This week Philippa Reed from Auckland Council joins us as a guest blogger.
Continuing the theme of celebrating Matariki and Te Wiki o Te Māori, our chief executive at Auckland Council, Stephen Town, issued encouragement and a challenge in his weekly newsletter for us all at council to start giving Te Reo a go – and not just in Māori Language week.
“As ambassadors for Tāmaki Makaurau we’ve got a responsibility to walk hand in hand as Māori, Pakeha and as Aucklanders. So please be brave, be courageous and join us on our journey to support better outcomes for Māori.”
These are not just symbolic gestures. In 2012 we were issued with a report card which showed Auckland Council was not doing enough to support good outcomes for Māori. Since then Te Waka Angamua has developed a Māori Responsiveness Framework – and each department within council and the CCO’s (council-controlled companies) is tasked with developing a Māori Responsiveness Plan with actions and measures relevant to their own areas. These form part of council’s overall contribution to building stronger engagement with communities, better participation in decision-making and meeting statutory obligations as well as responsibilities under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Within the People and Capability team, our first challenge was to establish how many people in council identify as Māori and what their workplace profile looks like, compared to other ethnic groups. Measurement of ethnicity is controversial. But accessing and monitoring data in relation to diversity is just as important as having financial information, if we are going to make ourselves accountable for effecting change. And we need to ensure that data is accurate and meaningful.
Philippa Reed
Auckland Council, DiverseNZ Inc Funding Partner
If you’re interested on how and what organisations are measuring in the diversity space, please email nadia.botha@diversenz.org for information on our Monitoring and Accountability Workshop, 4 August in Auckland.