For the first time, the rohe of Te Taura Ora o Waiāriki (Te Arawa IMPB) will have access to a dashboard built from data specific to their people. This is a powerful shift in how Māori health realities are identified, acted upon and governed.
Traditionally, health-data relevant to Māori is subsumed into broader district-level datasets (for example, the wider Lakes district), which meant Māori specific trends, gaps and needs were often obscured in aggregated data.
With this dedicated dashboard, Te Taura Ora o Waiāriki can:
- Identify where whānau need targeted support and interventions
- See where systemic gaps exist in the health system and how they specifically impact Māori.
- Use evidence that is grounded in a Māori worldview and under Māori governance, rather than simply adapting non-Māori tools
- Strengthen strategic planning, policy influence and advocacy with data under mana Māori.
The initial phase of the dashboard pulls data from government health-targets such as:
- Faster cancer treatment
- Improved immunisation rates
- Shorter stays in emergency departments
- Shorter wait times for first specialist assessment
- Shorter wait times for elective treatment
The platform is designed to expand, adding more comprehensive layers and insights over time. Qualitative data such as whānau kōrero, surveys and hui will continue to be used alongside quantitative metrics to interpret lived experience, not merely numbers.
Māori Data Sovereignty in Practise
This kaupapa is much more than a tech implementation. As Chair Hingatu Thompson of Te Taura Ora o Waiāriki notes:
“This data platform allows us to see our people clearly. We can now identify exactly where needs exist, where gaps in the system are impacting whānau, and where opportunities lie to invest in solutions that will create real change.”
And further:
“This kaupapa is not just about technology. It is about restoring mana motuhake, defining success on our own terms, and using evidence grounded in our worldview to uplift the wellbeing of our whānau.”
In other words, this is Māori-led, Māori governed data aligned with principles of Māori data sovereignty (such as self-determination over data, control of interpretation, and use of data for mana-enhancing outcomes).
Implications for Māori Health Governance
For policy makers, researchers and practitioners in Māori health governance this development signals several important shifts:
- Visibility: Māori-specific health data will no longer be buried; visibility leads to better targeting of resources and tailored interventions.
- Agency: Iwi/Māori entities like Te Taura Ora o Waiāriki are shifting from being passive recipients of aggregated data to active interpreters, controllers and users of that data.
- Cultural grounding: By interpreting data through Māori lenses (whānau voice, hapū realities, whenua contexts), the risk of inappropriate or mis-aligned interventions is reduced.
- Strategic leverage: With data under Māori governance, the potential to influence wider health system design, policy reform and investment decisions increases.
- Institutional equity: This work contributes to broader efforts to decolonise the health data ecosystem and to embed Indigenous data sovereignty in everyday governance practice.
As a researcher in AI governance with Māori and Indigenous data frameworks, I see the work of Te Taura Ora o Waiāriki as a vivid exemplar of what ‘sovereign data in Māori hands’ can look like in practice. It aligns with the broader imperatives I engage with such as algorithmic fairness, local calibration of systems, Māori driven data architectures, and governance frameworks that restore power to Māori communities.
In the months ahead, this dashboard will not only illuminate the health realities of whānau in Waiāriki, but it will also provide a blueprint for other iwi/Māori entities seeking to assert data sovereignty in health, social services and digital infrastructure.
Whānau, hapū and iwi deserve health systems that see, serve and work with Māori, not systems that simply use their data for distant administrative purposes. With the dashboard now in Māori hands, Te Taura Ora o Waiāriki is turning that aspiration into action: clarity, capability and Mana Motuhake for Māori.
Disclaimer: This post was almost entirely written with ChatGPT summarising https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/577501/new-platform-gives-waiariki-control-over-its-own-health-data, https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE2511/S00003/new-platform-gives-waiariki-control-over-its-own-health-data.htm and https://tearawaimpb.co.nz/2025/10/28/waiariki-health-realities-in-maori-hands-thanks-to-dedicated-data-dashboard/.
I corrected typos and fact checked. But parts of the article may still be untrue. This is an experimental post.