Ana Apatu: Partners work to conquer social ills

Ana Apatu

Lewis Ratapu Kaiwhakahaere, general manager business growth and design Te Taiwhenua Heretaunga, and I make our way to Auckland to a Te Pou Matakana update.

Te Pou Matakana is the commissioning agency for Whanau Ora collectives across the North Island. The new language is collective impact, outcomes and road maps. Collective impact is described as being a framework to tackle deeply entrenched and complex social problems. It is an innovative and structured approach to making collaboration work across government, business, philanthropy, non-profit organisations and citizens to achieve significant and lasting social change. Basically, it's working together with an agreed clear purpose with ongoing communication.

There are representatives from Whanau Ora collectives across the North Island. The room is full of optimism and energy. John Tamihere, chief executive officer for Te Pou Matakana, opens the workshop with a stirring address discussing how much opportunity there is with the Whanau Ora policy. But there is much work to be done. Each Whanau Ora collective has its own priority area. This may be as a result of data and as a result of local community engagement. Each collective provides a varied response - oral health, housing, reduction in admission to hospital which could have been avoided by visiting a health professional earlier.

Lewis and I are quietly confident that our Takitimu Ora is making good progress. I believe this is partly due to our strong partnership with each other - Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga Nga Marae o Heretuanga, Te Wananga Whare Tapere o Takitimu, Waimarama Marae, Whanautahi Trust and U-Turn Trust. We have a high trust relationship and great back office support provided by Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga.

We are now entering our implementation stage with our Takitimu Ora Whanau Ora collective. Our business plan "Ka U Te Waka" has been approved. Our community goals for the next three years centre on our vision of Rangatahi to Rangatira. As part of our planning process, we engaged 246 youth aged 15-24 resident in Flaxmere, Whakatu and Waimarama between February and June 2015. We completed 155 assessments and found 64 per cent had health needs; 15 per cent needed support for employment, education or training; 12 per cent had mental health and addiction issues, 6 per cent had safety issues and 3 per cent needed social support. We found that those needing support in employment, education and training were not connected to a service where all other young people were.

Locally, we have a high rate of Maori youth who are disengaged from formal education and employment in Heretaunga. According to the Census 2013, 288 Maori youth aged 15-19 in Flaxmere, Whakatu and Waimara are not in employment, education or training.

Hawke's Bay is rich in natural resources, making primary and manufacturing industries the cornerstones of our region's economy. Hastings has the largest population in Hawke's Bay of which 24 per cent are of Maori descent. Ngati Kahungunu is the third largest iwi in New Zealand and makes up more than 40 per cent of all Maori living in Hastings. As our demographics change in the future - i.e. our ageing European population and youthful Maori population - Maori will account for most of the growth in the working age population during the next two decades. In the communities of Heretaunga we have our challenges: 33 per cent of Maori children live in poverty, 45 per cent of Maori have no formal qualifications, 30 per cent of young Maori are not in education, employment or training, 53 per cent of Maori earn less than $20,000 per year, 25 per cent of Maori will die before the age of 50 years. However, I have much optimism that we are on the right track with our collective. Our mission: working to advance the education, income and health of our neighbourhoods and communities to ensure every child succeeds every step of the way, from "cradle to career".

Our goal is to reduce the rate of Maori youth aged 15-19 not in employment, education or training by 20 per cent. Why? We believe unemployment represents a complex problem that can lead to poor life outcomes. We can measure our collective efforts and there are available resources and motivation to address the issue. As we plan our launch for Tuesday November 10 we look to invite those who can assist in improving the wellbeing of our young people in Hawke's Bay to assist us in achieving our collective vision "Rangatahi to Rangatira".

-Ana Apatu is chief executive of the U-Turn Trust, based at Te Aranga Marae in Flaxmere.