Good!
We are proud to present work & people productive in the community that inspires us, paves a way toward thriving & aspiration for change.
This, is what good looks like.
Meeting all the milestones with Te Ahu a Turanga
25 January 2024
A new highway around Manawatū Gorge, due for completion next year, is already delivering results through an award-winning approach to working with local iwi. Consents have been granted in record time, with no appeals or regulatory hold-ups, lower-than-expected staff absenteeism and no incidents of serious harm.
Te Ahu a Turanga: Manawatū Tararua Highway became a high-priority build for Waka Kotahi, the NZ Transport Agency, after a massive slip closed the old route in 2017, disrupting lives on both sides of the gorge.
Grant Kauri - Source: supplied
A new route was chosen, but it was “a pretty complex engineering challenge,” Waka Kotahi’s project lead Grant Kauri says. And there were other considerations, not least the interests of five iwi linked to the land and with significant cultural sites in the Tararua and Ruahine ranges, and the Manawatū River itself.
‘We had to build trust, so we had to understand what that means, and the history behind it. It was important to work through it with each iwi to ensure we were aligned with their interests and expectations,” Grant says.
The project team started building relationships from the start, not only with each iwi but collectively. While iwi in this region might have previously interacted one-on-one; they had not worked together before on a major infrastructure project.
The next challenge was ensuring the private organisations designing and constructing the highway - HEB Construction, Fulton Hogan, Aurecon and WSP – embraced the iwi partnership approach. It was all new for them, Grant says, with the usual mix of reactions to the unknown.
Now partnership is reflected at each level of the project’s structure, from those on the tools through to board level. Four iwi members represent the interests of all iwi on the Project Alliance board (of all major players.) An iwi working group works in alignment with the board.
Source: supplied
Reporting to and through them is Kaiārahi Tania Riwai, a leader representing a Directorate of Māori Outcomes, which reports to iwi leads and the project’s director.
All new personnel joining the project are inducted into what iwi partnership means for Te Ahu a Turanga. In a half-day session, they are welcomed by representatives of iwi and the project whānau - including senior leaders, and the Wellbeing and Safety teams.
“This is how we greet everyone,” Tania says. “With iwi hospitality, explanations about significant cultural places along the route and, importantly, our values. These values will be how we work together as a whānau moving forward. “
Whānau - looking after your own, having your brother or sister’s back – is the heart of it. It’s applicable not only to the Māori workforce – who with Pasifika make up about 38 per cent of those engaged on the road – but all involved.
Kaiārahi Tania oversees the approach, ensuring the team walks the talk. She can’t speak highly enough of how it works in practice, and delivers results.
“We said we are going to bring you into our family and look after you. And in return we ask you to respect our place. That’s been the magic.
“It’s in the way we interact every day. We act it. That’s the real magic. We have had great results. People say they have never felt so welcome, loved and seen.”
It was all new to Tania when she joined the team after a period as an academic, also running her own business, following early careers in education and health. She served six months as an apprentice before taking on the role when her predecessor left.
She found a team working to an Alliance focus and framework which, she concluded, could support iwi better. While some iwi were doing well in areas like procurement, education and training and environmental issues, there were opportunities for growth elsewhere.
“Once I was clear on purpose, it was about bringing mātauranga Maori to the space.”
That took process – presentations and papers to the iwi board, and then to the Alliance. Now the key elements are in place - a cultural health monitoring framework and a collective way of working. It was new, and they’re all still learning, “but we’ve made it our own. “
One of the most tangible examples of something different about this project is the Who’s on Location app given to all workers. Each day they self-assess wellbeing against a set of measures using the Te Whare Tapa Whā model.
This describes health and wellbeing as a wharenui/meeting house with four walls. These walls represent taha wairua/spiritual wellbeing, taha hinengaro/mental and emotional wellbeing, taha tinana/physical wellbeing and taha whānau/family and social wellbeing.
Results are monitored by a psychologist, nurse and exercise therapist. If any one of the taha is out of kilter, the worker gets a call and whatever support might be needed.
Was it challenging? “Absolutely,” Tania says. “I was unprepared for the infrastructure environment, for the speed – education and health were more of a slow burn. This had a four-year timeframe and a set budget. We had to get it done.”
Has it been effective? The NZ Diversity Awards judges thought so in 2021 when they awarded the project the Mātaraunga Maori award.
Grant thinks so too. Iwi leadership has made “a massive contribution” to timelines, consenting, environmental impact and budget, he says. And upskilling Māori in infrastructure will be good for the individuals as well as for the sector.
“I’m really proud of the team and how we’re tracking.”
Learn more:
Te Ahu a Turanga Iwi Partnership Video
Diversity Awards video submission for the category of Mātauranga Māori
Case study here:
