Healthy Families Rautaki Māori gather in the Far North to strengthen community-led health

Good health belongs in our communities, and it begins in the places where we spend our time, where we gather, connect, and belong: on marae, on whenua and with each other.

This idea brought Rautaki Māori from Healthy Families NZ locations across Aotearoa together in Te Tai Tokerau for the first time last week.

The three-day wānanga, the first in person gathering of the national kāhui Māori, was hosted by Healthy Families Far North. The kāhui was welcomed by Ngāti Rēhia at Whitiora Marae in Te Tii, with one day spent at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.

Healthy Families Far North manager Mike Tipene said connecting ā mata was long overdue.

"First and foremost, the purpose of us coming together is to build connections with each other. Given that we're 10 locations from Te Tai Tokerau in the Far North, all the way to Murihiku in Invercargill, it's easy to become isolated in this mahi," he said.

"Mātauranga Māori has long guided how we care for each other and our communities. These few days together gave us the chance to bring that knowledge back to the centre of our work, for the health and wellbeing of our people.”

The wānanga was a reflection of how the kāhui works: whanaungatanga, kaitiakitanga, manaakitanga, kotahitanga; relationships, connection to place, and a deep responsibility to one another – the foundations of health and wellbeing for communities.  

Lead Māori Systems Innovator at Healthy Families Waitākere, Priscilla Tuisamoa, said she felt privileged to be part of the gathering.

"I'm so grateful and humbled by the manaakitanga we've been shown, and for the connections I've made with everyone here," she said.

"One thing that stood out to me was our kōrero about taking the responsibility off the individual, and I feel like that's what we've been able to do here — coming together in a safe space to just be rautaki."

The wānanga laid the foundations for Te Rawenga, a framework for collective action that emerged from kōrero at Whitiora Marae and reflections on Māori systems thinking. Te Rawenga will guide the  mahi of the kāhui over the coming year, strengthening relationships across the collective, deepening leadership, and growing the contribution of mātauranga Māori to prevention and systems innovation across Aotearoa.

Long-term conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, are among Aotearoa's most significant health challenges, and many are preventable. For the kāhui, mātauranga Māori is central to that prevention work, a knowledge system that has long understood health as collective, place-based, and relational.

"Mātauranga Māori is not only for Māori. Mātauranga Māori as a systems return benefits the whole motu. We need to keep strengthening those learnings and those knowledge systems in our everyday practice," said Tipene.

The role of Healthy Families NZ was to back the people closest to the mahi, he added.

"I truly believe that no one is more invested into a solution more than those who are facing the problems themselves. Our role is purely to support and enable them to be the makers of their own change."

The kāhui will continue meeting, sharing their learnings to strengthen health and wellbeing across Aotearoa.

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