Our vision and mission
Our commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi is woven through all of our work to build a better society.
Our vision is of an Aotearoa New Zealand where everyone has a place to belong.
Our mission is to build a social movement across the country of people, organisations and communities committed to working together to build a socially inclusive Aotearoa New Zealand.
Our whakatauki
This whakatauki was gifted to Inclusive Aotearoa Collective Tāhono by Associate Professor Dr Tom Roa (Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato). In writing it, he was inspired by the toroa (albatross), a symbol of peace. The whakatauki tracks the toroa as it soars across the seas, to its nesting sites inland, and how it sews offshore and onshore together in its flight.
Ka hōkā a Tāhono i Uta!
Ka hōkā a Tāhono i Tai!
Ka rerea a Kōwhitiwhiti!
Ka tau ki Kōwiniwini,
Ka tau ki Kōwanawana!
Tūturu ō whiti whakamaua kia tina!
Tina! Hui e!
Taiki e!
As Tāhono soars across the seas
As Tāhono soars inland
And in leaving those places of significance in the Crossing
Alights on Kōwiniwini, on Kōwanawana (places of significance to the peoples of those spaces)
Let there be an affirming of that crossing
An affirming of the settling together
So be it!
Our values
Te Tiriti embodies the “promise of two peoples to take the best care of each other” in the best possible way (Bishop Manuhuia Bennett).
We understand that Te Tiriti o Waitangi established a set of rights and obligations and a relationship between the Crown and Rangatira, which remains in place today. It created a governance framework for the nation (kāwanatanga). It affirmed the existing rights of Tangata Whenua to self-determination (rangatiratanga). It guaranteed shared citizenship and equal rights for all (rite tahi).
Tino rangatiratanga – Seeking to understand with empathy, curiosity and respect.
This looks like – Being present in our delivery, conversations and relationships.
This sounds like – Using simple and appropriate language, diverse approaches to conversations, acknowledging difference.
This feels like – Living with respect, honour and belonging.
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Support others to grow and thrive
We work together with others and place community aspirations for their futures front and centre.
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Support Tino rangatiratanga
We work in ways that support Tino rangatiratanga and Māori self-determination, and normalise Te Reo Māori and tikanga Māori.
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Act with integrity
We do the right thing, we deliver on our promises. We are open about our decisions and actions, and own them.
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Grow Belonging & Inclusion
We work in ways that recognise the mana of all. We do this through manaakitanga me awhi (relating to and showing we care) and whakarongo (silent listening).
What we are going to do
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Develop a national strategy for belonging and inclusion
We will develop a national strategy for diversity and inclusion. This will bring a more coordinated approach across communities and groups working to create an inclusive society.
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Develop constellations to foster greater community collaboration
We will set up constellations around key focus areas relating to inclusion. Constellations are collaborative networks that support people and organisations to build cross-sector partnerships and collectively support change.
Project outcomes
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Reduced discrimination and improvement in the sense of belonging across Aotearoa.
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Communities empowered to determine solutions that work for them, implemented with the support and collaboration of other communities.
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Competitive environment for NGOs shifts towards greater sharing of funding, development of programmes, ideas and resources.
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Government engagement with civil society changes into a relationship where civil society has power and influence over matters which affect them.
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Funding from the state and philanthropic sector has greater impact as organisations working together have greater synergy and efficiencies.
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Enabling all communities to benefit from programmes and processes that are effective, and which can be developed and nurtured in regions across the country.
Key milestones
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Project setup
We mapped networks, researched what is already happening and gained initial funding.
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Conversation
We talked to people across the country about their experiences of belonging, and not belonging.
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Analysis and reporting
We analysed what people told us and shared a report on the themes we found in what they shared with us.
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Strategy and mapping
We are establishing key focus areas and mapping individuals and organisations to identify future partnerships.
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Constellations piloted
We will help form and support partnerships to establish and grow constellations around the three key focus areas.
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Constellations scaled-up
As our network of constellations and momentum grows and we learn together, we will identify opportunities to scale-up and achieve greater impact.
Our whānau
The team
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Anjum Rahman
Anjum Rahman is the Project Co-Lead of Inclusive Aotearoa Collective Tāhono. She is a chartered accountant with 30 years’ experience, and has worked with a range of entities in the commercial, farming and not-for-profit sectors.
She also commits to various volunteer roles in the community. She was a founding member of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand, an organisation formed in 1990 to bring Muslim women together and represent their concerns. She has also been a founding member and trustee of Shama, Ethnic Women’s Trust, which supports ethnic minority women through its social work service, life-skills classes and community development. She has worked in the area of sexual violence prevention both as a volunteer and as part of Government working groups. Anjum is a Trustee of Trust Waikato, a major funder in the Waikato Region.
Anjum has been an active member of the Waikato Interfaith Council for over a decade, a trustee of the Trust that governs Hamilton’s community access broadcaster, Free FM. She is a member of international committees dealing with violent extremist content online, being the co-chair of the Christchurch Call Advisory Network and a member of the Independent Advisory Committee of the Global Internet Forum for Countering Terrorism. She is also a council member of Internet New Zealand.
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Gareth Jones
Gareth has worked as an executive for many years with several multinational and national organisations. Alongside this, he has experience in international trade, relations and consultancy, indigenous consultancy, and cultural advisory. He is also a facilitator for Te Tiriti o Waitangi workshops across the motu.
Within academia, his interests are broad though focus on leadership, indigenous studies, intelligence & security, counter terrorism. With a goal to support the original tenants of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and diverse groups, inclusivity is a key principle of his mahi.
