Photo: Maxwell Productions
South Island iwi have been celebrating the successes of Whānau Ora commissioning agency Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu, as they farewell staff at a series of events around the South Island.
As of the end of June, the organisation will no longer provide Whānau Ora services after a change in Government direction, with Te Puni Kōkiri opening the contracts to other providers.
It means around 40 staff will be without jobs, and it's expected another 100 jobs from the partner navigator network will go.
Six poroporoaki (farewell events) have been held across the South Island, where staff and whanau have spoken of their devastation at the agency's closure, and celebrated the many success stories that resulted from its mahi.
Whānau Ora was created in 2010 by the late Dame Tariana Turia in an effort to improve social and health services for Māori.
Dame Tariana Turia led the establishment of Whānau Ora and said it was about empowering whānau to take control of their future. Photo: RNZ
Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu general partnership board chair Tā Mark Solomon said the agency worked on behalf of eight South Island iwi to determine the best ways to support whānau development.
Solomon recalled when he first heard about Whānau Ora, at a meeting with Dame Turia in Christchurch more than a decade ago.
"I stood up at the end and asked her, if I could get all the tribes of Te Waipounamu to come together, could we put in a bid for the Whānau Ora commissioning agency?
"She gave a bit of a giggle and said yes, if you think you can get the tribes together by all means."
Solomon said two meetings later, they were united. He said it was the first time in history that all the tribes of Te Waiponamu had come together to work collectively. They put in a bid for the contract and were successful.
Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu general partnership board chair Tā Mark Solomon says in the last 11 years, the agency has worked with thousands of whanau across the South Island. Photo: Maxwell Productions
An independent evaluation of the agency's direct social investment model hailed it as an "outstanding exemplar of an organisation delivering public services that actually work".
The evaluation demonstrated that the most conservative impact implied an economic benefit of $2.40 for every $1 of investment.
It also found that across 83 funded initiatives, almost 5000 Māori were positively impacted, with the value of increased life satisfaction combined put at $7.2m.
"Proud is an understatement. I'm absolutely in awe of what has been done and the good that it has brought to Te Waipounamu," Solomon said.
In the last five years, Te Pūtahitanga navigators had worked with 14,973 whanau and more than 8,000 people had been supported into employment within communities across the South Island.
The poroporoaki (farewell) for Whānau Ora commissioning agency Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu at Ngā Hau E Whā Marae in Ōtautahi. Photo: Maxwell Productions
The new provider, Solomon said, was working under a "totally different" framework.
"Whānau ora to me is families themselves determining what they need and what goals they need to set to change their life, it's not to be dictated by a government policy."
Te Taumata, the iwi shareholder council of Te Pūtahitanga, co chair and Ngāti Kuia representative Hina-i-te māra Moses-Te Kani said the poroporoaki in Ōtautahi on Thursday was an emotional celebration.
She said for the last 11 years, it had been given the opportunity to celebrate mana motuhake, self determination, with funding from the Crown.
It had supported countless business ideas through Tūātea, the social investment fund that gave whānau the agency to realise their own aspirations.
The Te Whanau O Waipareira vax team help vaccinate locals in Papakura as part of Whanau Ora campaign on November 30, 2021 in Auckland, New Zealand. Photo: 2021 Getty Images
"Whānau would come to us with their dreams and aspirations and we had coaches and support people and champions who supported them to set up their organisations in the right way, to live the dream that they wanted to live... one of the outcomes was getting more people into jobs and we created thousands of jobs in this kaupapa."
Many of those businesses were focused on hauora, health and fitness, rongoā Māori, hospitality, art and design.
"We had a 12-year-old who wanted to be the leading poi manufacturer in the world and she achieved that at 14."
She said research showed that the agency had developed one of the most successful international indigenous commissioning models in the word, supporting whanau intergenerationally.
"It's one of the key celebrations for us - this is intrinsically kaupapa Māori all day, every day."
The Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu main office in Christchurch will close on Friday, after the agency lost the contract to provide Whānau Ora services across the South Island. Photo: 123rf.com
She was still in disbelief at the Government's change in focus, which was now directed at deprivation instead of self-determination.
"How could such a successful life-changing model - moving whanau from deprivation without even focusing on that - how could it be seen as not the right model?"
Moses-Te Kani said the iwi alliance across the South Island remained strong and the whanau ora movement created in Te Waipounamu would continue to shine through.
"I think that the legacy from Te Pūtahitanga will morph into something new and something brilliant and we won't completely disappear. What we have created here is like a beautiful flowing awa across the whole of Te Waipounamu and the next brilliant thing will turn up, maybe it'll be international money, or maybe it'll be somebody else's money that will support the kaupapa that we're doing."
Whānau Ora Minister Tama Potaka says the government continues to back the initiative, as seen by the commitment of $180 million in last year's Budget. Photo: RNZ/Samuel Rillstone
Whānau Ora Minister Tama Potaka announced earlier this month that four new community-based Whānau Ora commissioning agencies will replace the three agencies that have led the scheme since its inception.
The South Island contract has been awarded to Te Tauraki Limited, a subsidiary of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu.
He said the agencies were selected to deliver on the government's focus to provide better public services, which were moving in a "refreshed direction".
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
