October was a month for celebration as the full Kia Puāwai Programme Team came together for an amazing two days of work with our respective project teams and first get together as a full team. The four research projects comprising our programme include:
The first day began with a mihi whakatau and whakawhanaungatanga session led by our Pou Tikanga, Utiku Potaka. For two researchers, Cassie Khoo and Stephen Reay it was the first time they had met some of the other team members - although Stephen disclosed he had previously played in a band at a local music venue Space Monster. Regrettably, Kiri Parata, Paora Moyle and Lucia Gribble were unable to join us at this inaugural meeting so we look forward to seeing them next time!
The aim of the two days was to provide an opportunity for each team to come together kanohi ki te kanohi to advance their respective research projects. The first day also provided an opportunity for individual teams to attend system change workshops facilitated by Martin James and Sandy Harman of the Innovation Unit. The aim of these workshops was to gain a collective understanding of how each team could position their research in a way that would be a positive impact for Māori.
Day two began with the celebration of the new Kia Puawai website and video explaining the programme grant name and purpose. Links to the website and video can be found here.
Visit the Kia Puāwai website here.
After the website launch each team was given 30 mins to present on their individual projects. The brief was to discuss how their project was developing, who the team members were and what research methods they were utilising. This process allowed each of the teams to increase their awareness of the other projects in the programme and kick-started a conversation regarding integration across the programme as a whole. Each team took a unique approach to presenting their project, stimulating an interactive session with lots of questions and answers; a valuable exercise in that it gave the other research teams an understanding of the research intent and who was doing what in each project. In the afternoon, the system change work which had been done the day before, was displayed on a wall giving other teams a chance to observe the similarities and the differences between projects, allowing for an even deeper discussion of how we will integrate our work across the programme as a whole.
A special mention goes out to Tanya Allport and Tom Johnson who facilitated much of the discussion, took photos, and kept us on our toes when post-lunch haze threatened our concentration. Many thanks to Vicky McLeod – Ngatuere and Ayesha Maraku for organising the kai and coordinating travel and accommodation, and to our partners and Whakauae kaimahi who attended. Your passion and commitment to the work we had planned ensured the success of this, our first full programme grant hui.
