Hon Te Ururoa Flavell

Minita Whanaketanga Māori

Minister for Māori Development

09 September 2016

$2m for Māori youth suicide prevention

Te Puni Kōkiri is providing just under $2m to 28 organisations nationwide to run rangatahi suicide prevention initiatives.

Māori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell says the projects are urgently needed given the high rates of Māori suicide.

“The suicide rates for our rangatahi are two and a half times higher than for non-Māori youth, so we need solutions that are tailored for Māori in the modern age.

A requirement of projects receiving funding is that rangatahi leadership must be central to their design, implementation and delivery.

Mr Flavell says there is currently a lack of strategy to address the alarming suicide rates, and too little research into how best to prevent rangatahi suicide.

“These are matters we will address with the interagency steering group tasked with updating the current New Zealand Suicide Prevention Strategy (2006-16) and overseeing the development of a new Action Plan,” he says.

$1.95m has been allocated to the projects across Aotearoa.

An evaluation that captures the critical success factors of the funded projects is expected to be completed by 2017, and will contribute to a body of knowledge about what works best in preventing rangatahi Māori suicide.

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