5 July 2011

Media Release

Ten years of language funding in the Waiariki region

The release today of regional statistics that have been accumulated over a 10 year period shows Mā Te Reo is having a significant impact on community driven language revitalisation efforts in the Waiariki region.

The Mā Te Reo fund was established in 2001 to provide financial support to projects that contribute to community based Māori language revitalisation. This initiative places responsibility on iwi, hapū, whānau, Māori communities and Māori organisations to create and develop innovative solutions to what is a national crisis and these factsheets show Māori have responded to that challenge.

“The fact sheets tell the story of the impact of that investment on language revitalisation”, says Chief Executive, Glenis Philip Barbara.
The Mā Te Reo fund supported 79 projects in the Waiariki region. The key findings for the region included:
• 165 Māori language revitalisation projects received Mā Te Reo funding over a ten year period from 2001 – 2010;
• Over $2.3 million was provided by the Mā Te Reo fund for community driven te reo Māori revitalisation initiatives from 2001 – 2010;
• Wānanga reo represents over 58% of the regions Mā Te Reo investment;
• 69% of all funded projects observed an increased use of te reo Māori within their communities;
• 34% of all funded projects indicated that their projects were building community leadership within their iwi, hapū, marae, whānau or community; and
• Almost 30% of all funded projects report that their te reo Māori initiatives prioritised tikanga Māori as part of their te reo Māori delivery.

“Perhaps the most powerful insight gleaned from the information contained across all regional factsheets is that the funding made available by Mā Te Reo has enabled initiatives and projects that are driven by Māori. The ability to be able to not just diagnose language concerns but also resolve them at a local level is a clearly articulated ambition and evidently one that Mā Te Reo meets”

“The net result of this activity – language gain and cultural strength which are the cornerstones for successful Māori development,” says Glenis Philip-Barbara.

ENDS

Waiariki__Fact_Sheet.pdf

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