Making Services Reachable: He Waka Tapu case study
In 2013 the Institute of Environmental Science and Research Limited (ESR) was successful along with their partners in obtaining 3 years of research funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). The aim of the research was to develop a practical model or models to enable constructive engagement between services and hard-to-reach populations. Our research recognised that ‘hard-to-reach’ is a problematic way of thinking about potential clients of a social service. The ‘hard to reach’ may not see themselves as ‘hard-to-reach’, and it may be services that are ‘hard to reach’. Our research focused on ‘making services reachable’ and took an approach which highlights how the uptake of service emerges from the interaction between a social service, a client and the client’s family, plus the wider service ecosystem. This report details the findings of one of the three case studies within the research, with He Waka Tapu (HWT), a Christchurch based kaupapa Māori social service provider (indigenous social service provider). They had been identified as being successful in engaging with ‘hard-to-reach’ populations with a focus on Māori (indigenous population of New Zealand).