Abstract
While most New Zealanders take safe drinking water for granted, rural communities can lack access to safe drinking water placing them at increased risk of waterborne illnesses. Many these rural communities lack the finance or technical expertise needed to improve drinking water quality. This vignette details the findings from a cross-cultural collaborative evaluation of a central government pilot to improve drinking quality in a Māori (indigenous people of New Zealand) community.
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- 1.
A marae is the focal area of a Māori village and consists of a large meeting house, dining area and ablution block.
- 2.
Whirinaki is a small settlement of approximately 200 people on the southern side of the Hokianga harbour near Opononi, and is home to Te Hikutu hapū. At time of Ngā Puna Wai o Hokianga, the community consisted of over 60 houses, a kohanga reo, a kura kaupapa Māori school, a sports complex and three marae. Whirinaki was badly affected by the 1999 Hokianga floods with 13 houses damaged. Prior to Ngā Puna Wai o Hokianga, the community was serviced by untreated individual water systems. Whirinaki is notable for the extent to which the community was involved in the design and construction of its community water supply.
References
Checkland P (1981) Systems thinking, systems practice. Wiley, Chichester 1981
Foote J, Hepi M, Rogers-Koroheke M, Taimona H (2005) Urban water decision making project: learning from the Stories of Ngā Puna Wai o Hokianga. Institute of Environmental Science and Research, Christchurch
Hepi M, Foote J, Marino M, Rogers M, Taimona H (2007) Koe wai hoki koe?! Or who are you?! Issues of trust in cross-cultural collaborative research. Kotuitui. New Zealand J Soc Sci 2(2):37–53
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge our Whirinaki Māori Committee co-researchers, and the Whirinaki community for allowing us to undertake this evaluation. We also thank everyone who agreed to be interviewed and generously shared their insights. Finally, we acknowledge the financial support provided by the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology.
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Foote, J., Hepi, M., Rogers-Koroheke, M., Taimona, H. (2018). Supporting Indigenous Environmental Health Action: A Vignette. In: McIntyre-Mills, J., Romm, N., Corcoran-Nantes, Y. (eds) Balancing Individualism and Collectivism. Contemporary Systems Thinking. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58014-2_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58014-2_18
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