We are driven by two main philosophies - ‘Leave No One Behind’ and ‘The Waka Effect’.
Leave No One Behind
‘Leave No One Behind’ is a message we’re sending out to all the employers and businesses in NZ. We need them to recognise how much stronger New Zealand would become if they invested more in the Māori workforce.
The Waka Effect
‘The Waka Effect’ is what we see happening when our programmes are being followed! The waka symbolises a journey of self-exploration, where you will learn all about your strengths in and out of the workforce. The waka also stands for our major goal: to ignite a passion for life-long learning in the Māori community.
Māori participation in the workforce makes a huge impact on New Zealand’s economy. We want to make sure that Māori people continue to grow within the workforce - we want you to have better jobs and we want you to have more job security.
So, what are we doing about it?
The people at Hui Taumata Workforce Development have put their heads together and come up with the following programmes, designed to give support to those Māori people already at work, and those who are trying to enter the workforce.
We currently run four workforce programmes with our project partners.
- Mentoring Rangatahi - a bridging support into employment programme in association with NZ Mentoring Centre
- Mana Wahine - career information, advice and guidance for Māori women in association with Career Services Rapuara
- In-work Training – on the job training supported by the Industry Training Federation
- HANGI - a productivity programme with a Māori flavour in association with Te Runanga o Nga kaimahi Māori o Aotearoa NZCTU
These programmes stemmed from the project team’s shortlist of priority action areas for Māori workforce development, and research undertaken by the Department of Labour.
Matauranga Māori
A key feature of the workforce development programmes is the use of Matauranga Māori concepts. Matauranga Māori emphasises creativity amongst Māori and motivates people to realise their potential skills, productivity, lifelong learning and higher earnings.
Background
Knowing what the barriers are to Māori in the workforce and how to remove them is essential for the sustainability of the Māori economy and New Zealand’s economy as a whole.
Hui Taumata 2005 highlighted the importance of effective strategy development over the next 20 years.
Forecast demographic change will see New Zealand increasingly reliant on the Māori workforce, with an estimated one in three students being of Māori or Pacific descent by 2021.
Hui Taumata 2005 identified that the key to unlocking the full potential of Māori in the workforce is through increased engagement with the economy at all levels.
Our workforce development programmes support this vision and we’re interested in broadening our partnerships to include other organisations with similar goals.
The Workforce development programmes use the Creative Potential model developed by Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal whose inspirational message to workers and employers and all people is:
“It is in the interest of employers to come to an understanding of what is really going on in the hearts and minds of his or her workers and what really excites them and what interests them and motivates them to enable them to liberate them and get them engaged in their creative potential and get the business engaged in their creative potential”