6 minute read
TE ARA Ō HINE - TAPU ORA
Right: Ngatepaeru Marsters (left) and Teresa Krishnan (right) holding the ipu whenua that connects the two arms of the project (Te Ara O Hine and Tapu Ora). Photo by Tania Fleming.
Te Ara Ō Hine – Tapu Ora, a joint $6m project between the Ministry of Health (the Ministry) and Aotearoa’s midwifery education providers, was launched at AUT University in March and signalled the beginning of a new chapter in addressing midwifery workforce inequities. Amellia Kapa attended the event and sheds light on its significance.
AMELLIA KAPA COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR
AUT University’s South Campus was abuzz with excitement on the morning of 30 March as midwives, student midwives, midwifery educators, government officials and journalists poured in to celebrate the launch of a national project which represented much more than the dollar amount allocated to it.
The project, which will see the Ministry invest $6m into Aotearoa’s midwifery education providers over the next four years, will focus on increasing recruitment and retention of Māori and Pasifika midwifery undergraduate students, as well as ensuring these students go on to successfully complete the programme.
Officially launched by Associate Minister of Health Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall, in her speech the Associate Minister recognised the importance of strategising to ensure the midwifery workforce appropriately reflects the diversity of the communities it cares for. “Part of the investment is funding to increase the number of midwives and ensure the workforce is representative of the populations they’re serving.”
Increased pastoral support for Māori and Pasifika students by way of increasing Māori and Pasifika educators and liaison staff, as well as financial grants awarded directly to students, are just two examples of how the project aims to increase retention within the programmes.
National Lead of the Pasifika arm of the project (Tapu Ora) Ngatepaeru (Nga) Marsters, described the venture as instrumental. “This project is a powerful vehicle for change, with the main goal being to increase the number of Pasifika and Māori midwives entering our currently inequitable workforce. Increasing the likelihood of Pasifika and Māori women being cared for by a midwife whose cultural context they can relate to only stands to benefit our communities.”
College President Nicole Pihema (Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa) also attended the event and echoed Nga’s sentiments. “Achieving more equitable health outcomes for our Māori and Pasifika communities starts with addressing the gaps in our workforce. I have every confidence that as our workforce shifts to more accurately reflect the communities we serve, the natural consequence of this will be increased wellbeing and improved perinatal outcomes for whānau nationwide.”
In the same vein, National Lead of the Māori arm of the project (Te Ara Ō Hine)
Ngā ingoa: The name Te Ara Ō Hine was gifted by highly regarded Hōreke kaumātua, Te Pania Kingi (Te Popoto) and translates to ‘the path of Hine-te-iwaiwa’, referring to the female Māori deity who presides over childbirth, fertility and te whare tangata (womb). Matua Te Pania explained Hine-teiwaiwa was given a hei tiki made of pounamu by the atua Tiki – a symbol of fertility only to be worn by wāhine.
The name Tapu Ora was gifted by esteemed Senior Pacific Advisor Fuimaono Karl PulotoEndemann MNZM JP and acknowledges the sacred space of birth, aligning it with students’ learning journeys and the gaining of midwifery knowledge as equally sacred.
The ipu whenua (pictured right and featured on the cover) was gifted to the project by College kuia Crete Cherrington, who received it from the Waetford whānau (Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Hine) as an acknowledgement of her midwifery care.
Crete describes the symbolism behind the use of ipu whenua as honouring whenua ki te whenua. “It’s about looking at where we’ve come from and the connection to Papatūānuku and Ranginui. We’re a small speck of dust in the spectrum of the whole universe and it’s an acknowledgement of that place we hold in the cosmos.”
She explains the significance of this particular ipu in relation to the project: “It represents the gifting and sharing of obligation. It has no lid: the idea is that it sits in the room and is filled with the thoughts and mātauranga of the students as they develop.”
“The pūpū (referring to the trumpet/conch shell-like shape of the opening) is protective. The pītau (spiral) represents growth and flow and relates to the evolving practice of the tauira as they progress through each year. The patterns around the ipu symbolise the ara (path) the students are travelling on and helps direct them, and the mango pare (hammerhead shark design) represents determination, tenacity and endurance so they don’t lose sight of their goals.”
The pūpū or trumpet/conch shell also holds significance throughout the Pacific Islands and therefore provides a tangible link between the two arms of the project: Te Ara Ō Hine and Tapu Ora.
Teresa Krishnan explained this project’s point of difference will be in its consultation process. “Te Ara Ō Hine is going to be created by Māori, for Māori,” she said.
Rather than making assumptions about what Māori students and whānau need, regional hui will be facilitated with Māori students, Māori new graduates and mana whenua, in order to ensure the most relevant voices are heard.
“Evidence tells us that when Māori care for Māori, our outcomes are better. We need our workforce to reflect our whānau needs in the community, and to do that, we need to grow our Māori midwifery workforce, which begins with supporting Māori students to articulate their needs,” said Teresa.
Nga also explained that the change this project seeks to initiate is not only being sought by Pasifika midwives and educators, but the community at large. “Historically, there has been a certain stigma Pasifika midwives have had to overcome. When I first started practising over 20 years ago, there was this undercurrent of an inherited societal mistrust within our community and our people didn’t have confidence in Pasifika midwives providing their care. But things have progressed significantly and now they do. In fact, they are actively seeking us out.”
“It’s not only about Pasifika families being cared for by their own,” she went on to say. “It’s also about Pasifika midwifery students and midwives seeing Pasifika in other positions - as midwifery managers or policy influencers. That’s true equity; seeing Pasifika represented not only at the coalface, but throughout all levels of midwifery.”
Professor of Midwifery and Head of AUT University’s School of Clinical Sciences, Judith McAra-Couper, described her vision of “…a workforce that would finally make in-roads to the long-standing inequalities in service provision and less than optimal outcomes that continue to unduly burden our Māori and Pasifika whānau and communities”.
She went on to say the deliverables of the contract surrounding recruitment, retention and completion are the minimum the educational institutions will be providing. “It would be remiss of us who are tauiwi - and yet another example of us not understanding what it is to be a good Treaty partner - if we do not ensure that the project involves a te Tiriti-honouring journey, working with mana whenua and transforming our educational practices and spaces. This is the only way we’re going to succeed.” AUT University will hold the contract with the Ministry, and will have memoranda of understanding with the other four education providers: Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec), Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University, Ara Institute of Canterbury (Ara) and Otago Polytechnic. square
