Whānau Ora is a culturally-based, and whānau-centred approach to wellbeing focused on whānau as a whole, as the decision-makers who determine their goals and aspirations.
Building on the strengths and capabilities of whānau and wrapping the necessary services and support around them to get better outcomes and create positive changes in areas such as health, education, housing, employment, improved standards of living and cultural identity.
Whānau are supported to fully realise the confidence, mana and the belief in self, family and community.
Whānau-centred
Shifting the focus from ‘services for individuals’ to ‘wrapping services around whānau’ takes a more holistic view of family wellbeing.
Placing whānau at the centre allows those who are often overwhelmed or disempowered to determine what success is to them – encouraging them to develop their own solutions and build their capacity and resilience to become self-managing.
Whānau often have complex needs. Specialist Navigators assist them in accessing integrated care and support. When obstacles stand in their way, they are supported to move from crisis into planning for their future.
Delivery by Whānau Ora partners
Delivering Whānau Ora through Non-Government Organisation’s means decision-making happens free from an overly risk-averse and micro-managed environment.
Community-based Whānau Ora partners sit in the communities they support. They can use local knowledge and adapt to issues happening in their community. It helps grow adaptive ideas, innovative thinking and solutions when it comes to providing local support.
Whānau Ora have specialist staff who act as navigators and advocate for whānau. They work with whānau to find the services and support needed.
Our Commissioning Model
The Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency has served the Te Ika a Māui (north iIsland) since 2014 and has the largest Māori provider network in Aotearoa. We are here to support the aspirations of whānau by commissioning kaupapa that support whānau to achieve their goals by working alongside our Whānau Ora partners to build on the strengths and assets of whānau and their communities.
Commissioning activities aim to achieve whānau outcomes. Outcomes mean whānau will enjoy good health, experience economic wellbeing, be knowledgeable and well informed, be culturally secure, resilient, self-managing and able to participate fully in te ao Māori and in wider society.
Standard funding models
Standard funding models invest in tightly defined services and activities that are specific to a service and programme. They focus on unit costs, prescriptive activity, targets and exacting outputs making services rigid with little flexibility to respond to changing circumstances and needs.
Deficit-focused data requirements ask what’s wrong and how to reduce it – creating a missed opportunity to take a more preventative and strengths-based approach. A hierarchical structure sees professionals sitting above service users in decision-making, leaving service users divorced from the design and delivery of their services. Instead, decision-makers are those disconnected from the user experience of the services.
Our funding model
Our commissioning for outcomes approach invests in social outcomes for whānau (and the wider community). Identifying needs and issues happens within communities and whānau who also co-produce methods of addressing these needs and concerns.
We help to create long-term social value by focusing on the bigger picture of issues and trends to help us build awareness, and take a more preventative approach to existing and emerging issues.
Our strength-based thinking of data means we explore the needs and assets of whānau (and communities). This allows us to build a picture of what works to lever current strengths and build upon weaknesses.
Because we co-produce (commissioning model, programmes) everyone has a stake in success making success more likely.
We stimulate innovation by moving away from over-specified services and asking Whānau Ora partners, whānau, and communities (who use services) to explore ideas and activities to help achieve success. Ultimately service users are best placed to say how the service is working and what could be done better.
