What is the role of Power in Equity?

Kia ora e te whānau - Friend of Walk Together.

Here's a look at our shared Miro board which is the space to record our yarns towards having 100,000 Cups of Tea as we consider system change for now and the future. Each week, we get together on Monday at 1pm for 30 minutes. We spend 10 minutes connecting with each other, and then the next 20 minutes unpacking one question.

It's like a drop-in centre where there is no obligation to come, but the ability to pop in and out when you can and want to. It's a great way to experience how we do what we do at Walk Together. The yellow sticky notes, are the themes of what we yarned about over our shared cuppa. We are keeping this mission nice and simple, sharing ideas and yarning about various questions in our contexts. We add your name each time you visit, and we encourage this platform for anyone who would like to host a cuppa in your collective, group or organisation, adding towards our mission top have100,000 cups of tea yarns with you.

Check out how to register here.

At the moment, we are on the topic of Equity, which I have to say as an indigenous person, this topic gets on my goat ??. I often explain this often as, equity being a low-bar to strive for, and that it's what's beyond equity for me that interests me more.

In a Te Ao Māori worldview, our Lore (ways of knowing and being) comprises systems, protocols, processes, pedagogy, methodology, rules, consequences and so on. In our world, I see equity as non-issue. In other words, equity for the most part, is far more likely to be experienced than inequity. I would love others to chime in here, otherwise this could just be my observation.

If you're not Māori, and/or haven't spent much time with us/Māori, it can be difficult to see, but it's there occurring almost all of the time.

I remember writing some funding applications that asked about how the project and the funds requested would deal with diversity and inequity. It was really hard to pretend, or write from a position of mana, that this was not an issue for this particularly kaupapa/project. Engari, it had to be done, so I found myself responding in somewhat inauthentic ways because of the structure of the application process.

I'm constantly curious, about what it is Te Ao Māori, our ways of knowing and being, that creates fairness. We don't teach it or put it in our strategic plans as outcomes, but it is learned through observation, Learning by-and-through doing and on the macro level, a shared vision and common purpose. One fundamental element is that of process. This is how and why the idea of Equity as a Process concept has been developed and created within Walk Together, and is the nature of our next conversation;

What if equity was a process, rather than striving for equitable outcomes at the end, how might that change the way we work?

Drawing from Te Ao Māori, being fair is not really taught per-se, but it can be learned though observation, participation and asking questions about how other cultures, systems and ways do it. Again, drawing from indigenous ways of knowing and doing, bringing Walk Together's Connect & Collaborate Pathways to life has been our thinking of how to get more connecting and collaborating happening in our groups and organisations. Check out our Connect & Collaborate Pathways here.

Cuppa # 4 and Counting

Here's is a summary, that doesn't really do justice to the rich conversations had but nonetheless, the gist is captured here.

The beginning of our cuppa started off with a story about mycology or fungus. The beneath world, thriving network of systems and co-dependence is always happening, though we can't alway see this perhaps like a system. In another kōrero, the New Zealand’s native orchid, te Peka-ā-waka, has been used to think about how groups or systems work with one another, rather than to only be in competition. In this scenario, the relationship the Peka-ā-waka has with the its host tree and vice-versa, tells us that size does not matter, rather the relationship between them matters to the ongoing survival of each of them. In this sense we can look to nature for examples of how to coexist and thrive as one connected eco-system when working in collaborative ways.

Our question to unpack this week was to consider the ‘role or place of power in equity’.

The conversation revealed that creating more equitable environments required a shift in mindset toward being deliberate and mindful about how to work with power equitably.

We agreed fo the most part that a start point involves observing, listening, learning, and asking questions. From there we thought it necessary to learn how to navigate power dynamics thoughtfully and intentionally, while moving people towards an intercultural space where everyone holds power is one way that we can deal with power as a strength. This could look like; sharing, distributing, delegating or endowing a collective with authority/power as they collaborate about change.

Participants emphasised that inequity often comes down to who holds power and that there are ways to do this without necessarily losing any power or control, if done in appropriate ways. Walk Together uses Mutual Ways to do this tactically.

The conversation also highlighted the power of narratives in creating equity and the need to push beyond surface-level approaches.

In conclusion, power and equity are always going to be complex, but breaking down common concepts helps to see where and how people are viewing things differently is a necessary step. Through observation, listening, and intentional efforts to work with power and power-dynamics, everyone can work towards smoothing out complexity by and through agreement.

If you'd like to host a cuppa, get in touch. If you'd like to come along, register on the link above, we'd love to have you join us.

If you'd like to know more about our pathways, either as an individual or an organisation, message me here through Linked.

Here are some generalised concepts from our voices.

Naku noa,

Arama