Service Co-Design: Tōfā Mamao Collective can work with organisations to co-design services that will add value to the lives of tagata sa’ilimalo.
Disability Audit: Tōfā Mamao Collective can conduct an organisational audit from a lived experience perspective. We can evaluate whether:
• Organisational outcomes meet the needs of disabled peoples and their families
• Organisational diversity policies enable employment opportunities for disabled peoples
• Organisation is fit for purpose and fully accessible
Disability Services Directory: Tōfā Mamao Collective provides assistance and information for tagata sa’ilimalo to find relevant and appropriate support services.
We welcome all enquiries, but we also ask you to bear in mind that we receive many requests for our time and expertise. We have created a few ground rules to help ensure that our collaborations are fruitful and respectful.
1) Ask us how we can help
Your first step is to reach out to us via email, phone, or the contact form, explain what you’re looking for, and then seek our advice on how we can best help within our resource constraints. We can’t say yes to every proposal, but we will let you know what is possible.
2) Engage with the collective
We are a collective, so we ask that you engage with us as a group rather than singling out an individual. Our preferred process for providing input is via group discussions. If you are looking for targeted input, for example regarding a particular disability type, the Collective will initially guide that process and then may refer you to an individual if appropriate.
In most cases, the best way for you to receive input will be to give a presentation to either our National Council or one of our regional Committees. The National Council meets via video conference on the last Friday of every month. Decisions or input on nationally relevant issues need to involve the National Council.
3) Provide enough time for scheduling and reading
If you are unable to join one of our monthly meetings to present your work, we request 30 days’ notice to schedule a special Council session.
If you wish to receive written feedback on documents, we request that you send materials 30 days in advance of the deadline.
4) Cultivate a reciprocal relationship
We value reciprocity in relationships and that includes with our collaborators. We encourage you to aim for meaningful and long-term engagement with us rather than a transactional approach. There may be some cases where the time requirement or complexity of a project means we need to request consulting fees.
5) Recognise our strengths
The Tōfā Mamao Collective is not a service provider. Our strengths are our lived experience of disability and the Pacific community. We can provide intellectual input and can co-design services, but we can’t provide you with logistical operations, resources, or implementation of services.
Thank you for your understanding and we look forward to working together!
