Collective Action with Communities - Elevating whānau (family) voice within localities as part of the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) reforms
Authors: Maxwell Amarjit , Mahuika Irihāpeti , Edmonds Eddie 
Published: January 2024

Introduction/background: New Zealand’s health sector is undergoing transformational changes that are outlined in new legislation, Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act 2022. Enacting these health system reforms, requires community providers to reorganise themselves into localities to improve health and wellbeing outcomes, especially for those populations that have not always been well served. Localities are defined as geographically defined areas bringing services together into more responsive provider, place-based networks.

Why? The key driver for the change is to achieve health equity by reducing the stark health disparities that exist across Aotearoa/NZ, particularly for indigenous Māori, as well as honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi (our constitutional document that establishes and guides the relationship between the Crown and Māori). Collaborative Aotearoa has adapted and tailored the Collective Impact approach through sector engagement for our New Zealand context. As a change catalyst, the team is advocating for community health and wellbeing providers across New Zealand, especially those that lead primary and community services to adopt a Collective Action with Communities (CawC) approach as they navigate the transformation of our health system.

The approach advocates for whānau (family) and communities to centre equity and adopt a population health lens to reframe the nature of the problem, refocus the work with others and reimagine who is involved. Achieving systems change will involve a better balance of power between those with lived experience in our communities that are most impacted and those who are funded to provide services. Adopting CAwC, alongside community-led development and Whānau Ora initiatives (an indigenous health approach in New Zealand, driven by Māori cultural values) will help to address health disparities and help to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for all.

Who is it for? CAwC provides the ‘How to” practical approach for primary and community service providers and key/anchor partners to gather the true aspirations of their community; contribute to making decisions about how resources are directed and to build trusting relationships in order to better serve the health and wellbeing needs of their community. Translating community aspirations into actions within formulated plans is a way of ensuring we really shift the needle where it matters most.

 

The structure of the session will be a presentation with interactive exercises to prompt discussion and reflection about key elements of the approach. The presentation will include video recordings from lived experience advisors and others across health care to demonstrate the approach in action.

Participants will learn about the strategies that Collaborative Aotearoa has adopted to lead system change across NZ to improve health and wellbeing outcomes and achieve equity. This has included localising the Collective Impact approach to make it more relevant to New Zealand and the changing landscape; developing and promoting resources including an online module to create a common language to support new ways of collaborating that are essentially whanau-led; and leveraging the legislative health system reforms to support the establishment of localities.