Kotahi te kōhao o te ngira e kuhuna ai te miro mā, te miro pango, me te miro whero. There is only one eye to the needle through which the white, red, and black threads must pass - Kingi Tāwhio
Like the threads within the whakatauki above from Tāwhiao, the second Māori king, the three strands mentioned below seek to convey the avenues by which Ōtara Health travels; delivering services, supporting community, and enabling and empowering change wherever it is that change needs to occur. Together, they form the necessary elements for Ōtara Health to achieve its vision for Ōtara which is: Together, Vibrant and Strong.
The first thread Whānau Matauranga (Family/Parenting Education), serves as a Pou (Support Pole) for the organisation's new and existing parental/education programmes which include HIPPY, LUE and Teen Parenting programmes.
The organisation’s neighbourhood support programme, Kaitohutohu, Neighbourhood Support and the AWHI healthy housing assessment service form the second service thread under the Pou of Papa Kainga (Community Service).
The third service thread to emerge is under the Pou of Hapori Whanui (Community Systems). Work under this thread saw the organisation’s management and staff taking a systemic approach toward improving services within Ōtara, working across the different systems to establish an environment for a new way of thinking and working among service providers both government and non-government.
Facilitating collaborative engagement, applying a mix of Twyford’s ‘Power of Co’ and Mark Friedman’s RBA framework was helpful in the organisation’s recent work involving Nga Mana Whenua o Tamaki Makaurau and three Local Boards who together are developing a plan for improving Māori input into Local Board decision making. The work provided a valuable opportunity for building capability amongst Ōtara Health’s community engagement and facilitation team. The learning from this new way of thinking and doing is what Ōtara Health will leverage off in 2019-2020 when it will support the Ōtara community together with stakeholders, to establish a range of collaborative and innovative community-led initiatives under a common agenda.