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Talie Schmidt-Geen
Talie has worked in both corporate and not-for-profit fields in healthcare, IT and education in Aotearoa and internationally for the last twenty-five years. She has extensive administration and event experience and has also organised events throughout the Asia Pacific region in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Australia and throughout New Zealand.
She is of Samoan/German/Chinese descent and her parents came from Samoa in the 1950’s and raised their family in Tokoroa and Auckland.
On a voluntary basis she is also involved in Pacific Island committees and was a steering committee member of Women in HealthTech an organisation “striving to empower women with diverse range of thinking at all levels of the HealthTech industry and assist with effecting cultural change.”
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Atarau Hamilton-Fuller
Atarau Hamilton-Fuller (from the tribes of Ngati Kahungunu, Ngarauru, Ngati Raukawa) has experience in youth & community planning, leadership, and development previously working as a Facilitator with a Social Enterprise, which focused on providing employment pathways for the most excluded and disadvantaged rangatahi (young people) in the Hawkes Bay region. His passion is education, training, and Indigenous rangatahi development and this is clear in everything he does. He was involved in the co-design of a social enterprise meeting the needs of the Hawkes Bay region since 2017 and is constantly ensuring Te Reo me Ōna Tikanga is a part of his journey in life.
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Staughm Collins
Staughm has a history across the board in external communications, and now runs the day-to-day digital face of the organisation. Hailing from Ōtepoti, but now based in Tāmaki Makaurau, his interests lie in learning and sharing others’ stories through a variety of mediums, and promoting the accessibility of information through good communication design.
External staff
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Dr Richard S Cooper
Richard’s passion lies in helping whānau help themselves. After working with communities in their homes for over 15 years, for him seeing changes and life improvements makes it all worth the while.
Richard is the Art Director of Cooper Artworks, and has commissioned many great sculpture art projects across Aotearoa. He also current works as a life coach at corrections departments across 8 centres.
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Daysha Tonumaipe'a
Daysha is a researcher involved in several disciplines that focus on addressing inequity in our Māori and Pasifika communities. These areas range from food environments and food systems, international development and Chinese investment in the Pacific Islands, vaccinations and immunisation, public health, indigenous methodologies, racism, and domestic violence. Daysha’s PhD is focused on the role of social enterprise as an upstream healthcare strategy in creating healthy food environments for Māori and Pasifika. A service-oriented and people-centred approach based on reciprocity to our communities is the compass for Daysha’s work in research.
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Traci Sietu
Traci works across education sectors and organisations through her consultancy. She fosters a community of practice where she is able to support others as a Ministry of Education Accredited Professional Learning Facilitator | Cultural Capabilities facilitator and NZ registered teacher. This includes roles as a content creator, designer and writer for educational initiatives with national projects. Her focus areas include pacific advisory, community engagement, leadership advocacy, change management, development of inclusive practices and cultural pedagogies.
In addition, she supports undergraduate, postgraduate and new teachers to the profession through enhanced mentoring and evaluative lecturer roles with both The University of Auckland and Auckland University of Technology (AUT). Traci has extensive management in community engagement, non-for-profit sporting clubs, liaison roles alongside Board roles and responsibilities. Traci is a Trustee of Talalelei Life Future Fund that supports scholarships for young people in Samoa and is on the Australian New Zealand K-12 Advisory Board for Google for Education.
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Trent Morgan
Our Māori advisory team
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Sandy Morrison
Sandy is an Associate Professor, Faculty of Maori and Indigenous Studies, University of Waikato. Her scholarship focuses on indigenous models of development partnerships under the Treaty of Waitangi as well as education for sustainable development. She is also the winner of the National Ako Aotearoa Tertiary Teaching Excellence Award for Sustained Excellence in a Kaupapa Māori Context. She is the current President of the International Council of Adult Education and was admitted to the International Adult and Community Education Hall of Fame, Oklahoma University in 2009. Tribally, she descends from Te Arawa, Maniapoto and Te Tau Ihu o te Waka a Māui.
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Associate Professor Dr. Tom Roa
Dr. Roa is the former chief negotiator for Waikato-Tainui, a former chairman and current member of both the Waikato-Tainui Executive committee (Te Arataura) and the Waikato-Tainui tribal parliament (Te Whakakitenga o Waikato). He is an esteemed kaumātua and orator within Tainui waka. His principal interests include Waikato-Maniapoto oral and written history and traditions, the Kīngitanga, Māori-English translation and Māori traditional knowledge relating to flora, fauna, marine resources and also to land.
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Te Huia Bill Hamilton
Bill’s relationship building skills are his greatest strength combined with a high level of strategic and management thinking and style. He has extensive networks nationally and internationally. Having over 20 years experience in governance and senior management, and vast expertise in operational matters including reporting, monitoring and risk management, he has a proven record of achieving a high standard of outcomes.
He prefers an inclusive collaborative working style and has a proven record in teaching, training, facilitation, mediation and resource development. He has contributed to specific successful relationship building with iwi over many years. He has a sound knowledge of Tikanga Maori and mid-level competency in Te Reo Maori. He is strongly supported by his iwi, hapu and whanau. His written and oral communication skills are well developed and is highly skilled in weaving the Treaty of Waitangi into business management and community development, the latter being a passion for him. He has experience working at local, regional, national and international levels.
Advisory group
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Lincoln Dam
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Ruth Gerzon
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Jackie Clark