Our Committee for Survivors

The membership of the Committee for Survivors is comprised of the Operations Managers of MSA’s Member Organisations (MMO’s) plus our National Advocate and our Pouārahi Māori (see below). In accordance with the MSA Board Charter, the Committee will operate as a formal advisory committee to the MSA Board, which will appoint two Trustees to the Committee, one of whom will act as Chair.

Our National Advocate works with MSA Trustees to promote the wellbeing of male survivors by increasing public awareness of male survivor issues and advocating for and supporting male survivors seeking help and support. Our Pouārahi Māori works with our Rōpu Tautoko (Board advisory group) to implement MSA’s Kia Mārire strategy – a national strategy to increase the effectiveness of our services with and for Mäori male survivors.

Male survivors are welcome to provide input and advice to the Committee for Survivors by emailing the committee at cfs@malesurvivor.nz.

The mandate of the Committee for Survivors, which is detailed in their Terms of Reference (PDF), is essentially three-fold:

To act as the ‘consumer advocacy group’ – a role performed in accordance with our National Service Standards – to help assure the relevance and quality of the support services we provide for male survivors by providing feedback and advice on service policies and the service experience of survivors and their family/whanau and supporters;
To provide a collective ‘sounding board’ for the MSA Board of Trustees by providing survivor-informed advice on MSA and MMO advocacy, education, policies and practices; and
To enable and support the shared purpose and ambition of MSA and its MMO’s by acting collectively and individually as champions for the cause of the male survivor community in Aotearoa.
The intention is that the Committee for Survivors will hold two national hui each year, the outcomes of which will be published on the MSA website.