Social Justice in Action – A New

Zealand Experience

Robyn Pope and David Hanna

Wesley Community Action (NZ)

Starting with the voice of

people wanting change

• Edge Te Whaiti – senior member

of Notorious Chapter of the

Mongrel Mob, working to support

positive futures for families in his

community.

It’s all about ‘Learning’ 1. The power of Colonisation – old / new,

visible / invisible

2. How we change – what is the core element to

sustainable change and how PCOMS supports

this?

3. Importance of Courage and Discipline

4. What we are learning

Our (visible) British Colonial

Legacy – Treaty of Waitangi

• Signed 1840 between Maori Chiefs and British

Crown.

• An aspirational agreement between two

sovereign peoples that valued “Protection,

Participation, Partnership” to create a new

future

• Still highly current today – Treaty settlement

process

Our (invisible) Western Cultural

legacy – Colonisation of the Needy

• Individual

reinforced helplessness, the ‘expert’

(social worker, counsellor, nurse) will fix me.

• Organisational / systemic

Hierarchical structure, expert patches,

fixation on intervention models, devalue

relationships, mechanical orientation.

We needed to change

“It is essential to remember that

all change originates when we

change our awareness of who we

are” M Wheatley and M Kellner-Rogers 1996

What happens

New people,

laws, institutions,

language, power

structure

imposed

Unfamiliar

territory…shifting

sands

Response of

colonised

people

Resistance –

overt and covert

Anger, violence

Withdrawal

Refusal

Impact

Loss of values,

culture, story,

belonging

Poor health,

depression

Disbelief,

feelings of

worthlessness

and confusion

Values of

Coloniser

Our form of

justice

We know how to

help you

We know better,

and have better

systems and

solutions.

If only you’d

listen to us

Impacts of Colonisation

How PCOMS supports change

• PCOMS shifts the approach from a

colonising one to a social justice approach.

• Supports a new awareness in clients and

workers and links with wider social justice

movements (client led / community led).

• Partnerships, protection, participation are

enhanced

• Challenges language and behaviour

Importance of Discipline and

Courage

• The Wesley Way and consistent

organisational wide process

• The discipline to collect and use data to

inform our work

• The courage required to truly let the

client / community Lead

2. Creating the

Ground

-Callers/Hosts

create purpose

& principles 1.0

- Form &

commit to core

of process

3. Giving Form

& Structure

-Design

- Invitation

process

- Organising &

logistics

4. Conversation

-The

stakeholders find

collective

meaning & co-

create

5. Practice

- Act it out

“Groan

Zone”

Breaking through

Emergence

Toke Paludan Moller www.interchange .com

1. Birth of

the

callers

- Naming the

issue/

question

Strategic Directions

Insights

• Have a sound implementation plan

for PCOMS (training isn’t enough!)

• Need to align with core values and

frameworks – profoundly grounds

everyone

• The power of using client led data

• Being intentional and maintaining

integrity - keeping true when

swimming up stream

Final Words

The voice of two clients …