Purpose
Whānau Resilience family violence services aim to build strong, resilient communities where whānau are supported to live violence free, and violence is eliminated for the next generation.
Funding of $15.379m was committed from Budget 2018 for Whānau Resilience, enabling MSD to work differently with local providers, and find improved ways of engaging Māori and Pacific peoples in service procurement, design, and delivery. Changes to the procurement process included a short application and open forum presentations.
In 2021 MSD commissioned a kaupapa Māori evaluation of the procurement and co-design of Whānau Resilience by AIKO Consultants Limited and Kaipuke Consultants Limited. The evaluation aimed to understand how well the procurement and co-design processes of the Whānau Resilience programme were developed and implemented, and how these were experienced by three of 12 regions across Aotearoa: Counties Manukau, Wellington, and Tasman.
Methodology
This evaluation took a kaupapa Māori approach to better understand Māori perspectives and experiences within their cultural context, create positive outcomes for Māori communities and/or whānau, hapū and iwi, and align with kaupapa Māori evaluation principles. ...
Aiko and Kaipuke use an approach that draws from and embeds the advice of Pipi et al – listen to, and give voice to, the kaupapa, aspirations and day-to-day realities of 'participants'.We do this by working collectively and collaboratively as a team to challenge and checkourselves and each-other to ensure we are walking the talk.
Our team recognises that there are limitations within a kaupapa Māori evaluative approach,particularly when trying to capture and make sense of Pacific people’s experiences. To thisend, our team engaged an experienced Pacific researcher and worked collaboratively withthem to support the evaluation and analyse Pacific experiences.
This qualitative evaluation was informed by the following research methods:
▪ a document review of all relevant project documentation
▪ semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders including MSD and Partnering for Outcomes (PfO) staff, and Whānau Resilience providers, managers and kaimahi, and pouwhakataki.
The evaluation was carried out in three phases with the following deliverables:
▪ Phase 1: Scoping (document review, evaluation plan and tools)
▪ Phase 2: Fieldwork (immersion visits, analysis, provisional findings workshop)
▪ Phase 3: Drafting (draft and final reports and peer review)
Key Results
The evaluation found that the innovative procurement process succeeded in increasing the diversity of providers and Māori and Pacific service provision; 54 percent of successful providers identified as Māori and 14 percent as Pacific.
The whānau-centred approach of co-designing Whānau Resilience services locally was well received by providers. Many kaupapa Māori providers were drawn to the programme because of the opportunity to design services that centred around whānau voice, and which took a long-term, holistic view of healing.
A short written application and open forum presentations worked better for Māori and Pacific providers. A cultural setting based on whanaungatanga was comfortable and appropriate, and most participants appreciated the transparency of the approach.
The co-design process was provider-led which, with Māori providers in the majority, helped prioritise whānau Māori voice in the process (as was intended).
An area identified for improvement in the co-design process included providing more clarity regarding key roles, responsibilities, and expectations. Another area for improvement in the procurement process was to provide greater clarity on the broad scope of the service up front; specifically, that Whānau Resilience is not a solely kaupapa Māori initiative.
The design process was also adversely impacted by COVID-19 and the Alert Level restrictions during 2020 which saw timelines pushed out by several months.
It should be noted that the evaluation findings reflect the experiences of those interviewed in three regions only and are not necessarily representative of experiences nationally.