MEAL Strategic Framework
The MEAL Strategic Framework sets out the steps required to create a Monitoring, Evaluation, Analysis and Learning (MEAL) approach based on the Enabling Good Lives (EGL) principles external URL .
This page includes a range of information and key documents, including a plain language summary of the Monitoring, Evaluation, Analysis and Learning (MEAL) Detailed Strategic Framework.
What is the MEAL Strategic Framework?
The MEAL Strategic Framework sets out the steps required to create a Monitoring, Evaluation, Analysis and Learning (MEAL) approach based on the Enabling Good Lives (EGL) principles external URL .
The key principles of MEAL ensure mana enhancing, self-determination and voice are at the heart of all changes and can be embedded in current and future systems. The MEAL Strategic Framework was co-developed by disabled people, tāngata whaikaha Māori, whānau and the Crown as part of a partnership approach.
This Strategy is grounded in a commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This includes developing and honouring meaningful partnerships with tāngata whaikaha Māori and whānau at all levels as the transformed system unfolds.
It also includes making sure that our monitoring, evaluation, analysis and learning systems do what they can to fix the inequalities that tāngata whaikaha Māori and whānau face in health and wellbeing, because of our disability support system.
The MEAL Strategic Framework will guide Whaikaha in its journey to transform the disability system in line with the Enabling Good Lives approach. This is also an important resource to guide other Government agencies and community organisations in the MEAL approach.
The Enabling Good Lives approach
Whaikaha will be rolling out transformation of the disability support services system using an Enabling Good Lives (EGL) approach across the whole country.
Monitoring, evaluation, analysis and learning approaches are an important part of this change. We need an EGL aligned approach to all our systems to make real change for disabled people, tāngata whaikaha Māori and whānau.
An EGL-aligned approach to monitoring, evaluation, analysis and learning requires:
- Appropriate resourcing of disabled people, tāngata whaikaha Māori and whānau
- Leadership by and for disabled people, tāngata whaikaha Māori and whānau
- Partnership under Te Tiriti o Waitangi
- Shared accountability, responsibility and governance between disabled people and whānau, tāngata whaikaha, and the Crown (a tripartite approach).
Key Documents
Work on the strategy began in March 2021. It was completed and endorsed by the Ministry of Health in June 2022. The strategy and accompanying documents were transferred to Whaikaha – Ministry of Disabled People when it was launched in July 2022.
Whaikaha would like to acknowledge all those who have contributed to its development. We are pleased to endorse and publish, the following documents on our website.
MEAL Strategic Framework Summary
The MEAL Strategic Framework Summary is a plain language summary of the MEAL Detailed Strategic Framework. Alternate formats of the MEAL Strategic Framework Summary are available.
- Download the MEAL Strategic Framework Summary (DOCX 64KB)
Alternate formats
- Large Print – MEAL Strategic Framework Summary (DOCX 78KB)
- Easy Read – MEAL Strategic Framework Summary (DOCX 5.9MB)
- Easy Read - MEAL Strategic Framework Summary (PDF 2.5MB)
- Braille – MEAL Strategic Framework Summary (BRF 7KB)
- Audio – MEAL Strategic Framework Summary (MP3 3MB)
- NZSL – MEAL Strategic Framework Summary external URL
- Te Reo – MEAL Strategic Framework Summary (DOCX 89KB)
MEAL Detailed Strategic Framework
Appendices
- Appendix 1 MEAL Outcomes Framework (DOCX 105KB)
- Appendix 2 MEAL Principles (DOCX 95KB)
- Appendix 3 EGL principles mapped to other frameworks (DOCX 231KB)
Insights Alliance
The implementation of the MEAL approach will be overseen by a partnership group called the Insights Alliance. The Insights Alliance includes people with a range of expertise in the monitoring, evaluation, analysis and learning space, including disabled people, tāngata whaikaha Māori, Pacific disabled people, whānau and Crown officials.
The Insights Alliance is one of the independent voice mechanisms which ensures that the voice of the community guides the work of Whaikaha, and which enables shared accountability for system transformation.
Next Steps
Some aspects of the approach are already being implemented, while others will require more planning and development.
Implementation of the MEAL approach will happen alongside the EGL system transformation.
