enhancing food security and physical activity for maori, pacific and ...

Enhancing Food Security and Physical Activity for Māori, Pacific and Low-income PeoplesKey informant interviewsInformants reported that many of the current programmes and policies were failingMāori. Specifically it was stated that ‘New Zealand hasn’t done much in the “as Māori”space for physical activity’. The term ‘as Māori’ was explained as being either anenvironment like the marae or a philosophical space.Two informants commented on the lack of cultural capacity in mainstream physicalactivity programmes. One commented that programmes currently offered by theRegional Sports Trusts ‘are not responsive to the diverse realities of many Māorifamilies’ such as access to facilities, the time of day that the programmes are offered,safety issues, and affordability. The Pacific informant commented that a barrier forPacific people is ‘cultural shyness’ and that people who run, or plan to run physicalactivity programmes for Pacific people need to consider this when planning or sharingfacilities with mainstream use. As they noted, ‘we don’t work out in our bikini in the pool’.Two key themes around capacity development emerged from the interviews, one, theneed for up-skilling the workforce, and two, utilising a community development approachto best achieve the up-skilling, as well as other aspects of capacity development. Oneinformant noted that, ‘there needs to be an integrated multi-agency approach thatincludes more training and access to funding with a community development approach’.Up-skilling the workforceSpecific areas of skill development were identified. For example, one informant reportedthat there was currently ‘a large gap in training at more practical levels’. Skill shortagessuch as coaching, event management, administration, coordination, advocacy, andtechnical skills such as those needed by fitness and aerobics instructors wererecommended by two informants. Another informant suggested including training forskills in dance styles such as crumping, to allow young people to feel more comfortableabout coming onto the marae to participate in marae-based programmes. The Pacificinformant stressed the importance of advanced first aid training as they saw that Pacificpeople were often injured when starting physical activity programmes.Two informants stressed the importance of linking training with qualifications and theneed for a career pathway in physical activity for Māori who have qualifications in sportand recreation. One informant also saw value in extending these pathways intomanagement and community development areas. The other informant believed thatqualifications should be offered to whānau, hapu and iwi. ‘This should include amechanism to allow the knowledge and skills to be shared’.One informant commented that the voluntary workforce for Māori physical activity waslarge and connected through whānaungatanga (family relationships). There were seento be issues around maintaining voluntary input, such as people being ‘time poor’, andthis informant saw the need to increase recognition of the value of this workforce.Utilising a community development approachThree of the four informants identified community development as a key process fordeveloping capacity. ‘Community development is the model that will be most successfulfor getting more Māori physically active’. Comments included that ‘strategies shouldallow communities to become self-sufficient’, and ‘that the most successful trainingprogrammes for community workers follow a community development approach’. One163