Twelve Whānau Hauora Initiatives Win $60,000 After Grant Boost

Twelve whānau-led projects have been selected in the first round of the Whānau Voice Grants, offered by Te Taura Ora o Waiariki Iwi Māori Partnership Board. They enable whānau across Te Arawa to actively shape hauora and wellbeing solutions in ways that truly matter to them.

“When we created the Whānau Voice Grants, the goal was simple, it was to back whānau to lead hauora and wellbeing solutions grounded in lived experience, tikanga, and connection,” said Rawiri Bhana, Board member of Te Taura Ora o Waiariki Iwi Māori Partnership Board.

“We originally planned to fund ten grants from a $50,000 pool, but the quality and creativity of applications was so strong we boosted the fund to support twelve kaupapa.”

The call to apply for a grant attracted twenty-five high-quality submissions that met the criteria based on kaupapa Māori design and/or whānau-led delivery.

“What came through was the diversity of whānau-led innovation already happening across our rohe from digital storytelling and safe online spaces like a ‘Virtual Whare Kōrero’ and wānanga, to kaupapa capturing whānau voice through filmed kōrero, interviews, photography and podcasts. These are practical, culturally anchored solutions that reflect what our communities need to thrive.”

Other Whānau Voice Grants focus on improving health pathways and service design, ensuring future services are shaped by whānau needs from the start. This includes kaupapa exploring cancer prehabilitation, stroke recovery support, and whānau experiences of immunisation, with insights gathered, analysed, and fed back into planning and commissioning.

The funded kaupapa also uplift identity-based and tikanga-led wellbeing, including kaupapa supporting Takatāpui hauora, hapū-led natural burial planning, and a moko kanohi revitalisation initiative that strengthens connection to taonga tuku iho and cultural reclamation as a pathway to wellbeing.

Rangatahi wellbeing is strongly represented, with kaupapa building confidence, belonging and resilience through marae-based wānanga, youth mental health podcasts, and a unique eSports wellbeing programme supporting rangatahi who are neurodiverse or feeling disconnected to connect in culturally grounded ways.

Innovative opportunities in everyday community settings also secured backing, like a men’s wellbeing kōrero series held at a rugby club, recognises that hauora is shaped in the places where people gather, support each other, and live their lives.

Launched in November 2025, the Whānau Voice Grants were designed to put whānau at the centre of decision-making, recognising that those living the experience know best what works locally.

“Communities that don’t fit the usual parameters like remote or rural whānau, tāngata whaikaha, gang whānau, takatāpui, and young parents often go unheard,” said Bhana.

“Instead of asking whānau to conform, we are adapting the system to capture their expertise, creativity, and insight. The response has been extraordinary.”

Applications were anonymised and reviewed by a selection panel in December to ensure fairness. The process highlighted strong demand for grassroots initiatives, significant interest in kaupapa grounded in tikanga Māori and mātauranga Māori, and innovative, intergenerational, locally led responses to hauora priorities such as immunisations, oral health, and mental health.

The initiative has also attracted national attention, with multiple Iwi-Māori Partnership Boards (IMPBs) reaching out to Te Taura Ora o Waiariki to learn from the launch process, as they plan to replicate the Whānau Voice Grants model in their own regions.

“The Whānau Voice Grants are mana-enhancing and empowering,” said Bhana. “They strengthen leadership, whanaungatanga, and build skills in engagement, analysis, and storytelling that are capabilities that whānau can continue to apply in shaping the health system.”

The twelve successful initiatives are:

1. Korokai Holdings Limited Tūhono - Strengthening health planning and commissioning
2. Te Arawa Whānau Ora Oro Tuawhenua Whānau Voice Shaping Cancer Prehabilitation for Māori
3. Donald Hollingsworth Takatāpui Talk
4. Lynette Walmsley Whakamana i te whenua, tūpāpaku, i te whānau. Reimagining burial practices
5. Digital Narratives Academy eSports sessions creating digital narratives
6. Natalie Richards Awhi Mai ki Rotorua - Stories of stroke survival
7. Te Rūnanga Ngāti Kea Ngāti Tuara

Mokopapa – Moko kanohi a pathway to cultural identity, hauora, and reconnection

1. Kirini Limited Immunisation whakaaro
2. Christopher Ranui-Molloy Ko Wai Mātou? Taonga Based Whānau Hauora Storytelling Pilot
3. Waitangi Clarke Ka Hao Te Rangatahi - Marae-based wellbeing and cultural development
4. Tipene James Mental Health Waikite Senior A’s whānau voices
5. Bianca Taute Silencing the shitty committee – Podcast series on rangatahi mental health awareness

The twelve Whānau Voice Grant recipients came together on 18 February for the first time. They will deliver their health and wellbeing initiatives by the end of May 2026, directly benefiting whānau across the Te Taura Ora o Waiariki region.

© Scoop Media