LA GRAN LABOR DEL LÍDER ES PREPARAR NUEVOS LÍDERES

The ultimate aim of Māori development is to add value to Māori lives, Māori knowledge and Māori society (Durie, 2003a). The principle of adding value fundamentally differs from deficit focused frameworks premised on disparity reduction. Although an element of Māori development models, a disparities focus suggests that once the disparities

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between Māori and other population groups are addressed, Māori development comes to an end (Durie, 2003a). However, Māori development is not a finite process; it has no end point.

Māori development agendas operate across many different spheres. At the heart of all lie the self determined aspirations of Māori. Self determination is a key indigenous aspiration (Durie, 2004c), often described as a demonstration of autonomy over cultural wellbeing (Bishop & Glynn, 1999; Smith, 1999). Contemporary Māori aspirations rest on Māori values, the realities of Māori experience and worldviews, and the need to retain the distinct identity that comes from a unique heritage, common journeys, familiar environment and a set of shared aspirations (Durie, 2003a). Māori development aspirations are organized into two broad categories:

1. Ability to participate, as Māori, in Te Ao Māori; and

2. Ability to participate, as Māori, in New Zealand society (and beyond) (Durie, 2003a).

The dual aims of Māori development center on the development of Māori people, as Māori. Outcomes which result from Māori development models, whether relating to economic, education, health or social development, will support and strengthen these two broad aspirations (Durie, 2003a).

How do Māori aspirations and outcomes differ from those desired by other groups? Durie (2005f) suggested that in many respects Māori individuals share similar aspirations to other New Zealanders. For example, at a broad level common outcomes will be desired in relation to personal health and welfare. However, there are specific outcomes which are desired by Māori on the basis of aspirations, values and affiliations that align Māori with each other (Durie, 2005f). Or put more simply, specific outcomes are desired on the basis of aspirations which stem from being Māori; what Durie (2005f) has labeled the ‘indigeneity’ factor.

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The United Nations has reported that worldwide there are an estimated 300 million indigenous people in more than 70 countries (United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 2006a). They stated that due to the diversity of indigenous peoples, the United Nations has not adopted an official definition of the term ‘indigenous’. However, they proposed the following elements as fundamental to the meaning of indigenous:

• Self-identification as indigenous peoples at the individual level and accepted by the community as their member

• Historical continuity with pre-colonial and/or pre-settler societies • Strong link to territories and surrounding natural resources • Distinct social, economic or political systems

• Distinct language, culture and beliefs • Form non-dominant groups of society

• Resolve to maintain and reproduce their ancestral environments and systems as distinctive peoples and communities (United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 2006a).

The term indigenous ‘peoples’ as opposed to indigenous ‘people’ is deliberately used to imply that there are distinct groups of indigenous people, each of which is a collective of ‘people’ with distinct characteristics and legal character. Indigenous peoples have retained social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2001). Fleras and Elliott (1992) viewed Māori aspirations as typical of many indigenous populations, representing a common desire for full participation within societies without loss of distinctiveness as indigenous peoples.

The indigeneity factor recognizes that although indigenous peoples have different historical backgrounds and live in different circumstances, they also share a number of commonalities (Durie, 2005b). Aligning with the views of the United Nations, this principle does not exclude the needs of other cultural groups, but recognizes the

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determination of indigenous people to retain their own distinctive cultural identity and affirm a unique place for indigenous people within a nation (Durie, 2004b). The establishment of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in 2000 represented an important milestone internationally in terms of validating the specific positioning of indigenous peoples (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2006).

While in the past a primary characteristic of indigenous peoples experience might have been assumed to be experiences of colonisation and its impacts, this is no longer the dominant focus (Durie, 2005d). The primary characteristic is a strong sense of unity with the environment (Durie, 2005b). Other characteristics which resulted from this relationship with the environment included: celebration of the relationship in culture and custom; a system of knowledge, methodologies and environmental ethics which emerge from the relationship; the relationship facilitates balanced economic growth; and the relationship contributes to the evolution and use of a unique first language not spoken anywhere else in the world (Durie, 2005b). Clearly, the ‘indigeneity factor’ represents a core element of Māori development aspirations.

