At Healthy Families NZ, we believe that everyone in Aotearoa has the ability - and right - to play.

The health and wellbeing benefits of sport and recreation for tamariki and rangitahi is huge, especially for those who are in care – however, sport and physical activity providers, through no fault of their own, are often not provided with the support and knowledge to engage these children effectively.

In his role as Systems Innovator within the Healthy Families Ōtautahi team, Lawrence Tau has taken on responsibility for this knowledge gap through the creation of Te Pou o Te Whare – a community-led, insights-driven initiative that seeks to increase access for rangitahi and tamariki in care to sport, play and active recreation.

Using his upbringing and professional background, Lawrence conceived, led, and co-designed Te Pou of Te Whare with the community to lift the mana of young people in care.

“Children in care are often stigmatised by the people and institutes around them. We are aiming to remove the stigma by using sport and physical activity as a way to enhance mana and connect these young people to community in a positive and safe way,” says Lawrence. For this reason, Te Pou o Te Whare uses insights gathered from young people, social workers, Oranga Tamariki staff and sport providers to co-design prototypes to test with young people in care – co-design at it’s best.

Tau has since formed a Design Team based in Christchurch, bringing together representatives from both the sport and physical activity sector and the social care sector who plan and design these prototypes.

The success of the project has seen Lawrence seconded to Sport New Zealand to lead the national expansion of Te Pou o Te Whare – this new role sees him supporting additional projects across Aotearoa that focus on engaging more rangitahi and tamariki across the motu with local physical activity options. In addition to this, he will help build the capability of the providers to help cater for those children who come from harder upbringings, all while capturing and sharing the journey in order to educate more and more people about the benefits of the programme.

Lawrence’s secondment has already kicked off and is starting with an initial design period – after this, work will begin collaboratively through a steering group. Watch this space!

Article added: Thursday 30 March 2023