Partnership with Māori

Kia ora and welcome to Topic 3! In this topic, you’ll be exploring the concept of partnership, and what this means when working with whānau, hapū, iwi, and other Māori community networks, as well as exploring partnerships in your working relationship with rangatahi Māori.

Partnership is essential to working relationships with Māori and is a catalyst to supporting and empowering tangata whenua to shape their lives and work towards achieving their goals and aspirations.

The following whakatauākī (proverb) reflects the importance of partnership. It emphasises the necessity of connections and collaboration, as people work towards a common vision.

Kotahi te kohao o te ngira e kuhuna ai te miro ma, te miro pango, te miro whero

Through the eye of the needle pass the white thread, the black thread, and the red thread

Potatau Te Wherowhero

Te Kīngi Māori tuatahi / The first Māori King

Whilst the notion of partnership was supported (but not specifically stated) in Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the experiences of Māori today are shaped by colonisation, and the Crown’s breaches of Te Tiriti. Historically, and in recent times, Māori experiences with the Crown and in the community have been more of a case of ‘being done to’ rather than ‘working with’ which has deepened many of the existing challenges and issues.

Partnership is about engaging meaningfully with Māori, and working alongside the right iwi, hapū, or Māori organisations, to ask them about their involvement, and how they would like to be involved. It is not a ‘tick the box’ exercise. It must be done with a genuine intent of working with Māori. Not doing so is tokenistic, and Māori have had many experiences of this.

Examples of tokenism could include a workplace engaging a kaumātua (community elder) and then only using them to do a brief karakia or whakatau (formal welcome) for new staff or visitors. Another example could be assuming that one or two Māori staff members are able to speak on behalf of all Māori, when reality is more complex. There are of course a great diversity of views among Māori on any given issue or topic.

Appropriate and effective partnerships with Māori aim to contribute to rebalancing some of the power and resource imbalances that exist in Aotearoa New Zealand.¹

Here are some questions to ask yourself about partnership with Māori:

• Why should you partner with Māori?
• Who are key Māori in your organisation or group that you are working with? (These could be people who are connected to whānau, hapū, and iwi, from kaupapa Māori organisations, or from tauiwi or non-Māori organisations, services, or providers).

You should avoid going to a Māori person you know as a single source of advice or information as it assumes that every Māori person knows everything about the Māori world, as mentioned in the examples of tokenism above.

By the end of this topic, you will hopefully have a more informed understanding of partnership and its importance in your mahi as a youth worker. Take some time to reflect on these questions now, jot down some thoughts, and then revisit them at the end of this topic.

The creation of culturally responsive partnerships in youth work practice are guided by some key principles and values. You have already encountered these in previous topics and should do throughout the course.

The overarching mandates for the creation of these partnerships lie in Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Code of Ethics for Youth Workers. These are briefly discussed in this section of this topic.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi

In Module 2 you learnt about the articles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and the Crown principles drawn from them². It is suggested that you take a little time to refresh this learning and re-read the earlier topic.

The principle of Partnership is a principle that reflects the power-sharing commitments of Te Tiriti. It is about working together in a way where both parties act reasonably, honourably and in good faith.

Whilst Te Tiriti o Waitangi addresses the rights and obligations of the Crown and Iwi Māori (as tangata whenua), and how the parties should work together, it also provides a basis for applying the principles to government services such as healthcare, education, and social services including youth work.

Ara Taiohi – Code of Ethics

An ethical basis for engagement in partnership can be found woven into the Code of Ethics for Youth Work³.

Firstly, the core values of youth work (Ngā uara tiaki taiohi) defined in the Code provide a foundation for partnerships in practice. The four values are outlined below:

Review the list above and think about partnership with Māori. Do any particular value statements immediately grab you as being relevant to your work with rangatahi Māori? Is there anything in the lists above that sparks your interest, and gives you ideas for new activities or programmes that you could organise? 

Write your thoughts down somewhere handy, and at the end of this topic return to your notes and see if you can add more ideas under these headings.

Secondly, there are several clauses in the Code of Ethics that directly apply to engagement and partnership with Māori.

• Clause 3 Iho pūmanawa / Strengths-based
• Clause 6 Ko au, ko koe, ko tātou
• Clause 7 Te whakapapa o Aotearoa / Understanding Aotearoa
• Clause 8 Tūhonotanga / Connectedness
• Clause 9 Mahitahi / Collaboration

Note that, as explained in the Code of Ethics, the heading for clause 6 is intentionally written only in te reo Māori. However, a loose translation could be ‘Me, you, and all of us together’.

