2 July 2026
As part of the Puanga–Matariki Insights Series 2026, the Āti Awa Toa Hauora Partnership Board is proud to announce the recipients of the first round of its Whānau Voice Grants, supporting three community-led initiatives that place whānau aspirations, lived experience, and mātauranga Māori at the heart of improving hauora across the rohe.
Beginning from 1 July 2026, the successful kaupapa span diabetes prevention, obesity prevention, and the continuum of cancer care. Together, they reflect the strength of locally led solutions and the knowledge that already exists within whānau and communities.
“Whānau Voice Grants recognise enduring solutions to improving hauora come from within communities. By investing in kaupapa that are whānau-led, the grants support local leadership, innovation, and lived experience to shape healthier futures,” said Āti Awa Toa Hauora Partnership Board manahautū, Hikitia Ropata.
The three successful Whānau Voice Grant initiatives are:
Matimati Makaurangi: Toi Rongoā – Art Healing Fingerprints
He Kai kei aku ringa
Ko Au Ko Tōku Whānau, Ko Tōku Whānau Ko Au
Matimati Makaurangi: Toi Rongoā – Art Healing Fingerprints
Delivered under the Kōkiri Marae Keriana Olsen Trust, this collaborative kaupapa supports the mahi of the Mana Wāhine Te Mauri cancer support group. Through raranga, toi kupu, contemporary movement, and rongoā Māori, it creates culturally safe healing spaces for whānau navigating cancer.
Operating across community locations in Te Awakairangi and Porirua, the kaupapa provides interactive wānanga that strengthen hauora, support healing journeys, and create opportunities for participants to share their experiences in ways that uphold mana. The insights gathered will help inform more culturally responsive cancer support services.
He Kai kei aku ringa
This kaupapa Māori programme delivers approximately nine wānanga over 12 weeks, engaging local Māori participants through māra kai and the moana as living classrooms.
Participants learn to grow, gather, prepare, and understand kai through tikanga-led gardening, sustainable kai moana practices, and nutrition wānanga. Grounded in mātauranga Māori and kaitiakitanga, the kaupapa strengthens relationships with healthy kai, builds practical skills to support obesity and diabetes prevention, and enhances hauora through whānau-centred learning.
Ko Au Ko Tōku Whānau, Ko Tōku Whānau Ko Au
This whānau-led cancer wellbeing project runs over approximately nine weeks and supports up to 12 whānau across rangatahi, pākeke, and kaumātua.
Through filmed one-on-one kōrero, mana-enhancing portrait photography, and whenua-based storytelling, the kaupapa centres whānau as knowledge holders and honours lived experiences of cancer across diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, caregiving, and loss.
The project concludes with a collective whānau gathering where stories and portraits are returned as taonga. Grounded in tikanga Māori, whakapapa, and rangatiratanga, the initiative supports healing, reduces whakamā around cancer kōrero, and provides authentic whānau-led insights to help shape more culturally responsive cancer support and future hauora planning.
Together, these three initiatives demonstrate the power of whānau voice in action, showing how community leadership, mātauranga Māori, and lived experience can help shape healthier futures for whānau across the rohe.
ENDS
For more information: https://atiawatoaimpb.nz