Lecture: Reducing administrative burden from the inside of the pandemic response

In this guest lecture at the University of Canterbury I draw on the evaluation of the Māori Communities COVID-19 Fund that Dr Lindsey Te Ata o Tū MacDonald and I completed for Te Puni Kōkiri. The fund reduced the learning, psychological and compliance costs on whānau, and we found that this did not happen by design alone. The Te Puni Kōkiri regional staff who managed the funding actively reduced the burden on providers. They streamlined application and reporting processes, gave guidance on good practice reporting and kept providers up to date on decisions. Providers then used the time this freed to travel to whānau living rurally and remotely, and to work as trusted messengers in their own communities. I also set out where burden remained: the application form, the fixed end of the financial year, and power imbalances that the regional staff had to manage themselves.

Te Kawa, D. (2023, September). Reducing administrative burden from the inside: What the Māori Communities COVID-19 Fund shows about funding managers and burden [Guest lecture]. School of Political Science and International Relations, University of Canterbury.

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-5129-5218