The incredible energy of maramataka and Matariki has inspired 2022 for Healthy Families Rotorua.
Healthy Families Rotorua manager, Jenny Kaka-Scott, says key outcomes achieved this year celebrated the revitalisation of mātauranga Māori and traditional practices.
“Our team has shown evidence of scaling up early Healthy Families’ prototypes. Empowered by last year’s successful Te Hekenga-ā-Rongo maramataka symposium, which showcased a wide variety of kaupapa-evidenced mātauranga Māori systems as prevention solutions, we led a co-design collaboration with hapū, iwi, Council, community and cultural experts to deliver Matariki Rotorua to our city.
“The challenge was to create the opportunity for our city to celebrate the true spirit of Matariki while ensuring traditional mātauranga Māori practices remained intact. The special occasion was marked with a traditional umu kohukohuwhetū ceremony, which was widely supported by our community and visitors to Rotorua,” says Jenny.
She says the year has also demonstrated improved team capability, with a strong focus on workforce wellness. Two staff took up the academic challenge of the Master of Māori & Indigenous Leadership degree, while two others stepped into new governance leadership roles for our community.
This year, Healthy Families Rotorua continued to build its community of practice to increase kai security by reinvigorating traditional Māori systems, such as maramataka, to deliver holistic and transformational benefits to whānau, hapū and iwi.
Te Arawa Ruku Ora, developed by hapū and health leadership and backboned by Healthy Families Rotorua, created an adaptive workforce based on whakapapa and whanaungatanga.
“Ruku Ora increased Māori capability to design and deliver their own COVID solutions and manaaki whānau in their own homes and on marae. By bringing the lived experience of hapū together, we can gain insights and understandings that will inform our activations and support systems leaders to prioritise a collective call to action,” says Jenny.
She says it was a significant year because it marked the end of the second Healthy Families contract and the health system that had delivered health services to New Zealanders for over 20 years.
“Lead providers for Healthy Families locations are chosen because they have strong relationships and spheres of influence within their communities. We’re fortunate in Rotorua that our lead provider is Te Arawa Whānau Ora.
“Together, we’ve been more intentional about facilitating collective intelligence and collective action to achieve greater outcomes for our communities. Our OROTaiao framework is a transformative approach for organisational growth, supporting our community through COVID, supporting the scale-up of the kai sovereignty kaupapa and sharing resources, and ideas.
“We’ll continue to seek greater ways to leverage our joint strengths and create brave new spaces for more kaupapa-driven innovation and are grateful for the support and opportunities being part of Te Arawa Whānau Ora affords our team and the work we do,” says Jenny.
