Reconnection, Re-indigenisation, And Rangatahi - Key Themes Of Tukuoha Funding Round

For the second year running, Te Pūtea Whakatupu Trust has awarded $60,000 to support rangatahi-led and kaupapa Māori focussed projects across the community and ocean sectors.

This year’s Tukuoha funding round saw the return of the Pou Herenga Tangata Award, a fund dedicated to supporting rangatahi that aspire to community leadership, and the Tonganui Scholarship a fund to support Māori-led kaupapa that advance mātauranga Māori in the marine environment.

Kia Maia Ellis (Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Ruanui) was one of the three successful Tonganui Scholarship recipients who aims to develop a transdisciplinary approach to address declining kōura (crayfish) populations in Tauranga Moana.

"The design of this study stems directly from the needs and aspirations of our people in the management of customary fisheries and the Mātaitai Reserve in Tauranga Moana," says Ellis.

"The research will assist with understanding the current state of the kōura population, understand the effects of climate change, and develop mātauranga Māori and marine science-based tools and knowledge to address the cumulative effects on the sustainability of kōura in Tauranga Moana."

Alyssa Thomas (Patuharakeke) was one of five successful Pou Herenga Tangata Award recipients and plans to utilise the funding to facilitate a rangatahi wānanga that explores the significance and aspirations for the previously confiscated, Pukekauri dam in Takahiwai.

"Pukekauri dam holds historical significance and was valued and used dearly by our ancestors. However, once access was restricted, our hapū connection to this space was severed," says Thomas.

"In order to create an effective management agreement and to update our Hapū Environmental Management Plan, I recognise that a holistic understanding of hapū aspirations is key. This means that we must bring in rangatira, kaimahi, and rangatahi voices into our steps forward.

"I plan to facilitate a rangatahi wānanga, supported by the Patuharakeke Trust, to engage with our youth about their visions and values of Pukekauri dam. This will include a site visit, tree planting, swimming, and interactive activities to better understand how they would like the area to be restored, protected and sustained for the future."

Previous recipients of the Pou Herenga Fund and Tonganui Scholarship have included Kaea Tibble who is re-indigenising maps using mātauranga Māori Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping software, and Deane Gage who facilitated a three-day kaimoana wānanga to help connect people to the moana and whenua.

As an entity of Te Ohu Kaimoana, Te Pūtea Whakatupu has a long history of supporting impactful Māori initiatives through both funding and investment, and recently celebrated the 30-year anniversary of the Fisheries Deed of Settlement.

"Reflecting on our past and the legacy we have inherited has reiterated the importance of our Trust’s purpose, the sustenance of Māori identity. These grants are an opportunity for our emerging leaders to pursue their passions - whether community or the oceans - in a tikanga-led, unapologetically Māori way" says Te Pūoho Kātene, Kaihautū of Te Pūtea Whakatupu Trust.

In addition to receiving the funding, successful recipients of Te Pūtea Whakatupu’s Tukuoha funding round are officially recognised as members of Ngā Auahitūroa, the Trust's growing alumni network of over 300 passionate and diverse funding recipients.

To read more about the successful grant applicants of Pou Herenga Tangata Award and the Tonganui Scholarship for 2022, visit: www.tpwt.maori.nz/grants

ENDS

For more information contact:

Victoria Fairweather | Tai Kōrero | Senior Communications Advisor, Te Ohu Kaimoana Group

Email: victoria.fairweather@teohu.maori.nz, Mobile: +64 (0)21 2020 166

Tonganui Scholarship Recipients 2022

• Harina Rupapera (Ngāti Rangitihi, Te Arawa) Harina hopes to progress Te Arawa Taiohi Toa’s vision of "Arawa Ahu Hawaiki" through a cultural exchange that assists Rarotonga with addressing their outbreak of crown-of-thorns-starfish (taramea, acanthaster planci) that is currently at risk of jeopradising their coral reef. So far, Rarotonga-based environmental organisation Korero o te ‘Orau has been tackling the outbreak by training their young people in scuba diving to remove taramea from the reef and bury them inland. This is similar to the mahi of Te Arawa Taiohi Toa who train their uri in scuba diving to address the invasive species that are present in Te Arawa lakes. The rōpu now hope to travel to Rarotonga to assist Korero o te ‘Orau with their response as well as share a mātauranga Māori approach to tackling these biodiversity issues. Through this kaupapa, Harina also hopes to connect and learn about the issues that are affecting the moana across Te Moana Nui a Kiwa and learn of the whakapapa connections through korero tuku iho as they follow the historical navigation of Te Arawa Waka.
• Jordan Aria Housiaux (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Toa Rangatira,Te Ati Haunui-a-Pāpārangi, Te Atiawa ki Whakarongotai) Jordan is currently completing the thesis component for a four-year PhD in veterinary science at Massey University focused on researching whale strandings in Aotearoa, and the interface and application of mātauranga Māori at stranding events. Jordan began the project in 2018, and so far, has contributed to the development of Ātiawa ki Whakarongotai Tikanga Tohorā - a first step in reigniting, documenting, and utilising indigenous practice at whale strandings in Kāpiti. Alongside this, the project also looks at indigenous genomics through utilising modern genetic tools to explain relatedness in whale stranding events in Aotearoa and explores the ethics of carrying out genetic studies involving taonga species. The project plans to analyse prognostic indicators of survival at mass whale stranding events in Aotearoa and explore if the survival of stranded whales should be the objective in these circumstances, or if these events are instead a natural phenomenon that should be left to occur naturally.
• Kia Maia Ellis (Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Ruanui) Kia Maia is currently in her second year of a PhD with the University of Waikato and is completing research towards a transdisciplinary mātauranga Māori and science approach to enhancement and resilience of puerulus kōura (Jasus edwardsii) in a changing climate. Kia Maia plans to utilise the fund to facilitate active wānanga, sourcing pūkenga/local expertise (kuia, koroua, weavers, fishermen etc.) for mātauranga ā iwi wānanga, worshops, and fieldtrips. These hui will explore harvesting kōura in the face of climate change and look at various local harvesting methods, to then design, create and trial mātauranga-centred pēpi kōura collection methods.

