July 04, 2014
Cultural competence vital for service
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia wants to see cultural competency included in training programmes and certification for any services delivered by government agencies.
In her capacity as Associate Health Minister Mrs Turia this week launched a training service and qualification for stop smoking practitioners.
She says while it gives people working on the front line more clinical skills, there is no cultural element.
She will write to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority asking it to put cultural competency on its list of requirements.
"No matter what we are doing, it doesn’t matter, right across government, every component should have a cultural competency component, be it in education, we’ve got it in health, be it in social development, it doesn’t matter what it is, we should expect that everybody who is engaged must be culturally competent if they are to do a good job with tangata whenua, with Pasifika peoples, right across the board," she says.
Mrs Turia says given the high numbers of Maori still smoking, it’s vital that stop smoking practitioners know how to work in Maori contexts.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH TARIANA TURIA CLICK ON THE LINK
https://secure.zeald.com/uma/play_podcast?podlink=MTk4MDA=
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