Creating a Just Transition for Whānau through Waka Aronui with MUMA
The Ākina team and MUMA at the launch of Aaka Aronui. Joined by then Minister for Transport, Hon Michael Wood, and programme partners Toyota, The Tindall Foundation, Auckland Council, MBIE and Waka Kotahi.
Waka Aronui is a programme that enables fair access for low-income families and whānau to the leasing of safe and environmentally friendly vehicles.
Ākina was the project intermediary and partnered with the Manukau Urban Māori Authority (MUMA) on a pilot to distribute an initial round of 20 cars to whānau in Manukau and Te Tai Tokerau (Northland) communities. It was a partnership requiring expertise in community engagement and cultural understanding to ensure the mahi met the needs of local communities.
Ākina facilitated a series of focus groups with South Auckland whānau to understand their aspirations for Waka Aronui, capturing insights around potential barriers and benefits to their participation.
Platforming the voice of Māori communities in an authentic way required establishing a trusted partnership and ensuring we understood the specific issues affecting the local communities. Our approach was tailored to the community, making the workshops transparent, jargon-free, and accessible so that participants felt comfortable sharing their stories.
“Waka Aronui supports whānau like ours in our community and allows us to continue pursuing our whanau oranga in a sustainable and eco-friendly way”
- Community participant, Manukau
Ākina developed an impact model and measurement framework. This ensured the programme’s outcomes were clearly articulated and had a set of supporting measures which could be used to capture positive social and environmental impact.
These tools were designed through a Te ao Māori perspective, providing whānau with both an understanding of the impact and a mana-enhancing experience.
At the end of 2022, the programme was fully subscribed, with many community members sharing the impact that being in the programme has had for their whānau.
Ākina helped to communicate the impact of the programme to the Government, which led to a $20M budget allocation for 2022/23 to support the scaled design and delivery of social vehicle leasing through the emissions reduction plan.
“Moea te waka tawhito, ekea te waka aronui”
This is a unique whakataukī to this initiative and simply put it suggests that we should put the old school vehicles (literally and metaphorically) to rest and jump aboard the new age vehicles (again literally with the use of e-vehicles, and metaphorically with joining this initiative).
The Waka Aronui programme is possible through a partnership between The Manukau Urban Māori Authority (MUMA) and Toyota, with support from The Tindall Foundation, Auckland Council and Waka Kotahi.