Introducing the MEAL Strategic Framework - video
Learn about the importance of the MEAL Strategic Framework through a discussion with Whaikaha Principal Pauline Boyles, Mark Benjamin from the National Enabling Good Lives group, and Bernadette Jones, tāngata whaikaha Māori representative on the Insights Alliance.
This video has optional English and te reo Māori captions. You can also view this video with New Zealand Sign Language external URL . A transcript is available below the video or you can download the transcript as a word document (DOC 48KB).
Video transcript
Speaker: Bernadette Jones
Tuia te herenga o te tangata i tēnei kaupapa
Tuia ki runga, raro, roto, waho Tuia (audible) ngā tāngata whaikaha
Ka noho pai ai ki te whenua
Ka noho pai ai ki te ao, ki te ao Mārama E tau ana
Kia ora. This karakia talks about binding us all to the Kaupapa today, or the purpose of today. Binding us from above, below, within and without. Binding us to the vision of all disabled people. So we have meaning in this country and meaning in this world. So that we can be enlightened with calmness and wellbeing with this kaupapa. Kia ora.
Speaker: Pauline Boyles
Kia ora e te whānau. I'm proud to be here today to introduce MEAL. Ko Pauline Boyles tōku ingoa. I am Principal Advisor at Whaikaha. I identify as a disabled person and I've worked in partnership with disabled people, as many of you know, over many, many years.
I've been gifted with the team around me, the community around me, who have contributed so much to this work. And it's been quite a journey over two years of getting this across the line.
Whaikaha has now accepted and endorsed this innovative approach, and we're here to present to you now, what that is, and what that means. Kia ora.
I'd like to just say that over the last 2 years, we have talked to, engaged with, and received taonga from multiple multiple people, and we thank you for all your feedback. We have had with the new Insights Alliance or the Insights Alliance as the oversight group for this piece of work, consists of members of the National Enabling Good Lives, Himarama Aotearoa New Zealand, Pacific Representatives, Whānau Ora Interface Group has been involved at the beginning, and other experts in their own right. This has been a gift from community for which we are now accountable for using that gift well.
I would just introduce around the table is Mark Benjamin from the National Enabling Good Lives. And Bernadette Jones, our Tāngata Whaikaha Māori representative on the Insights Alliance, both of whom have given a huge amount, so to bring that explanation to you today.
Just some background, the Minister in 2021 asked us to co-develop a disabled led approach the way we understand how system transformation is working for people based on the rollout of what we call Enabling Good Lives approach. It was recognised by the Ministry of Health, long before we moved to Whaikaha.
The importance of a new approach which could embody the eight Enabling Good Life principles into practice.
In Aotearoa, New Zealand, many of you will know that the disability rights movement has been calling for changes to the way we do, the way we do monitoring evaluation generally, and this has become an imperative. Monitoring evaluation analysis and learning approaches and we phrase that as MEAL, are an important part of this change.
We need an EGL aligned approach to all of our systems in order to make real change with and for disabled people, Tāngata Whaikaha Māori and whānau. This is because some of the existing approaches to MEAL, are not enabling disabled people and our Tāngata Whaikaha Māori and whānau communities to have choice and control of their lives.
And in many cases quite the opposite. MEAL is composed, founded on more strategic shifts that emphasise how in every part of our system, disabled people are leading and defining what matters most to them.
In essence, this is about mana, voice, and self-determination, in a way that is beyond words, in a way that is embedded into all of our systems, and it should be real, at the front door, and every other door of our system. This is a move away from a system that defines for people what is important, and speaks, and speaks to inclusion and participation.
Granted, that this is moving towards disabled people leading and defining, and so all decisions will be made by and for, and with disabled people. The approach developed has now been proudly adopted by Whaikaha, and now invite our community to talk about what this means. Kia ora.
Speaker: Mark Benjamin
Ko Mark Benjamin ahau. I'm here through the EGL National Leadership Group. I have a background since 1989 in terms of working with communities, particularly disabled people and their whānau, ensuring that they are the key people in monitoring and evaluation. And not just that, but monitoring and evaluation is a space where disabled people's leadership is grown and nurtured and able to have impact.
My thinking around MEAL is guided by a quotation I partially remember, it goes something like, “when people who don't usually talk are heard by people who don't usually listen, then positive change can happen”.
