Collaboration in community action: a successful partnership between indigenous communities and researchers

New Zealand Maori, in common with the indigenous peoples of many countries, face considerable alcohol-related problems. Although a number of initiatives have been implemented to deal with alcohol issues, these have often had limited involvement from Maori and consequently have been more effective for non-Maori. This paper examines a collaborative project between researchers at the Alcohol & Public Health Research Unit and two Maori organizations, Te Whanau o Waipareira Trust in West Auckland and the Huakina Development Trust in South Auckland. The 3-year project evaluated two community action programmes which aimed to prevent alcohol-related traffic crashes amongst Maori. The programmes were run by the Trusts and were able to integrate research-based knowledge with community knowledge, resulting in a richness of strategies and a level of success that would not have been likely in an imposed project.