Introduction
Hei ngā maunga, hei ngā reo, hei ngā iwi, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa. Tēnā koutou i ō tātau aituā maha e hinga atu nā, e takoto mai rā i ō tātau marae. Koutou te hunga para i te huarahi, haere koutou. Hoki atu ki te okiokinga mō te tangata i te wāhi ngaro. Tātau e takatū tonu nei hei urupā mō rātau mā, tēnā anō tātau.
In recent years, iwi and hapū have been in the vanguard of Māori development, working to address past injustices and to build new futures.
Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori recognises that iwi and hapū can be a powerful force in the revitalisation of the Māori language as well, and we have prepared this brief booklet to encourage that process.
The booklet provides some broad guidelines to iwi and hapū about longterm planning for the Māori language. All of the guidelines may not be appropriate in some cases; Te Taura Whiri is aware that many iwi have already initiated Māori language development strategies and begun to implement them. In such cases, iwi and hapū can provide valuable information and insights into the process to others, including Te Taura Whiri, based on their experiences.
This booklet is expressly aimed at iwi and hapū. However, there is much information that will be useful for other Māori organisations that seek to increase the knowledge and use of the Māori language within their affairs.
Te Taura Whiri recognises the importance of ongoing support and interaction with iwi and hapū in the development and implementation of Māori language planning. Accordingly, we look forward to forging new relationships with iwi and hapū, and to strengthening existing relationships.
Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tenā koutou, tēnā tātau katoa.
The Māori language in the 21st Century
The new century carries the prospect of great change and technological advances. For iwi and hapū there will be many exciting challenges and opportunities. Where does the Māori language fit into our thinking about the 21st century? Will the Māori language be important? Who will be speaking Māori, where and why? These questions are not just idle speculations. They are real issues, and only Māori can provide the answers.
In the years to come, our children currently enrolled in Kōhanga Reo, Kura Kaupapa Māori and Māori immersion programmes will be adults. They will be starting their own families. Will they choose to speak Māori to each other, and to their children? Will they send
their children to Kōhanga Reo and Kura Kaupapa Māori?
The answers to these questions are in the future, but we can help ourselves, and our children now to address questions about the role of the Māori language in their lives and with their new families. By planning longterm, we can provide directions for our children and share our ambitions for the Māori language with them.
In modern society, it is tempting to look for instant solutions. However, language revitalisation is a long-term process. Miracles won't happen overnight. Some experts have suggested that language revitalisation can take up to 60 years in favourable conditions. It will take time to increase knowledge of te reo, and to change the way that people perceive Māori, that is to 'resocialise' people to see Māori as an ordinary medium of communication.
Iwi and hapū planning for the Māori language
In recent surveys, Māori people have indicated overwhelming support for the revitalisation of the Māori language. The Māori language activities undertaken in a range of fields indicate the large degree of goodwill towards the language that exists in the Māori community and wider society.
However, the Māori language needs more than goodwill and positive attitudes if it is to survive as an ordinary medium of communication. People must choose to speak Māori on a regular basis, as a normal feature of their everyday lives. Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori believes iwi and hapū are in a unique position to transform the determination of people for the Māori language into positive results. Long-term planning and action will support this process.
Iwi and hapū are powerful structures in Māori society and provide focal points for Māori leadership and activities. Many important community institutions are directly controlled by iwi and hapū including marae, church groups and land trusts. What's more, many iwi have reclaimed the control of significant communal assets.
Iwi and hapū can be motivating forces in encouraging Māori people to think about the place of the Māori language in their lives, and to increase their use of Māori on an everyday basis. However, this will not happen by accident. It is necessary to plan, and to take action
There is no single planning formula that will work for all iwi and hapū. Each iwi and hapū has a unique heritage and each exists in unique circumstances. Accordingly, iwi and hapū are encouraged to develop their own Māori language plans to reflect their own Māori language heritage and current circumstances.
There are, however, some common steps in developing Māori language plans.
Long-term planning
Long-term planning can provide direction and focus for a group, and
ensure that everyone is working to a common objective that is well understood.
It is possible to see where there are strengths and weaknesses, and where it is necessary to take further action. You can also measure what has been achieved and assess how close you are to the overall objective.
Begin your long-term planning by asking;
- what do we want to achieve and by when?
- where are we now?
- what are our short-term goals for moving from our present position to our desired position?
