Practices of Sustenance: Collaborative explorations into the contours of wellness: Cultural reflections and contentions

The overarching questions for this NPM Platform Project are:

• What are the innovative and mana-enhancing imperatives that need to be employed in order to enable tamariki, rangatahi and their whānau to flourish in an ever-changing global and digital society?
• How are existing structures and systems able to be improved to support all Maōri into the workplace (which may include transitioning from education sectors into workplaces and/or moving from unemployment into the workplace, and/or career development)) in order support and sustain wellbeing, and enhance mana?
• What are the implications for policy and practice for all Māori (particularly when exiting secondary schooling and/or tertiary institutions into the workplace and/or from unemployment into the evolving nature of work and workplaces) in terms of sustaining revitalisation, inclusion, and investment - particularly for marginalised communities and groups?
• How are the tensions between ‘work’ and ‘wellbeing’ able to be ameliorated in an evolving world?
• How can sustainable livelihood theories, policies, and practices fundamentally enhance both individual and whānau wellbeing and work/life balance?

This platform project is centred on finding the ways and means to attain sustainable incomes, wellness and success for tamariki, rangatahi and their whānau within their lived environments.

Our aim is to leverage change using existing knowledges and research findings to work alongside Māori peoples to develop enabling strategies to flourish in a wide range of workplaces and career pathways so they can support tamariki/rangatahi and their whānau within the changing evolution of the 21st century global world where diversity is ubiquitous.

We are using rapid reviews of exemplary practice and their key findings to build a research framework, at which point we will supplement these reviews with follow-up interviews of participants of the ‘Ka Awatea: An iwi case study of Māori students experiencing success’ study to look at sustained success and Think Tank meetings with key stakeholders such as iwi and government organisations who have enabled significant positive shifts in outcomes for Māori.

The research is guided initially by the ADKAR model for change. However, our longer term aim is to begin shaping a Māori Change Management Model with particular reference to the Mana Model for Change that emanated from the Ka Awatea study.

We expect that the project will provide a strong foundation platform for future research that gathers around our research question. How do we nurture individuals and groups to flourish by drawing from the past to inform the future?

The research pertains to Māori and is driven by Māori. The culminating policy/position document will guide transformational culturally responsive changes in encouraging and enhancing sustainable incomes for all Māori in a wide range of workplaces that attribute to ways of being for Māori.