Healthy Families Ōtautahi have been working to understand how to best-support Māori sport clubs and grow healthy club environments where whānau wellbeing is a focus.  

To do this, Healthy Families Ōtautahi engaged a Māori Researcher, Heperi Harris to lead an insight gathering process to enable the stories and voices of whānau participating in Māori physical activities and Māori sports clubs to be heard and for understanding to be deepened.  

Following this mahi, we have continued to build relationships and connections with the funder of this work, Te Whatu Ora, and are hoping to continue the support of this kaupapa and progress some of the recommendations made by Heperi.  

To begin this next phase, a wānanga was held with Heperi, LSI, MSI and a supportive representative from Te Whatu Ora to unpack the report produced by Heperi in the previous phase and begin kōrero on where to next.  

‘The wānanga was all about facilitating discussion based on the whakaaro shared by those present and figuring out where to next now that we have collected the stories shared by participants and have Heperi’s report’ says Brandon Manuel, Māori Systems Innovator.  

A wānanga approach was used in this instance to allow for kōrero to flow organically and to areas where energy was needed, as opposed to having a formal meeting and set agenda where outcomes are sometimes pre-determined. The wānanga also enabled participants to ‘show up’ as themselves and to contribute to the kaupapa through their personal and professional knowledge and lived experiences.  

The valuable contributions of those present at the wānanga have enabled Brandon and the Healthy Families Ōtautahi team to land on a path forward. Over the coming months, this mahi will progress to form phase 3 of the Whānau Centred Approaches mahi. Keep an eye out for where we go next!