Task: Reflection

Take some time to read each of these clauses and make some notes about the expectations placed on youth workers around the creation and maintenance of partnerships in practice. Write down some more ideas about how to put this into practice, and focus on things that are realistic for you to achieve in your role.

When working with rangatahi Māori in partnership, you are guided both by Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Code of Ethics, and also a number of principles that underpin and shape your practice further. These principles also relate to working in partnership with whānau, hapū, iwi and other Māori organisations.

It is important to note that the principles presented here may not be known to the rangatahi by the kupu (words and specific terms) used, but they will understand the concepts in their own way as you establish a working relationship with them. They will describe their expectations for the partnership in their own way and those expectations are likely to align with the principles outlined in this section.

Tino rangatiratanga

You have learnt that tino rangatiratanga is about self-determination. It is a fluid and complex concept that is related to context – the aspirations and wishes of the youth (socially, culturally, emotionally, physically) or the wider aspirations of the rangatahi’s whānau, hapū or iwi.

In giving effect to tino rangatiratanga, we also need a commitment to work in ways that establish safe spaces for development, in empowering rangatahi to actively shape their futures. It is their dreams and aspirations that are paramount and should be at the forefront of our thinking when working with Māori youth.

Tino rangatiratanga means that in any partnership Māori have the ultimate right and prerogative to decide and determine the actions and strategies to be taken. The dreams and aspirations are theirs.

Te whakakoha rangatiratanga

Respectful relationships are essential to effective partnerships. Pohatu (2013)⁴ writes that “āta is a cultural tool, [that is] shaped to inform and guide understandings of respectfulness in relationships”. It incorporates five elements:

1. The negotiation of boundaries, and creating and maintaining safe spaces
2. The behaviours of participants in relationship with each other, the kaupapa (overall purpose) and the environment.
3. The shaping of participants’ perceptions through the giving of quality time and space, and the effort and energy of participants, conveying respect and the notion of reciprocity
4. Planning
5. Strategising

Relationships and whakawhanaungatanga – relationship building with others – is central to the Māori world and helps develop trust with those you are working with. Taking the time to do so is critical, especially with youth, and will strengthen your partnership with them. For a deeper discussion of āta, and its constituent elements, download and read Pohatu’s article (13 pages).

As you read about ‘āta’ consider how respectful relationships are important in effective partnerships. How do you demonstrate respect in practice?

Power

Any relationship can be affected or influenced by the dynamics of power. This is the capacity to exert influence over the behaviour and circumstances of others, or to control the course of events or actions.

Any partnership with Māori must acknowledge the presence of power, and develop strategies to identify any imbalances in power, and make the necessary shifts. Perceptions of power or lack of power can be affected by the experiences of the parties (previously involvement with youth work providers, or other professionals for example), age, life experience, experiences of stigma and discrimination, fear, socio-economic features and other factors.

For partnerships to work effectively towards the achievement of Māori dreams and aspirations, the power to determine the course of that development should be held by Māori.

Task: Reflect on the dynamics of power in partnerships

Take some time to reflect on the concept of power and its effect on relationships and partnership. Make some notes about what might be examples of power imbalances in practice, and what you might do to address these dynamics.

Think about things like:

• The ‘parties’ in the partnership – who is speaking, who is silent, what is their body language saying (what does it suggest to you)
• The space you are working in – whose space is it, and where might be better to work (think about the atmosphere in different spaces such as an office or meeting room, compared with a café or McDonalds or the local marae)

Jot down your thoughts for further reflection.

Strengths-based and solution focused

The strengths-based approach has its foundation in social work. It was developed as a response to models of practice that focused on the weaknesses and deficits of a person and their situation. A strengths-based approach focuses instead on the inherent strengths of youth, their abilities, the positive aspects of their circumstances, and it views the person holistically. It has a philosophy and way of viewing people as resourceful and resilient in the face of adversity. It places emphasis on people’s self-determination.

Its utility in youth work has been demonstrated, and a strength focus in youth work is emphasised in the Ara Taiohi core values. There is even an entire clause in the Code of Ethics (Clause 3 - Iho pūmanawa) devoted to expectation that youth workers work in ways that are informed by the strengths-based approach.

Its relevance in the creation and maintenance of partnerships with Māori is clear. It has demonstrated value in promoting and maintaining engagement.

It places strong emphasis on collaboration between the youth worker and rangatahi in setting goals and driving the work that is done together.

