The Programme is inclusive and focuses on positive mutual experiences for all members of the NZDF when actively supporting and engaging with Pasifika personnel, communities, and operating within the Pacific region.

The Programme positions the NZDF to better advance Pacific Partnerships, in support of the New Zealand Government's Pacific Reset, (a shift to a ‘relationship built on understanding, friendship, mutual benefit, and a collective ambition to achieve sustainable results in collaboration with Pacific neighbours’).

The NZDF Pacific People’s Strategy 2020 - 2025 (PDF, 2.2 MB) was co-designed with NZDF Pasifika personnel and aims to support the attraction, recruitment, retention and advancement of Pasifika (with a focus on retention and advancement). 

The strategy also describes the need to actively and deliberately lean in, to understand and to connect with Pasifika and their cultures, to include Pasifika in decisions that impact them, and to grow the talent of Pasifika and non-Pasifika personnel which in turn will contribute to greater operational effectiveness.

Support and guidance to all NZDF staff and key external stakeholders include talanoa (dialogue) and cultural competence workshops and training. 

The Programme is led by NZDF’s Pacific Cultural Advisor, supported by an internal NZDF Pacific Steering Group and the Director of Diversity and Inclusion.