MEDIA STATEMENT
WEDNESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2012

Community Research Launches Whānau Ora Research Website

Whānau Ora research, toolkits, resources and researchers as well as whānau success stories will be showcased to a worldwide audience thanks to a new online initiative.

The Tangata Whenua, Community and Voluntary Sector Research Centre – known as Community Research – will launch the Whānau Ora research website at its third annual seminar to be held in Wellington this month (November).

‘Te Anga Mua: Whānau Ora Research Seminar’ takes place at waterfront conference venue Te Wharewaka o Pōneke on Friday November 23 from 9.00 am.

Kataraina Pipi, co-chair of the Tangata Whenua Caucus at Community Research, says the theme of the one-day event is “sharing stories about Whānau Ora, whānau striving for wellbeing and some of the research approaches that support this”.

The Minister for Whānau Ora, Hon Tariana Turia, will launch the website while Whānau Ora Governance Group chair, Professor Sir Mason Durie, is a keynote speaker.

Founded in 2004, Community Research is a national NGO that gathers research about New Zealand’s tangata whenua, community and voluntary sector; shares it with a broader audience via its website; creates a hub for researchers, iwi and community organisations to share their ideas; and advocates for good practice methods in community research.

The new website is being developed over the next 12 months – in partnership with Te Puni Kōkiri – as researchers, providers and whānau share their experiences and learning with others.

“We hope the Whānau Ora research website will lead to an awareness of and use by Māori of community research, particularly those with an interest in action research developments in the Whānau Ora context,” Kataraina Pipi says.

“The seminar will promote shared learning between provider collectives, and between collectives and the tangata whenua, community and voluntary sector as well as better understanding of the benefits of undertaking research and of the methodologies of good community and kaupapa Māori research.”

Te Anga Mua will showcase whānau stories with presentations by whānau and researchers including those involved in Whānau Ora action research. Attendees will include representatives of the Whānau Ora Governance Group, Regional Leadership Groups, provider collectives, partner agencies and researchers as well as community and voluntary sector providers.

For more information about the seminar, go to the website – www.communityresearch.org.nz – or contact event co-ordinator Ariana Frost-Stockdale on 0274 550 599 or email AFrost@eit.ac.nz.

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