Extract from the Executive summary

Background

The Improving Māori input into local board decision-making initiative (IMI) was initiated in 2015 by Auckland Council’s Local Board Services department, in recognition that improvements needed to be made to ensure that local boards were meeting their specific obligations under the Local Government Act 2002, and to enhance partnerships and relationships between Māori and local boards.

The initiative brought together representatives from four southern local boards and 13 mana whenua entities with interests in those local board areas. At the outset of IMI, participants co-designed eight actions that aimed to provide direction and impetus, and which continue to inform its work programme. For the purpose of this evaluation these were grouped into three areas: training, whakawhanaungatanga (relationships), and shared decision-making.

Governance of the initiative is provided by a Project Reference Group (PRG) and the actions delivered by the Project Delivery Group (PDG). An external organisation, Ōtara Health, provides IMI’s secretarial and facilitation functions.

No specific evaluation or monitoring framework was developed at the start of the initiative. However, in late 2020 the PRG requested that an evaluation be undertaken. Members of Auckland Council’s Local Board Services worked with researchers from the Research and Evaluation Unit (RIMU) to identify the following evaluation objectives:

• to explore whether the initiative has met its original objective and goals
• to understand the effectiveness of the initiative governance and delivery
• to identify whether any improvements can be made to the initiative to make it more effective.

Data for this evaluation has been collected through a literature scan of IMI documentation and
interviews with IMI members. ...

Auckland Council technical report, TR2021/17

Auckland Council, July 2021