring the levels at which these tikanga are displayed.

Once the kaupapa are selected, tikanga are designed and appropriate hiahia are identified in the initial plans, activities are completed as planned.

When these activities are evaluated, the opportunity to review and redesign tikanga is presented if performance is not as initially hoped.

For more information, contact Kara Kearney on 06 364 8598