Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 16, Number 10, 1 October 1999 — Advisory committee works toward consensus for Hawaiian self-determination, sovereignty [ARTICLE]

Advisory committee works toward consensus for Hawaiian self-determination, sovereignty

PAEPAE HANOHANO (PPH) works in an advisory capacity to the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) with regard to consensus-building for Hawaiian self-determination. The OHA Board of Trustees recently approved funding for the "educational component" of a larger project aimed at building eonsensus in the Hawaiian community for self-determination. The first step in eon-sensus-building is education. There have been many educational

efforts for Hawaiian sovereignty. Unfortunately, based on a recent public opinion poll conducted by OHA, a large segment of the populahon is either "opposed" to sovereignty (32 percent), "undecided" (18 percent), or "don't know" enough about sovereignty. PPH is trying to build eonsensus among Hawaiians by inviting sovereignty groups to work together on something they ean agree on: the need for more education on self-determination in the Hawaiian community.

The group plans to develop basic, factual information and is working on a "delivery system" that includes "co-sponsoring" of workshops by (all) sovereignty groups, and the use of prime time television, eommunity television, website development, direct mail-outs, and lots of community meetings and workshops. The first round of workshops are being scheduled for the last week of October. Stay tuned for more information. ■

PAEPAE HANOHANO