Tūmanako - our
model of practice
Tūmanako, in its essence, means to hope for a better future for our families and communities as new residents and resettled people in Aotearoa. ARCC’s Tūmanako – Table of Hope model of practice provides a framework for a resettlement sector that actively promotes positive resettlement, integration, and resettled community wellbeing outcomes. It guides the sector and wider Aotearoa society to listen to new residents’ and resettled peoples’ voices and the issues that matter to them and affect their lives. Not just listening but actively doing so to gain understanding is the only way to encourage a sense of belonging. Recognising new residents’ and resettled peoples’ identities, cultural values, backgrounds, customs, norms, legal status, citizenship and the positive contributions they make to Aotearoa is also at the foundation of the Tūmanako – Table of Hope, as well as appropriate resourcing. With this approach, belonging can and will be achieved, and as our resettled communities flourish, their integration will see wider Aotearoa society thrive too.
The following model was adopted by the Auckland Resettlement Sector Steering Group (ARSSG) and subsequently officially launched at the Auckland Resettlement Sector Annual Summit on the 16th June 2021, appropriately branded the Tūmanako Summit. Here new residents, resettled community members, and resettlement sector partners from across the motu gathered in our largest city under the banner of ‘creating opportunity for resettled communities in Aotearoa’. The Tūmanako – Table of Hope approach is how these opportunities will be created.
The Tūmanako – Table of Hope model of practice encompasses three important interrelated dimensions: the past, present and future. Firstly, the past signifies resettled peoples’ backgrounds, extended families, ancestry, homeland, and country of origin. Secondly, the presentrepresents the resettlement and integration process within Aotearoa and what needs to be achieved through community-led organisations and key stakeholders working together with resettled people. Finally, the future encompasses new residents’ and resettled peoples’ aspirations and potential for better integration and an increased sense of belonging. None of these dimensions should be ignored, and each of them has a critical part in realising that hope and reliance for a better future that the Tūmanako – Table of Hope is all about.
That is why the Tūmanako – Table of Hope guides all that ARCC does as an organisation. It is why it guides what we do as individuals, as a whānau (family) and as a community. It is why we advocate and educate for its essence to be practised across the resettlement sector and wider Aotearoa society. The four principal resettlement solutions that the resettled community identified, namely listening, understanding, recognising, and resourcing, are at the heart of the Tūmanako – Table of Hope. They are the foundation of our kaupapa (purpose) as an organisation. Our mahi (work) is based on those three interrelated dimensions, the past, present, and future. Through the Tūmanako – Table of Hope we will achieve integrated and thriving resettled communities in Aotearoa. This goal requires all the actors in the resettlement sector to collaborate and work together towards this common vision.