Te Taura Ora o Waiariki is focused on making sure every hauora dollar invested delivers value for whānau in a real-world context. To strengthen how we measure what matters most to our rohe, our Board and General Manager have recently upskilled through Social Value and Social Return on Investment practitioner training.
Board member Aroha Morgan says the training challenged expectations from the very beginning. “Initially probably about 99% of us were wondering why we were there. But that didn’t last long, probably fifteen minutes into it we understood the value of how it can be applied in real life.”
Like many trustees, Aroha had heard of SROI before but quickly realised this decision-making approach was different to what she expected and far more practical than many training programmes that end up in the bottom drawer.
A key insight for Aroha was how SROI helps shift thinking away from counting outputs and towards understanding what real change looks like for our whānau and hapori. The concept, the ‘theory of change’ stood out strongly for her along with how to measure value.
“Essentially, it’s got a V in it now for value. That’s what got me. What would our community value?” she says. For Aroha, the training reinforced the importance of strengthening relationships with local stakeholders including iwi, hapū, hauora providers even PHO’s so they can use a shared tool to reflect honestly on what is working and how to improve service design and delivery.
As one of 15 Iwi Māori Partnership Boards across the motu, Te Taura Ora o Waiariki carries significant responsibility for monitoring the health system and influencing how funding is allocated and spent. Aroha says SROI provides a clear framework and process to support this kaitiaki role, with a step-by-step template that systematically investigates all aspects of proposed projects or developments. Rather than making decisions based on assumptions, the approach supports deeper analysis and stronger evidence, helping the Board advocate confidently for what whānau need.
During the training, Aroha and our Chair Hingatu Thompson worked through a live example using our Whānau Voice Grant Kaupapa. She says the step-by-step SROI approach showed how strengthening programme design can support better decision making and influence policy.
“When we take the time to map outcomes properly, we can better demonstrate impact with confidence about what works,” she says. What excites her most is now having a practical tool to analyse proposed projects in a way that strengthens advocacy and supports smarter investment decisions. “Most courses just go in the bottom drawer. Not this one, it’s a keeper,” she says.
The training also taught ‘Hypothesis and Emergence Theory’. For Aroha, this is simply about telling the stories that endure, including the ones that are often left behind in traditional reporting and funding conversations. She sees it as an opportunity for whānau to tell their stories in their own way, and a reminder that when working in complex real-world contexts, “it is better to be vaguely right than precisely wrong.”