Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and Māori language promotion agency Te Mātāwai have picked up an award for the public engagement used to introduce bilingual signs.
The process paved the way for the erection of signs saying kura and school on state highways and local roads across Aotearoa.
Te Mātawai board member Mātai Smith says the win in the indigenous category of the International Association Of Public Participation’s Australasia Core Values Awards was well deserved.
“I just want to take the opportunity to really thank Waka Kotahi, because it was their idea, and they came to us for our input. And because at Te Matawai we have interactions, and the keys to the kāinga in terms of our relationship with iwi, it was a beautiful relationship, and one that flourished over the last 18 months,” Smith says.
He says the bilingual signage project has been a great success, and feedback from Māori has been overwhelmingly positive.
