Pūhoro STEMM Academy
Tracing how a kaupapa Māori science, technology, engineering, mathematics and mātauranga programme moves value through educational achievement, employment pathways, and longer-term whānau and community benefit.
Applications
Ngā tūmahi
Six ways to make value visible
Six ways Whakapapa Economics can help make relational and intergenerational value visible.
01
Orientation Whakapapa Economics is not limited to one sector. It is a way of asking better questions about value: who is affected, how value moves, what changes over time, and what current methods may miss.
These examples show how the method can be used in different settings. They are not templates or final answers. They are simple vignettes that show the kinds of pathways, signals and cautions that matter.
02
The starting point Where many accounts begin — and where this one starts
Many impact approaches begin with what is easiest to count: outputs, direct participants, short reporting periods and outcomes that already have a dollar value.
Whakapapa Economics starts earlier. It asks how value may move through relationships, whānau, place, institutions, te taiao and future generations. It then asks which of those pathways can be described, evidenced and, where appropriate, valued.
03
The examples The six examples
01
Māori Housing and Kāinga Continuity
Housing value may begin with repairs, but it can move through whānau routines, dignity, hosting, whenua connection and future kāinga continuity.
02Social Investment and Provider Outcomes
Provider value is not only service delivery. It can also sit in trust, earlier engagement, reduced crisis, whānau capability and stronger relationships with systems.
03Systems-Enabler Value
Some organisations create value through others. Whakapapa Economics helps trace capability, coordination, trust and institutional change.
04Research Impact and Māori Knowledge Pathways
Research value is not only publications. It can move through partnership, uptake, Māori knowledge legitimacy, policy change and future capability.
05Taiao and Kaitiakitanga Value
Environmental value is more than ecological indicators. It can include kaitiakitanga practice, mahinga kai, community participation and future inheritance.
06Iwi and Māori Investment Decisions
Investment value is not only financial return. It can also shape whānau wellbeing, whenua, rangatahi pathways, capability and future options for mokopuna.
These vignettes are starting points. In real work, each pathway needs evidence, context, careful boundaries and local judgement.
Applied work using Whakapapa Economics is undertaken through Matatihi.
04
In the field Kua whakamahia
Where the thinking has been applied
The underlying method has been applied to more than a dozen real engagements — as social impact assessments, social cost–benefit analyses and evaluations. They were delivered before the name “whakapapa economics” existed, but they apply the same relational and intergenerational logic. A selection is shown below; fuller summaries are coming soon.
Tū Ātea
Looking at how workforce and innovation programmes addressing Māori underrepresentation in high-value telecommunications and engineering roles move value through skills, employment, entrepreneurship and cultural connectedness.
He Oranga Poutama
With Te Pae Oranga o Ruahine o Tararua, Sport Manawatū and Sport NZ–Ihi Aotearoa: how kaupapa Māori physical activity and leadership move value through identity, hauora and community connection.
VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai
How advocacy and connection for care-experienced tamariki and rangatahi move value through stability, voice and wellbeing across a fragmented care system.
Amotai
How a supplier-diversity programme connecting Māori- and Pasifika-owned businesses with buyers moves value through enterprise growth, employment and intergenerational community benefit.
Ngāi Tahu Multipliers
How Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu business activity flows through both the Ngāi Tahu and national economies, and what that means for the kinds of enterprise an iwi chooses to build.
Integrating Māori Worldviews with Health Economic Evaluation
Exploring how Māori worldviews can be integrated with health economic evaluation, so that public-sector value assessment can see relational and cultural value, not only clinical and fiscal measures.
Tauutuutu White Paper
Setting out tauutuutu — reciprocal exchange and value transmission in te ao Māori — one of the relational foundations the method builds on.
Summaries describe the kinds of value pathways examined. Quantified results are not published here. Detailed write-ups will be added over time.
These engagements were delivered through Matatihi.