The New Zealand AIDS Foundation (NZAF) Trust Board is committed to meaningful, useful and broadly-based relationships with tangata whenua. This commitment to a bicultural partnership is part of our personal and Board responsibilities to respect the bicultural heritage of Aotearoa New Zealand, and to work cooperatively with whanau, hapū, iwi and runanga, particularly where the NZAF has a physical presence. The Trust Board acknowledges with whakamiha and aroha the good faith advice and support of Richard Tankersley, Mama Teremoana Strickland-Tahere and Hoani Jeremy Lambert in the development of this kaupapa in April 2009. To this end the Trust Board commits to the following multidimensional response: 1. Each Trustee has a personal responsibility to upskill and maintain our knowledge of biculturalism and the Treaty of Waitangi through biculturalism and Treaty trainings. 2. The Trust Board acknowledges its responsibility to provide biculturalism and Treaty of Waitangi training opportunities to the Trust Board as a whole. Through providing and attending these trainings we propose to set an example for staff throughout the organisation. 3. The Trust Board commits to building and developing the NZAF’s relationships with mana whenua in the Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch rohe, and wherever the Board may develop a presence, with a view to a. inviting them to engage with NZAF in a (shared dialogue / partnership / some other term) around issues of common concern and the work of NZAF b. developing cultural supervision opportunities for Māori staff and Executive Director, and c. considering kaumatua support to the national and regional offices, and the Trust Board 4. In the spirit of the Trust Deed Schedule 2, Sec. 1.8a, of the Governance Manual, Trust Boards will be encouraged to take account of skills, expertise and experience of tikanga Māori in the membership of the Trust Board, in order to ensure that Māori perspectives are heard in an informed and sensitive way by the Trust Board. 5. The Trust Board will continue to develop stable and reliable consultation structures, working in good faith with tangata whenua in whom we collectively have trust. 6. The Trust Board will place a version of this document in the Governance Manual of the Board in order to codify and inculcate this kaupapa in the operations of the Trust Board. While we recognise that future Trust Boards must be able to respond to changing times and circumstances, we further establish the explicit expectation that this kaupapa will not be reduced, but rather developed and enhanced in the future.
We will, through the Board Chair, provide a copy of this summary to the original consultation group. We will develop this document into an action plan.