- what are the tasks to achieve short-term goals?
- what is our timetable for the tasks we have set?
- who is the key person in our organisation who will be responsible for
managing the process
- how will we monitor our progress and inform interested parties?
Now, take action. Begin your long-term planning.
Setting your objectives
The first step is setting an objective. Put simply, what do iwi and hapū want to achieve with the Māori language? This question can be looked at in a number of ways. It is possible for you to set your objective in terms of;
- numbers; how many iwi and hapū members speak Māori?
- locations; where do iwi and hapū members speak Māori?
- tikanga; can we perform certain tikanga in Māori (eg karanga, whaikōrero, waiata at marae)
The objective must be expressed clearly and succinctly. Then, explain the objective to iwi and hapū members so that they can see how they are involved.
Some useful information about setting Māori language objectives for iwi and hapū can be found in;
Te Puni Kōkiri. 1999. Te Tūāoma. The Māori language: the steps that have been taken. Te Puni Kōkiri. Wellington.
Jeffrey Waite. 1992. Aoteareo: speaking for ourselves. Learning Media. Wellington.
Pakake Winiata. 1996 Tā te iwi whakatakoto kaupapa e ora mai ai te reo Māori, in Report on the proceedings of Te Hui Taumata Reo Māori Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, Wellington.
Prof. Whata Winiata. 1984 The Raukawa Tribal Planning Experience and Health, in Hui Whakaoranga: Māori Health Planning Workshop Dept. of Health, Wellington
Where are we currently?
An important part of setting a realistic objective is establishing the base you are starting from. Begin with the existing building blocks — that is, your iwi and hapū, and the Māori language skills and resources they possess.
By looking at where your iwi and hapū are with the Māori language, you can map out the difference between where you are and where you want to be in the future. This will help you to set targets and develop strategies to meet the targets.
Some important information about the Māori language skills and resources within your iwi and hapū can be found by asking the following questions;
- how many people in our iwi and hapū speak Māori?
- how fluent are they?
- how often do they speak Māori?
- why do iwi and hapū members speak Māori?
- where do iwi and hapū members speak Māori?
- how can iwi and hapū members increase their Māori language knowledge?
- how many of our iwi and hapū children attend Kōhanga Reo and Kura Kaupapa?
- how many iwi and hapū members have access to a Māori radio station?
- how often is Māori used at our marae?
- how often is Māori used in our rūnanga?
By getting answers to these questions, you can build up a profile of the Māori language among your iwi and hapū.
Te Taura Whiri and Te Puni Kōkiri have done some work in this area, and they will be able to provide advice and support to help you.
As you undertake research about the Māori language in your own iwi and hapū, you will find some useful general sources of information about Māori language knowledge and use among iwi and hapū in;
Richard Benton. 1991. The Māori language: dying or reviving. NZCER. Wellington.
Te Puni Kōkiri. 1998. The National Māori Language Survey. Te Puni Kōkiri. Wellington.
Statistics New Zealand. Census '96: Māori. Statistics New Zealand. Wellington.
Setting your short-term goals and work programme
When you have established the overall objectives for your iwi and hapū, you can plan how to move from your present situation to your desired situation. We recommend that you approach this in terms of a series of short-term goals that tie in to your overall objective.
What are short-term goals?
Short-term goals are the link between the overall objective and the everyday lives of iwi and hapū members. By setting short-term goals, you can establish concrete targets that are tangible and that people can focus on straight away.
In setting the short-term goals, think laterally.
Many people think that Māori language planning involves Māori immersion education; this is an important issue, but it is possible for iwi and hapū planning to influence many more areas. You may wish to consider short-term goals about;
- Māori language at your marae
- Māori in the homes of iwi and hapū members
- Māori at the offices of your Rūnanga or Iwi Authority
- Māori language education for iwi members (children and adults)
- Links with local Kōhanga Reo and Kura Kaupapa Māori
- Māori in the local community
- Māori language in the local District and/or City Councils
- Māori language at local libraries
Developing short-term goals that build on existing resources, and aim towards the long-term objectives, is the hardest part of the planning process. It is hard to say what the short-term goals should be, and how these can be achieved. We encourage iwi and hapū to spend time thinking carefully about this area.
You may choose to take a low key approach and set goals that are easy to manage and achieve. This way you can develop experience and confidence in planning and implementation.
