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Collaborative Pathways to Prosperous Māori Futures
This strategy is inspired by the kōrero that was captured from the many Māori individuals, whānau, businesses, iwi, hapū, marae and community engagement across the region. We hope to have embodied the aspirations and intentions, to create a platform for Te Upoko o Te Ika to move forward, together.
Māori have lived in the Wellington Region since the time of Maui, Kupe, and Whātonga – and about 60,000 live in the Region today – constituting 12 per cent of the Region’s population.
The Māori population is very young (58% under 30 years of age compared to 38% of non – Māori) with the large Māori proportion of under 30 year olds projected to rise over the next 20 years.
Wellington has a high proportion of highly skilled jobs, when compared to the rest of New Zealand:
Māori are in an unprecedented position to take a lead in the future they wish to create for their whānau, hapū and iwi. The first explorers came to this country as doers, initiators and builders. They established themselves in Aotearoa as tangata whenua, defined by their connection to the whenua, moana and whakapapa. The connections we have inherited from our tūpuna continue to guide our journeys to the distant horizon.
Throughout the Greater Wellington region, Māori are traversing new territory, revealing unseen pathways, and pushing boundaries. Today it is as digital warriors, investors and operators in numerous aspects of the value chain, business, and economic and social development.
The focus of this strategy is on regional collaboration and leveraging sub-regional strengths – it relies onenablers coming together. An implementation committee, will be established to take the strategy forward, identifying partners to lead on key strategic actions. Some of the critical success factors relevant across all actions to ensure successful implementation are highlighted below.
The rōpū that takes the strategy forward will work across the region, with institutions, organisations, and iwi. This requires a diverse skill set, political and economic nous, and leadership. This strategy has a focus on business and rangatahi, so it is envisioned that the implementation structure will reflect this.
This, the first strategy of its kind for the Wellington Region, begins its implementation in times of heightened change and uncertainty. Furthermore, it is seeking to address the opportunities and challenges across diverse communities and interests. Implementation therefore needs to be iterative – ensuring there is the flexibility to change tack throughout the lifetime of the strategy while being adaptable in order to address the complex and diverse realities at play.
Outcome and process measures will be established by the implementation committee in partnership with enablers for each action. Therefore creating a framework for the collection, analysis, distribution and storage of data is necessary.
As with the development of this strategy, implementation requires input, commitment, leadership and direction from the primary stakeholders – Māori.
Buy – in from our Māori community requires champions at the leadership level, whether these are iwi organisations, public sector organisations, local and central government, Māori business networks and businesses. This will ensure the Māori voice has advocacy across all sectors and industries and will help to: fill in the gaps; amend systems where it is not working; and to identify where outcomes could be improved for Māori.
Current and future demographics and the imperative of capacity building for success on many fronts means a major focus needs to be on empowering rangatahi. They present the most significant challenges and opportunities for intergenerational change, closing the major gaps, and improvements in Māori prosperity.
The primary purpose of this strategy is better coordination leading to better outcomes through working together. Collaborative relationships take time to develop trust and expectations but will provide a more inclusive region for us all. The goal is to establish partnerships, working relationships and collaborations at the local, regional, national and international levels; to gain new perspectives, share learnings and adopt best practise as the norm. Whaia te iti Kahurangi, ki te tuohu koe me he maunga teitei.
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