CASE STUDY: Advocating for Pacific child wellbeing – our work with Moana Connect
One in four Pacific children live in poverty. Moana Connect is dedicated to changing that. It is a Pacific owned organisation based in South Auckland focused on lifting the health and wellbeing of Pacific children. It works across a variety of fields, including advocacy work, research, learning and development, and working directly with community partners to improve the lives of Pacific children.
In September 2022 Moana Connect engaged Capital to support its efforts to elevate the problem of Pacific child poverty to decision-makers, media and other stakeholders. Specifically, Moana Connect sought Capital’s help to articulate and promote the solutions it saw as a priority for the Government to act on.
Our work with Moana Connect touched on the core services Capital offers clients based on our deep experience in government relations, strategic communications, and submission and report writing. In late March 2023 Moana Connect brought together community, providers, business, philanthropy, and policy stakeholders for two days to promote a shared vision for improving the lives of Pacific children. At the heart of the conference was a 10-year action plan – Tamaiti Ole Moana.
Capital worked with Moana Connect by:
Assisting in the research for and writing of Tamaiti Ole Moana. We helped Moana Connect articulate the problem of Pacific child poverty, research evidence and statistics, and develop policy solutions focused on four key areas – access to quality housing, boosting incomes, and improving access to quality care, health and education.
Driving political engagement. Capital secured keynote conference addresses from the Hon Kelvin Davis, Minister for Children and Hon Carmel Sepuloni, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Social Development and Employment. We also secured the attendance of party representatives from Labour, Greens, National, Act and Te Paati Māori for a conference panel discussion exploring the issue
Promoting the report to media in the days before the conference. This involved drafting the report media release and pitching the report’s findings to key media. This achieved considerable coverage including a range of broadcast and online media stories, such as Morning Report and Stuff.
Capital is proud to have supported Moana Connect in its important advocacy work for Pacific children.
We want to convey our heartfelt appreciation for Capital’s assistance in preparing the report Tamaiti Ole Moana and your advocacy before, during and after the conference to ensure children’s voices were heard. The reaction of people to the report has been very positive. It provided an excellent foundation for the conference and helped speakers focus their presentations. Capital’s professionalism and wise counsel are hugely appreciated.
– Jacinta Fa’alili-Fidow, Chief Executive, Moana Connect
We have a vision for Pacific child wellbeing with thriving culturally rich families. It was wonderful to have the expertise of the Capital team to help us articulate a clear policy pathway towards that vision.
– Dr Teuila Percival, Director, Moana Connect