Promoting Māori into Key Industries
With the Post Treaty Settlment Era dawning, the capacity and capability of iwi, hapu and other Māori entities to take full advantage of significant Māori economic development gains is limited.
In particular, Māori are seriously under-represented at supervisory and managerial levels in key sectors of the economy where Māori have a significant presence in other respects — for example, fishing, forestry and farming. In many instances, assets are owned by Māori but, for a variety of reasons, are managed, controlled, and strategies are led by non-Māori.
Te Pūtea Whakatupu Trust has focused its priorities on two key areas:
- higher levels of educational achievement amongst Māori and
- higher levels of workforce participation by Māori in middle and senior management in key sectors of the economy.
Priority b. is focussed on helping lift the capacity and capability of Māori to effectively participate in the management and development of Māori owned resources.
These solutions include:
Research: The directors are conscious of a relative absence of detailed information about the participation rates of Māori in sectors of the economy which are of particular importance to Māori. For this reason, the directors will invest in research which informs future funding decisions. To this end, the Trust will hold a biannual national conference to develop Māori Industry Futures. The conference will aim to identify strategic goals and aspirations in key industries and to plan strategies for educational achievement and skills development to support the achievement of these aims.
Projects: These projects will be:
- able to accelerate the development of practical solutions in the areas of improved Māori involvement in senior levels of key industries;
- innovative, sustainable and transferable;
- leverage off other programmes and other forms of funding;
- of a suitable scale with the potential to result in high social and economic impacts; and
- demonstrate linkages with communities, iwi, industry stakeholders and other relevant organisations and groups.
Scholarships: As part of an ongoing commitment to training and development in the fishing industry, the directors will also continue to fund scholarships in the industry, as has been the case for the past few years. These scholarships directly improve the participation of Māori in a key primary industry. The scholarships programme is under review this year to realign future delivery with the new strategic focus.
