Te Whakamotuhaketanga Hapū (TWH) Strategy (the Strategy) is a three-year strategy operated by the Department of Internal Affairs’ (DIA) Local Government and Community Branch (LG&C). The idea of LG&C working alongside whānau, hapū, iwi and Māori organisations in achieving their aspirations has been defined as whakamotuhaketanga. The two overarching goals of the Strategy are (1) facilitating self-determination (tino rangatiratanga) and self-sustainability for participating rōpū and (2) promoting responsiveness to Māori within DIA. A key focus of the Strategy is on how services are delivered to Māori, and judging success from a Māori perspective. There was no dedicated funding set aside for TWH initiatives; the Strategy is primarily about reducing barriers for rōpū to access LG&C services and ensuring LG&C have the capability to establish effective working relationships with rōpū.
Key Purposes of the Stage 1 Evaluation
This is a two-stage evaluation. Stage 1 – a design and process evaluation – was designed to provide a baseline for tracking progress towards rōpū achieving their desired outcomes, as well as reporting on the implementation of the Strategy itself.
The evaluation had the following key objective: To assess the extent to which the Strategy is helping whānau, hapū and iwi to achieve their aspirations of selfsustainability.
Through a study of six selected communities, together with input from personnel involved in implementing the TWH Strategy, the Stage 1 evaluation provides information on two key aspects of the Strategy:
- Whether LG&C has been able to put into place processes that encourage TWH kaupapa within the group
- Whether communities undertaking projects adopting the TWH kaupapa are on track to achieve their goals of self-sustainability in the short- to medium-term.
To provide information in the areas required, the evaluation needed to assess three main components of the Strategy:
- The Strategy concept and model (e.g. appropriateness and effectiveness of the kaupapa, values, structures, systems, processes, personnel, roles) – through a design evaluation
- The implementation of the Strategy to date, including resourcing, strengths, success factors, issues and obstacles, problem-management strategies – through process evaluation
- The achievements, outcomes and other impacts of both the Strategy and the initiatives to date – through preliminary impact/outcome evaluation.