Te Kaunihera o Tāmaki Makaurau – Auckland Council – is transforming the way it plans, develops, prioritises, invests and delivers with Māori.
Te Toa Takitini is a top-down approach to significantly lift Māori economic, social and cultural well-being, strengthen the council’s Māori effectiveness and maximise post-Treaty of Waitangi settlement opportunities.
A lift in Māori achievement and success benefits not only Māori but the wider community.
Auckland Council Chief Executive Stephen Town says an organisation-wide programme of transformational change will support improved Māori responsiveness across all parts of the council.
Transformational shift
A Māori Responsiveness Framework, Whiria Te Muka Tangata, has been developed to better enable the council family to identify and progress activities that deliver on the Auckland Plan’s transformational shifts including the Māori transformational shift.
Activities and budgets contributing to lifting Māori well-being have been grouped together to provide a ‘whole of council group’ view of progress across five areas of Māori transformational shift activity:
- Whai Rawa – Māori Economic Well-being
- Whai Painga – Māori Social Well-being
- Whai Tiaki – Māori Cultural Well-being
- Whai Tika – Effectiveness for Māori
- Whai Tahinga – Treaty of Waitangi Settlements.
Mr Town says the council’s response to the Independent Māori Statutory Board’s 2015 Te Tiriti o Waitangi Audit will also see the delivery of key projects to embed Māori responsiveness as a core element of its culture, operations and service delivery.
This includes Ngā Kete Akoranga, a comprehensive learning and development programme to upskill elected members and staff in their use of te reo Māori and knowledge of the Treaty of Waitangi and related legislation.
A collective effort
“Te Toa Takitini – the contribution of many – is underpinned by the premise that achieving better outcomes with Māori is determined by the collective effort of the council group and not limited to any one part of council.
“Significantly lifting Māori well-being and achieving Māori outcomes requires effort across each of the transformational shifts, in each of the business units across the council family, with council investing in activities that will make a difference.
“Achieving the vision of ‘te pai me te whai rawa o Tāmaki – the world’s most liveable city’ and delivering Aucklanders great value for money creates an opportunity to firmly embed Māori responsiveness through a top-down council family approach as part of the high performance culture.”
