Tēnā koutou

An evaluation of the Whānau Integration, Innovation and Engagement Fund (the WIIE Fund) administered by Te Puni Kōkiri was carried out earlier this year. The WIIE Fund is part of the broader Whānau Ora work Te Puni Kōkiri leads, while the WIIE Fund evaluation is part of an a broader series of reviews and evaluations Te Puni Kōkiri carries out on a planned basis.

Te Puni Kōkiri released a copy of its WIIE Fund evaluation report and associated information to Radio New Zealand following a request made under the Official Information Act. This formed the basis for stories which featured on Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report earlier today. Radio New Zealand invited a spokesperson for Te Puni Kōkiri to give a pre-recorded interview for use in its story. Te Puni Kōkiri declined to do so but did provide Radio New Zealand with the following statement, which was used as part of RNZ’s report this morning:

Te Puni Kōkiri comment in response to RNZ query on WIIE Fund

Te Puni Kōkiri is pleased with the performance of the WIIE Fund, over its first two years, and the contribution the fund makes to the wider Whānau Ora Approach. In that time approximately 33,000 people, across more than 2,000 families and whānau, have accessed support from the fund to put together development goals and plans for their members.

An independent evaluation Te Puni Kōkiri commissioned on this work found that the bringing whānau together, backed up by good quality facilitation, is transformative in itself. This is a positive indication of the impact that the fund is having but gathering a stronger evidence base will be a priority for the fund, and the wider Whānau Ora effort, going forward.

As is standard practice Te Puni Kōkiri is developing its internal management response and plan to refine its WIIE fund procedures and practices. This plan incorporates the findings from the WIIE fund evaluation as well as planned internal reviews and the annual audit of Te Puni Kōkiri’s performance carried out as a matter of course.

Following the Morning Report story Te Puni Kōkiri received a number of enquiries from other media outlets and members of the public for details on the evaluation. In response to those enquiries Te Puni Kōkiri has now posted the WIIE fund evaluation report and associated information on its website for interested parties to readily access.

Most recent performance information received

One of the key themes to Radio New Zealand’s reportage was a concern to see comprehensive performance and outcome data for Whānau Ora. This has always been a key requirement for Te Puni Kōkiri and a range of information gathering and performance reporting processes have been developed, trialled and bedded in since Whānau Ora started. The most recent of those is an Information Collection trial which was piloted by a group of seven providers and provider collectives this year. The performance information collected through this trial extends beyond the WIIE Fund and takes in whānau satisfaction with services and support offered to them as whānau.

The report from this trial is also available on this website. What is most pleasing is that, similar to the WIIE Fund evaluation, the trial indicates early positive changes for whānau occurring as a result of Whānau Ora.

These changes are evident across whānau collective capacity, and indications of improved social, cultural and economic circumstances for the whānau involved. The report also affirms that the Whānau Ora providers and collectives involved in the information collection trial are transforming to whānau-centred service delivery. The highlights in the report include:

• Whānau are actively engaged in Whānau Ora:
  During the period of the trial over 300 new whānau were directly engaged with the trialling providers while, in total, 800 whānau clients developed or progressed their whānau plans.

• Whānau Ora is leading to improvements for whānau:
  The trial found that the participating whānau have high levels of satisfaction with services and support they have received from Whānau Ora provider collectives, leading to positive changes for the whānau members.

• Whānau planning is an effective mechanism for engaging whānau and strengthening capacity:
  The process of whānau coming together to engage in planning appears effective for building whānau capacity, even before whānau begin progressing towards their goals.

• Whānau aspirations are inter-related but there are often multiple barriers to achieving aspirations:
  Although the lives of whānau are complex and multi-dimensional, it appears the Whānau Ora approach supports whānau to progress towards aspirations holistically.

Kia ora

Download Te Puni Kōkiri's response to the Radio New Zealand OIA [PDF, 3.4mb]

Download Tracking Whānau Ora Outcomes [PDF, 1.2mb]