title: Evaluation of the Whānau Ora Wellbeing Service of Te Whakaruruhau: Final report

authors: Robertson, Neville

subjects: whānau ora

abstract: Domestic violence and child abuse represent significant threats to whānau ora. Conversely, the weakening or loss of whānau ties can increase the vulnerability of whānau members to domestic violence and child abuse. Thus enhancing whānau ora in the context of domestic violence and child abuse is both a high priority and a significant challenge.

Te Whakaruruhau Māori Women’s Refuge has been providing safe housing, support and advocacy to women and children for over two decades and has become a key agency in family violence networks in Kirikiriroa. The development of the Whānau Ora Wellbeing Service, the focus of this evaluation, was a logical extension of Refuge services.

The Māori and Psychology Research Unit was commissioned in mid‐2011 to conduct this evaluation. It is based on ten case studies of clients in the programme, interviews with Te Whakaruruhau staff and key informants in allied agencies, and participant‐observation of Refuge activities. The case studies provide insights into the lived experience of women dealing with violence, their attempts to protect themselves and their children, and their experiences of – and reflections upon – the Whānau Ora Wellbeing programme.

text: Evaluation of the Whānau Ora Wellbeing Service of Te Whakaruruhau: Final report Domestic violence and child abuse represent significant threats to whānau ora. Conversely, the weakening or loss of whānau ties can increase the vulnerability of whānau members to domestic violence and child abuse. Thus enhancing whānau ora in the context of domestic violence and child abuse is both a high priority and a significant challenge.

Te Whakaruruhau Māori Women’s Refuge has been providing safe housing, support and advocacy to women and children for over two decades and has become a key agency in family violence networks in Kirikiriroa. The development of the Whānau Ora Wellbeing Service, the focus of this evaluation, was a logical extension of Refuge services.

The Māori and Psychology Research Unit was commissioned in mid‐2011 to conduct this evaluation. It is based on ten case studies of clients in the programme, interviews with Te Whakaruruhau staff and key informants in allied agencies, and participant‐observation of Refuge activities. The case studies provide insights into the lived experience of women dealing with violence, their attempts to protect themselves and their children, and their experiences of – and reflections upon – the Whānau Ora Wellbeing programme.

year: 2013-07-20

title: Collective Indigenous approaches to centring Pacific voices of leadership for our futures

authors: Uasike Allen, JM

abstract: Education systems in western nations are often built on a long history of centralising the western canon of knowledge and colonial norms. These norms are perpetuated and reinforced via western research which amplifies the voices of the dominant, while working to silence the values, practices, and knowledges of minority groups. As a colonial nation, Aotearoa New Zealand continues to be impacted by its colonial histories, where colonial (read white) ways of being, knowing, and understanding dominate initial teacher education, schools, tertiary institutions, research, and our everyday lives. However, within education and research more generally, Indigenous and Pacific researchers and practitioners have been working hard to carve out space in institutions to challenge colonial hierarchies of knowledge and make space for Indigenous ways of being, knowing, seeing, doing, and feeling. This article contributes to the work being done by Indigenous and Pacific scholars in Aotearoa New Zealand by detailing our collective, relational approach to convening the special issue of Shifting the System for the Ethnographic Edge journal. Convening a special issue is not unique and groups of academics do it regularly across a range of academic journals and fields. However, our experiences of convening this special issue were quite different. Here we share the journey and reflect on how our focus on privileging the often-marginalised voices of Pacific school leaders was underpinned by an Indigenous, collective approach embedded in the pedagogical practice of Indigenous Storywork. Employing collaborative critical autoethnography, we articulate the ways in which our engagement with each other and the authors within this special issue disrupted western power relations often present in interactions between ‘researchers’ within the university and ‘practitioners’ at the coalface. Furthermore, we demonstrate how engaging in relational practices builds a space that encourages the principles of respect, responsibility, reverence, reciprocity, holism, interrelatedness, and synergy.

text: Collective Indigenous approaches to centring Pacific voices of leadership for our futures Education systems in western nations are often built on a long history of centralising the western canon of knowledge and colonial norms. These norms are perpetuated and reinforced via western research which amplifies the voices of the dominant, while working to silence the values, practices, and knowledges of minority groups. As a colonial nation, Aotearoa New Zealand continues to be impacted by its colonial histories, where colonial (read white) ways of being, knowing, and understanding dominate initial teacher education, schools, tertiary institutions, research, and our everyday lives. However, within education and research more generally, Indigenous and Pacific researchers and practitioners have been working hard to carve out space in institutions to challenge colonial hierarchies of knowledge and make space for Indigenous ways of being, knowing, seeing, doing, and feeling. This article contributes to the work being done by Indigenous and Pacific scholars in Aotearoa New Zealand by detailing our collective, relational approach to convening the special issue of Shifting the System for the Ethnographic Edge journal. Convening a special issue is not unique and groups of academics do it regularly across a range of academic journals and fields. However, our experiences of convening this special issue were quite different. Here we share the journey and reflect on how our focus on privileging the often-marginalised voices of Pacific school leaders was underpinned by an Indigenous, collective approach embedded in the pedagogical practice of Indigenous Storywork. Employing collaborative critical autoethnography, we articulate the ways in which our engagement with each other and the authors within this special issue disrupted western power relations often present in interactions between ‘researchers’ within the university and ‘practitioners’ at the coalface. Furthermore, we demonstrate how engaging in relational practices builds a space that encourages the principles of respect, responsibility, reverence, reciprocity, holism, interrelatedness, and synergy.

year: 2022

title: Planning in the post-pandemic era

authors: Haughton, Graham

abstract: The COVID-19 lock-down has exposed shortcomings in how we have been planning our towns and cities, and in the new political space that this is opening up planners should look for a ‘new normal’ that reduces inequalities and risks.

text: Planning in the post-pandemic era The COVID-19 lock-down has exposed shortcomings in how we have been planning our towns and cities, and in the new political space that this is opening up planners should look for a ‘new normal’ that reduces inequalities and risks.

year: 2020