Te Ao Auahatanga Hauora Māori: Māori Health Innovation Fund (the Fund) was established in 2009 to address the service gaps and unmet needs of Māori by the health system. The Fund supports Māori Health Providers to design, develop, implement and evaluate innovative pilot programmes over a 3 to 4 year funding cycle.
The overarching goal of the Fund is Pae Ora or Healthy Futures for whānau (He Korowai Oranga: Māori Health Strategy). Pae Ora is the Government’s vision for Māori Health. It is a holistic concept that interconnects three elements of Mauri Ora (healthy individuals), Whānau Ora (healthy families) and Wai Ora (healthy environments).
The Fund looks to advance Whānau Ora by affirming Māori approaches that improve Māori health outcomes and reduce Māori health inequity; improve the quality of services to Māori and be more responsive to Māori health needs; and sharing effective ways of delivering healthcare.
Māori innovation is about trialling new approaches to service delivery. It is about challenging the sector to take account of the wider issues affecting the health and wellbeing of Māori, and the need to design responsive services that recognise the interconnectedness of health education, housing, justice, welfare, employment and lifestyle elements of whānau wellbeing.
The focus of Māori innovation programmes is on improving the health and wellbeing of whānau and children. A key priority is Tikanga ā Tamariki Mokopuna – meaning Te Ao Māori approaches to whānau health and wellbeing through improved child health outcomes (for the purposes of the innovation Fund this includes ages 0 to 24 years of age meaning babies, children and youth or young adults).
Objectives
The key objectives of Te Ao Auahatanga Hauora Māori are to:
- advance Whānau Ora and affirm positive Māori approaches that improve Māori health outcomes
- promote Māori service delivery systems that value health and social service collaboration and employ whānau centred interventions
- recognise service models that address the needs of whānau, hapū, iwi and Māori communities
- enhance physical, spiritual, mental and emotional health, giving whānau control over their own destinies.
Latest updates
The most recent funding cycle for 2018 to 2022 closed in October 2018 with 18 successful applicants contracted from March 2019.
More recently, limited funding for up to 4 new innovation pilot programmes was tendered in late 2019. The application process is now closed.