It advocates for a way of working that is youth-led, focused on future outcomes (dreams and aspirations), and recognises that all our rangatahi have strengths and talents. This means recognising rangatahi will bring their own strengths to the challenges they face as an individual, as well as being supported by wider social networks like whānau, hapū, and other people or groups in the community. All of these are potential strengths and assets in their lives.

The expectation is that youth workers adopt a stance of ‘not knowing’ or ‘non expert’ – in other words they shouldn’t assume that they know what is best for the young person based on preconceived ideas and theories they may hold. The ‘expert’ in the partnerships are the rangatahi themselves.

One of the keys to effective working partnerships lies in the way in which we engage with people and groups, and this is discussed below.

E ngā iwi, e ngā waka, tēnā koutou katoa

Mā te hoe tīehu a tēnā, a tēna tere ai te waka pūhoi

Only through each paddler’s contribution does the mired canoe speed forward

What is engagement and why is it so important?

Engagement is the key to effective partnerships. It is about the relationships, the connections and the interactions between Māori and different organisations (either Crown or NGO), or between youth work service providers and rangatahi, their whānau and hapū, or directly between youth workers and the rangatahi they work with. It also refers to the range of methods and activities that are used to interact with Māori.

Each of these relationships are shaped by different parties, and their expressed ‘needs’, goals, and aspirations, and by the wider context surrounding the relationships.^5,6

Task: Engagement in practice

Watch the short video below (3:56) to see an example of Māori engagement in practice. The insights shared in the video provide a useful perspective, and a point of comparison with the organisations you’ve worked in. As you watch the video, think about the following:

• What are some of the benefits of this approach for the Bay of Plenty Regional Council and the wider local community?
• What is the current level of Māori engagement where you work, how does it compare to what’s shown in the video?
• Look for other similarities and differences with your own workplace or organisation.

• An acknowledgement of their rangatiratanga and their status as Treaty partners
• An acknowledgement that mātauranga Māori makes an important contribution to solving issues and problems
• An acknowledgement that Māori have resources and capability to contribute
• An acknowledgement that some issues affect Māori disproportionately and Māori are therefore better placed to develop the solutions⁷

The statement above is from a report on guidelines for engagement with Māori produced by Te Arawhiti in 2018⁷. Te Arawhiti assert that when engagement is early, inclusive, and broad, it can lead to a number of beneficial outcomes: 

• The understanding of each party’s expectations and aspirations is enhanced. 
• It provides for opportunities for the parties to co-design strategies, processes and actions 
• It supports Māori expectations and aspirations 
• It establishes cooperation and processes for working together effectively. 

Task: Reflection

For this reflection task you’ll need to think about the process of genuine engagement, and the benefits, and consider what leads to effective engagement in practice.

Choose two characteristics and two benefits to consider, from the lists above developed by Te Arawhiti. Write some questions and answers related to each one, to help you reflect on your own work, and how you might apply and achieve some of these in your youth work practice.

For example, if you wanted to write about mātauranga Māori, you might consider questions such as:

• What does it look like in practice to acknowledge that mātauranga Māori makes an important contribution?
• How could I learn more about and use mātauranga Māori effectively?
• How does mātauranga Māori support Māori expectations and aspirations?

Then write your own responses or reflections on these questions in your notes.

You may find this useful when it comes to completing your assessment tasks and your reflective journal entry.

Task: Further reading and research

There is a lot of research and literature that we can explore, in different fields, that shows the importance and utility of partnership and effective engagement.

A significant amount of research has focused on the nature of ‘therapeutic relationships’, the relationships that exist in counselling, social work and psychology for example. The relationships between youth workers and young people are similar.

What we learn from this research is that engagement and partnership are beneficial and effective across many different professional settings.

You are encouraged to spend some time doing your own research, developing and enhancing your own understanding of engagement and partnership. Search online or use the resources in your local library to find short videos, articles, or books that discuss partnership and engagement in different settings to see how the advice compares with what you’ve read in this topic. You might choose to focus on resources related to partnership with Māori, or look for examples of partnership between youth workers and young people (from any background), or read about partnership with people from other Indigenous communities.

You have now completed this topic on partnership with Māori. Read the assessment (Assessment 3.3) and look at the tasks you need to complete. You will see that Task 1 and an option for Task 3 both relate to this topic.

Read the task instructions and note the requirements for completion. What are the questions asking you to do? How will you prepare?

Review your notes and readings – do you feel you have the necessary information to complete the assessment tasks? If not – what else do you need? Where will you find it?

Speak to your kaiako if you have any questions about the assessment task requirements.