So for me, MEAL is about creating spaces for people to express themselves, and about assisting some people to understand what's being expressed. MEAL is about a number of different things. These things include making sure disabled people and families are key in the design, implementation, and contribution to monitoring and evaluation.
Disabled people and families decide what we evaluate. They are the evaluators. And they're the main people who provide information. MEAL is about having lots of different ways to look at how things are going.
Making sure insights from disabled people and families enable changes to be adapted, so they work well for everyone. MEAL looks at what different people are doing, how they're doing it, and how the changes are affecting people's lives.
MEAL is a shift from where most decisions are made by Crown officials to a tripartite model where disabled people, families, Tāngata Whaikaha Māori and Crown officials are working together. In this way, the MEAL approach makes sure monitoring, evaluation, analysis and learning processes are experienced as including everyone and meaningful.
The MEAL approach is really important for disabled people and families because it gives us a better way of finding out what's working well, what needs to change, and how positive changes can be made.
MEAL makes sure that there are lots of different ways for people to decide what is important to them, how things are going, and ideas people have to make things easier. The other thing MEAL does is that it creates places for disabled people and families to lead how this work happens and to make sure that the right things are looked at and the right things are thought about.
Speaker: Bernadette Jones
Kia ora koutou. Ko ngā Waru ki Ngāti Apa te iwi, ko Bernadette Jones ahau. MEAL for Tāngata Whaikaha means binding us to the vision of disabled people. And the karakia that I said at the beginning of this talks about that.
So that Tāngata Whaikaha Māori and their whānau have real meaning within Aotearoa, have real meaning within Te Ao Māori and the world, and we can have our voices heard. So that monitoring, evaluating, analysing and then learning how to do things in a better way for Tāngata Whaikaha and Māori.
For Tāngata Whaikaha Māori and their whānau, this means genuine partnership under the articles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. So that the related principles can be enacted. And we can all achieve the same high quality hauora outcomes that all citizens in Aotearoa have a right to.
We all have the right to express tino rangatiratanga, or control over our own lives. And for Tāngata Whaikaha Māori and their whānau, this means ensuring they have the right information, it's delivered with the right tools, in the right way, using te reo, using trilingual, sign languages, interpreters, or easy read versions in whatever accessible forms they need.
It also means doing it in the right environments within our communities, where we're in control of our own lives. The MEAL approach allows our Tāngata Whaikaha Māori to tell their purākau, or their stories in their own way, to speak out and to be heard, and to be able to describe their own experiences in a way where every experience is valued.
We need to be able to envision and create what is important for us using a Te Ao Māori lens. As Tāngata Whaikaha Māori , we need to design the approaches to measuring what impacts our health, our hauora, what impacts the health and disability system that then has an effect on our lives and on the lives of our whānau who support us.
We need to monitor what is working well and what needs to be improved so that Whaikaha, the Ministry of Disabled People, can respond quickly and make improvements to policies and services that they fund.
MEAL allows Tāngata Whaikaha Māori and their whānau to choose a range of ways that listen to our voices, as I mentioned, using Pūrākau, but also wānanga and hui and other ways that our whānau want to meet. And we can measure and monitor what's working in a timely way, not in a way where there's long delays, but we can do it quickly.
It means our communities can set our own priorities and decide what is important for us and our whānau. We already have Tāngata Whaikaha Māori leaders. And they need the opportunity to flourish in the right environment.
And MEAL gives us a way of supporting our Tāngata Whaikaha Māori leaders and our communities. Kia ora.
Speaker: Pauline Boyles
And just to conclude, all of this is groundbreaking. It is new. It is about us working together in what we call tripartite ways, with disabled people leading, participating, and working with Crown who work equally across our communities.
But for the Crown, for Whaikaha, this means that the evidence that we build, the data that we collect, which is about voice, and it is about statistics, and it is about a lot of things, as Mark has said, means we have foundation on which to build our policy and to hold the system to account as it transforms. Kia ora. Ngā mihi to the team.
Speaker: Bernadette Jones
I'd just like to close this with a karakia. This karakia is called Unuhia, Unuhia, Unuhia. It talks about removing the restrictions of this hui, standing with strength to prepare to move to the next level, and removing us with calmness and resolve and strength.
Unuhia, unuhia Unuhia ki te hui tapu nui
Unihia te mauri tū Te mauri ora
Te mauri o tēnei hui E tau ana
Kia ora