Māori development themes have and continue to be visibly expressed across a number of sectors, most importantly in health and education. In relation to health, in the 1970s there was growing concern from Māori communities that the narrow focus on physical illness did not provide a framework able to fully understand issues of relevance to Māori (Durie, 1998). In the 1980s it became clear that Māori aspirations for health were not the same as those of health professionals or administrators. Māori communities described Māori health within the context Māori development frameworks, emphasising the importance of cultural values and beliefs, though not necessarily discounting the benefits of Western medical practice (Durie, 1998).

Hui Whakaoranga, the first national Māori health hui held in March 1984, strongly advocated for Māori-delivered health initiatives. By this time it had become widely established that culturally contexted understandings, for example taha wairua, taha

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hinengaro, taha tinana and taha whānau, and the integral relationships between them, formed the basis of preferred definitions of health and wellbeing for Māori (Durie, 1998). A seminal research project undertaken by the Māori Women’s Welfare League stated:

To say that a person is a psychosomatic unity, a personality formed jointly by physical and mental processes, only partly embraces the Māori concept. A study of Māori health must follow more than two strands. Tinana is the physical element of the individual and hinengaro the mental state, but these do not make up the whole. Wairua, the spirit and whānau, the immediate and wider family, complete the shimmering depths of the health pounamu, the precious touchstone of Māoridom (Murchie, 1984, p. 81)

A number of Māori health models which encapsulated these understandings became prominent in the 1980s. These included Te Whare Tapa Whā (Durie, 1985), Te Wheke (Pere, 1984), and Ngā Pou Mana (Henare, 1988). Although originating from within a health context, indicative of the interconnectedness of Māori worldviews, these are essentially models of complete wellbeing, with applicability well beyond the health sector (Durie, 1994).

Māori development over the past two decades has been vast, with greater Māori involvement in service delivery, improved access to services, higher participation rates in education at all levels, the provision of immersion Māori education at all levels, significantly increased membership in professional occupations, major increases in native speakers, reemergence of hapū and iwi as agents for Māori development, and settlement of Treaty of Waitangi claims (Durie, 2005f). In relation to health, policies are beginning to demonstrate a much enhanced appreciation of how alignment of health policy with Māori development aspirations will lead to health outcomes which are meaningful for Māori. For example, the New Zealand Health Strategy (Ministry of Health, 2000) recognises that the ongoing relationship between Māori and the Government is based on the premise that Māori should continue to live in Aotearoa as Māori. He Korowai

Oranga: the New Zealand Māori Health Strategy (Ministry of Health, 2002) identified

‘Whānau Ora’, that is Māori families achieving their maximum health and wellbeing, as its overall aim. Recognizing whānau as the foundation of Māori society, the outcomes sought by He Korowai Oranga included that whānau experience physical, mental, emotional wellbeing, have control over their own destinies, have better quality of life,

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and are able to participate in te ao Māori and wider New Zealand society (Ministry of Health, 2002). These outcomes are driven by Māori aspirations for wellbeing.

In relation to education, the Government and Māori have discussed Māori aspirations for education over several decades via the Hui Taumata Matauranga process. These hui have endorsed three broad goals of education for Māori. Consistent with iwi and hapū aspirations these goals were: enabling Māori to live as Māori, facilitating participation of Māori as citizens of the world; and contributing towards good health and a higher standard of living for Māori (Durie, 2003b).

These three goals form the basis of the Ministry of Education Māori Education Strategy. This strategy aims to strengthen the capability of the education system to take account of and work effectively to achieve the educational aspirations of Māori (Ministry of Education, 2005a). These goals also underpin the Group Special Education Māori Strategy (Ministry of Education, 2005b).

Māori aspirations centre on the desire to participate, as Māori, in both te ao Māori, and in New Zealand society. Decades of determination and dedication by Māori communities has resulted in these aspirations being accepted and explicitly recognized in key government policy frameworks.