My Fathers Barbers
Project Background
In 2020 Ihi Research was contracted by the Ministry of Social Development to conduct an evaluation of the ‘My Fathers Barbers’ Barber Wānanga project. A partnership with The Ministry of Social Development enabled Matt and Sarah, from My Fathers Baber, to plan and deliver the three wānanga evaluated in this report. The wānanga were held at Koukourārata Marae (Port Levy) near Christchurch (March, 2019), Parewahawaha Marae in Bulls, and Oraeroa Marae Port Waikato (September, 2019).As well as teaching practical barbering skills, the wānanga had several objectives
Grow connection within the barber community.
Create a safe space where barbers could be vulnerable and openly discuss any trauma and harm affecting them and their lives.
Provide support to each other.
Participate in a number of activities to assist them to begin to heal.
Conduct challenging discussions regarding masculinity, the treatment of women and children.
Uncover and build on the strengths of the participants so they could return to their barber shops and create safe spaces in their chairs for their clients, positively affecting their community.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen, not once in my life, have I seen so much camaraderie between however many men were in the room that didn’t even know each other. Over four days of doing this deep, real deep stuff, everyone left like they were brothers.”
— Barber
Find out how we can help you
We’ll work with you to find out what’s working, where investment could be put to best use or how to improve anything not going to plan. We can help you define success and set tangible, measurable goals. And we talk in real language so you can understand and engage with the findings. We engage with the community to conduct community research and consultations for private companies, trusts, government agencies, NGOs and more. But we have a special interest in research that has a purpose - to better society and teach lessons. We aim to help those we work with build capacity to enact positive change.
