Growing up in New Zealand is the largest contemporary study of child development in Aotearoa New Zealand and is founded on principles that focus on equity, te Tiriti o Waitangi and Kaitiakitanga (guardianship) and these principles guide the appropriate and safe collection, storage, analysis and use of Māori data and knowledge. A recent paper by Theodore et al. (2019) noted that evidence from longitudinal studies are increasingly being used to inform public and social policy, and yet there are concerns about the level of Māori involvement in longitudinal studies, from research participation to governance. The Growing up in New Zealand study contains a wealth of unique data relevant to the wellbeing of Māori whānau. The data, however, requires an analysis and reporting that enables and facilitates dissemination and engagement with Māori stakeholders, from whānau participating in Growing up through to Māori data users and policy-makers and iwi stakeholders. The utility of such rich longitudinal data has to be disseminated in a way that is meaningful and transformative for Māori.

Project Āmua is a Māori theme working group project with a clear and defined focus on analysing and producing data visualisations for sharing with Māori stakeholders as part of our consultation and dissemination feedback loop. Our aim is to develop a tool that can be used by Māori theme working group members to enhance our engagement and dissemination of Growing up in New Zealand findings with Māori stakeholders and communities.

Reference:
Theodore, R., Ratima, M., Edwards, W., Sporle, A., Te Morenga, L., Kiro, C., Hond, R. (2019) How a lifecourse approach can promote long-term health and wellbeing outcomes for Maori Journal of Indigenous Wellbeing 4(1): 15-25