Awerangi Tamihere, Director of Strategy, Innovation & Design at Te Whānau O Waipareira and the Strategy & Innovation Lead at Te Pou Matakana, was a speaker on day one of the TacklingPovertyNZ workshop in December 2020. You can watch the video on the McGuinness Institute’s YouTube channel, or you can view the video below.

Awerangi’s presentation illustrated how community-based organisations and agencies can work practically to tackle poverty in New Zealand. She emphasised the importance of asking what the roadmap to empowerment is for the families – a client/family-centred approach is required. Measuring outcomes achieved is also key to assessing the success in the long-term. Awerangi recognised the needs of families require short-term, medium-term and long-term solutions. One of the factors of Te Whānau O Waipareira is that workers act as navigators for families, workers also act as co-determination with clients so that they can move out of deprivation. Awerangi emphasised that it is important families have their own right to determine their own path for transformation. The second example, Awerangi discussed the commissioning agency Te Pou Matakana. Awerangi shared with the group that a whānau -centric approach –  is needed that listen what families want, and change from their point of view. An aspirational model is required, thirdly, having community navigators on the ground. Fourthly, Awerangi emphasised measuring outcomes from their point of view – you measure what you value. Finally, long-term relationships overtime are important.

About TackingPovertyNZ
The December 2020 TacklingPovertyNZ workshop brought together 36 young New Zealanders between the ages 18 and 25 to prepare a youth perspective on the issue of poverty in New Zealand and how we might, as a country, go about tackling it. Participants spent most of their 72 hours in Wellington working hard at Treasury, in order to present their findings to MPs and other guests at the finale presentation at Parliament on Wednesday, 9 December 2020. Every year, the McGuinness Institute has worked in collaboration with the New Zealand Treasury to create a collaborative space for young New Zealanders to explore complex public policy issues together. The workshops have always proved exciting, enjoyable and insightful. The McGuinness Institute would particularly like to thank the staff at the New Zealand Treasury for their continued support and encouragement.

2020 Workshop tour
On 29 March 2020 we began our TacklingPovertyNZ tour in Queenstown with a group of local participants. Later this year we will continue the tour of one-day workshops around the country. Our aim is to contribute to a national conversation about how New Zealand might tackle poverty. After each workshop we will prepare a discussion paper to map local issues and to explore ideas participants developed throughout the day. In addition to being available to the public, each discussion paper will be given to the Chief Economist of the New Zealand Treasury.

The next stop on the TacklingPovertyNZ tour is tentatively booked for Rotorua on 19 August 2020. We are currently in discussion with other regional councils including Far North, Gisborne and Manawatu. If you are interested in being involved in your constituency’s local tour, or nominating local participants, please contact us at [email protected].