Pou Herenga Tangata Recipients 2022

• Alyssa Thomas (Patuharakeke) As part of a research project for her Master of Indigenous Studies at Te Herenga Waka (Victoria University Wellington) Alyssa plans to facilitate a rangatahi wānanga titled ‘Rangatahi Voices for Pukekauri Dam: Listening to Our Future Generation of Takahiwai’. Pukekauri Dam was confiscated in the 1960s under the Public Works Act. It was later deemed as surplus to requirements but was never returned to whānau and is currently owned and operated by Whangārei District Council. The dam holds historical significance and value to tangata whenua; however, due to restricted access, the hapū connection to this space has since been severed. Supported by Patuharakeke Trust, Alyssa hopes to engage with local youth about their visions and values of Pukekauri Dam. The wānanga includes a site visit, tree planting, swimming, and interactive activities to better understand how they would like the area to be restored, protected and sustained for the future.
• Hogan Hynes (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Tamatea) Hogan Hynes runs Ngaruru, a mentoring program with the purpose of growing rangatahi to be more confident in themselves and in who they are. Ngaruru works towards developing rangatahi to be the future rangatira and kaitiaki of their communities and realise the mana and potential that they hold to pursue and achieve whatever they may desire. Hogan now hopes to expand Ngaruru and create both an after-school program and facilitate a wānanga program that will dive deep into the roots of rangatahi participants and explore their cultural identity. The programme hopes to facilitate trips to the tūrangawaewae of the participants, where they can climb their own maunga, row down their own awa, explore their own ngāhere, and gather all these pūrākau and mātauranga from their whenua and tīpuna.
• Atawhai Ngatai (Ngāi Te Rangi) Atawhai hopes to pilot a Waiariki Hāpai Ō Wānanga in response to the 2020 Waiariki candidate campaign where she saw an immediate need for rangatahi engagement in the democratic process. With the wānanga, Atawhai hopes to mobilise Waiariki rangatahi to stand in their mana as tangata whenua, and to practice tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake through various strategies. The wānanga will include kōrero on koha and the importance of contributing to a kaupapa, the dissemination of mātauranga between generations (wānanga kōrero ki o mātou pākeke), the extended responsibilities of Hapai Ō and being ringa awhina (cleaning dishes, preparing kai for our whānau), understanding the tikanga and kawa of the marae, being across local issues, and understanding the value of hard work. As a result of the wānanga, Atawhai hopes that participating rangatahi will feel empowered to pursue governance opportunities and potentially return to their respected kainga with mātauranga that they can share with their whanau. She also hopes to provide pākeke with the comfort of knowing that there is active succession happening in their hāpori and that rangatahi are willing to step into these spaces.
• Rauora Rangatahi (Ngā Matarau Charitable Trust) For the past three years and supported by Ōpōtiki District Council, Ngā Matarau Charitable Trust has been running Rauora Rangatahi, a community initiative to navigate and foster healing for rangatahi affected by meth. Through a culmination of both lived experience and Te Ao Maori, Rauora Rangatahi educates local rangatahi and promotes healing from the impact of meth, suicide, and trauma through weekly hui and seasonal wānanga. With the funding, the Trust would like to facilitate a rangatahi-led National Rangatahi Healing from Meth Road Show with the aim of educating and supporting communities to establish support and healing spaces for rangatahi impacted by meth in their community.
• Whakamanatia Ngā Rangatira o Āpōpō (Ngā Moko a Rāhiri Inc) Kaikohe-based Whakamanatia Ngā Rangatira o Āpōpō is a program implemented by Ngā Moko a Rāhiri Inc to provide an opportunity for local taitamariki in and around Kaikohe to learn leadership skills and develop confidence through performing arts. The programme partners with local support services, schools, and other outreach avenues to onboard rangatahi aged between 12 - 17 years old to join the group and participate in noho marae to reconnect to their Ngāpuhitanga. The programme includes kapa haka, Polynesian dance, cabaret, and world song and dance, and the group often performs in the community performances and provides a pathway for participating rangatahi to develop into confident and strong leaders.

Te Ngake o te Kūpenga recipient 2022

• Tessa Thomson (Ngāti Raukawa) Tessa is currently completing a Master thesis in marine biology at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington focused on declining taonga species, toheroa (paphies ventricosa) in the Horowhenua rohe. Tessa will apply a mātauranga Māori approach to her research and will explore the significance and value of toheroa to her whānau and hapū in the Horowhenua rohe. Tesa will then identify the point in the life cycle where toheroa are struggling and use eDNA to establish whether toheroa DNA still remains present in the Kuku Beach ecosystem. This also includes completing plankton tows and understanding the community of organisms currently present in the water column. Lastly, Tessa will explore the adult population of toheroa through a combination of western science using digging survey data, and mātauranga Māori methods, and compare these to samples from both Te Tai Tokerau and Te Wai Pounamu to gain a better perspective of toheroa overall. Tessa hopes that through her research she can lead the next generation to not only be kaitiaki of the toheroa, but of Tangaroa.

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