Every activity, and every endeavour, no matter the size, makes an important contribution to the growth of the Māori language.
As noted earlier, each iwi and hapū is unique, and will need to develop objectives and short-term goals that suit your own situations, resources and ambitions for the Māori language.
Developing a work programme
When you have prepared your short-term goals, develop a work programme that sets out what needs to happen in order to fulfil the shortterm goals. This is 'nuts and bolts' type planning.
At this stage, you need to think about things like:
- what activities you want to undertake to fulfil the short-term goals (eg wānanga reo, mōteatea classes, providing information to marae whānau);
- what preparation do you need to do for the activities (eg book the marae, photocopy material, buy kai);
- what people do you need on board (eg kaumātua, teachers, ringawera);
- how do we advertise the activity to the people and get them on board with the kaupapa.
Implementing your plan
When you are developing a Māori language plan, think about how you will implement it. The work programme must have activities that can be realistically achieved.
Once you have prepared your work programme, look around your community and see what exists to help you. For the Māori language, the most important resource is people.
Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori recommends that iwi and hapū nominate a person, or a group, that are responsible for developing and actioning the Māori language plan and ensuring the work programme happens on time.
Our motivation for implementing strategic plans often fluctuates. People are often involved in other events and activities; in such circumstances it is sometimes necessary to put aside the kaupapa of the strategic plan. It is often difficult to pick it up again.
However, if there is a person or group of people responsible for implementing the plan and ensuring the work programme happens, this will help to increase the motivation and commitment of iwi and hapū members to the work programme.
Funding
To do some of the activities in your work programme, you may need funding to cover expenses. Once you have worked out how much money you need, it is possible to generate funding from different sources.
You may wish to pay for your Māori language activities from within your existing resources.
Alternatively, you could apply for the various grants available from the Lotteries Grants Board, local community trusts and from other sources. The Department of Internal Affairs has produced a book called The Link Guide to Community Funding: A guide to funding for community organisations from Government agencies and the Lottery Grants Board (1995)
This is available from Link Centres in larger towns, or from writing to the Department of Internal Affairs, P.O. Box 805, Wellington.
You may also wish to approach some local businesses you have good relations with, to discuss sponsorship of some Māori language activities. If you are looking for sponsorship, know how much money you are looking for, and what for, and think about what you can offer the sponsor in return.
He Taonga Te Reo in 1995 showed that there are many different kinds of funding available to support te reo among our communities. You can get more information about the funding sources of He Taonga Te Reo from the:
Annual Report of the Māori Language Commission 1995-96. Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori. Wellington.
Keeping track of progress
It is important to keep track of the progress that you are making with your plan, so that you can assess whether you are achieving your goals and objectives and heading in the right direction. This way, you can celebrate your successes and review you plans to accommodate changing circumstances.
It is possible to monitor and evaluate your progress at two levels. At one level, you can track the outputs of your work programme, using an auditing process. Have you done the things that you said you would do in the work programme? Were you pleased with the way that they turned out? Did they provide the results that you expected? Did you meet your budget? It is useful to keep track of achievements in this way so that you can show immediate progress to iwi and hapū members, and to possible sponsors.
At the second level, you can track the outcomes of your overall objectives. Are you getting closer to the goals and objectives that you set for the iwi and hapū? How can you measure your progress towards those goals and objectives?
Monitoring and evaluation is usually left out of the initial planning because people are focused on getting things done. However, it is important to establish your monitoring systems from the outset so that you can measure your progress consistently.
Conclusion
As a summary, we have included a flowchart of the steps in setting up a long-term Māori language development plan for your iwi and hapū.
Set long-term objectives for the Māori language in your iwi and hapū.
(Where do you want to be?) |
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Establish where your iwi and hapū is currently with regard to the language.
(Where are you now?) |
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Set up a series of shortterm goals, and a work programme to achieve those goals
(How to get from a to b?) |
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| Nominate someone to take responsibility for implementing the work programme. |
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| Investigate the funding that is available. |
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| Put your work programme into action. |
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| Monitor your progress towards your goals and objectives. |
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Review and revise your long-term objectives and your short-term goals. |
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We are aware that the development of Māori language plans for iwi and hapū can be quite a daunting proposition. We are happy to provide further information and advice. If you would like help, please contact;
Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori
P.O. Box 411
WELLINGTON
