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Mere Kirihimete

It has been a busy and positive year for the Waikato Wellbeing Project. We started the year with discussions with the WEL Energy Trust as part of their annual plan. Through these discussions, we were able to demonstrate the depth and breadth of support for the project and the positive outcomes achieved so far. These discussion helped to refine our 2024-25 Business Plan, which has guided our work programme and describe our ‘Theory of Change’ to funders and stakeholders. An updated 2025-26 Bus...

Introducing Hera Denton

In October we announced our Kai Challenge partnership with GoEco. The purpose of the partnership is to ensure that the WWP works with an organisation which is focused not only on better understanding why there is food scarcity in the Waikato but is at the front line of making a difference and is able to convene together other change leaders.The partnership will see the WWP contribute to funding a new Kai Challenge Lead for a fixed period, and we will share all our insights, stakeholder partnersh...

Treaty Principles Bill

The Treaty Principles Bill was introduced to Parliament in November 2024. It is now being considered by the Justice Select Committee. Submissions to the committee are open until 7 January 2025. You can make a submission to the Select Committee here.The Waikato Wellbeing Project has lodged a submission in opposition to the Bill and you can read our submission below. We have also supported a joint submission from Community Waikato, Creative Waikato, Go Eco, Diversity Counselling NZ, Seed Waikato, ...

Partnership with MAS Foundation

We are excited to announce, as part of the Waikato Kai Challenge, the formalisation of our partnership with the MAS Foundation. MAS Foundation is committed to improving health and wellbeing equity in Aotearoa New Zealand. The foundation’s vision is:Kia ora ngātahi ngā tamariki me ngā whānau i Aotearoa – Ola Manuia.Children and families flourishing together in Aotearoa New Zealand.…and the foundation’s purpose is:Kia whakapikia te ōritenga hauora, toira hoki.To improve health and wel...

Kai Challenge Report: Want Amongst Plenty

Our recently released report on food insecurity in the Waikato region, Want Amongst Plenty is now available online.  The report and associated resources can be downloaded here. If you would like a hard copy, please get in touch.The objective for the Waikato Kai Challenge programme is:To reduce the extent and risk of food insecurity in the Waikato region and in doing so increase the agency of those at risk of limited access to healthy food and with less need for charity....

Development of a Draft Knowledge Framework

Quanita is developing our knowledge programme for 2025 and refreshing the strategic framework underlying Te Ara Poutama.As part of the Kai Challenge workshop, an infographic was created to share key research findings and encourage stakeholders to collaborate in developing a shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities for Kai in the region. This infographic served as a prototype to discuss the need for a structured knowledge framework to understand, measure, and enhance well-being ac...

Launch Event: Young Waikato Women’s Wellbeing Baseline Report

The Young Waikato Women’s Wellbeing Baseline Report presents a community wellbeing baseline for young women and sex/gender diverse people in the Waikato. This work is being led by YWCA Hamilton General Manager and WWP Manu Taki Riikka Anderson. The project has been co-funded by YWCA, Trust Waikato, WEL Energy Trust and Waikato Wellbeing Project. The work was undertaken by Huber Social.If you would like to know more about the findings of this research and see the full report, an event will be h...

Hauraki Opportunity

The online wellbeing survey opened on the 15th of October, with responses off to a good start.  As at mid-November, responses were at just over 400, with higher response rates expected as project partners share and promote the survey through social media channels and via community organisation partners.The project aims to reach 2,000 responses by 28 February 2025, with enough responses to reflect the ethnic, socio-economic and geographic diversity of the Hauraki rohe. The project team (whic...

Framing Food Insecurity in the Waikato Region

The Waikato Wellbeing Project has unveiled the first of three pivotal research reports aimed at tackling food insecurity and poverty in the region. Framing Food Insecurity in the Waikato, conducted by StrategEase, Kelvin Norgrove and Alan Johnson, is part of the Waikato Kai Challenge and Te Ara Poutama Knowledge Initiative.This foundational report provides crucial insights into the paradox of food insecurity in one of New Zealand’s most agriculturally rich regions. It sets the stage for action...

WWP Review

As the WWP nears the end of its fourth year of implementation, we are commencing a review of the progress made by the project so far, and how might be funded in the future. A review of the deliverables and funding options for the project was also requested by the WEL Energy Trust as part of the current 5-year funding agreement.We have discussed the review with several potential providers and have selected Natalie Richard of Versus Research to undertake the review. The review will explore the fol...

Welcome Quanita Ali

As part of our 2924-25 Business Plan, we committed to a greater focus on our existing programmes, including Te Ara Poutama. We undertook a search for a suitably qualified and experienced person to lead Te Ara Poutama and were delighted with the quantity and calibre of people who applied, both from within the Waikato and across New Zealand.We are very excited to welcome Quanita Ali to the Waikato Wellbeing Project as our Te Ara Poutama Lead. Quanita brings an impressive set of skills and experien...

Partnership with GoEco

Our work in the kai (SDG 1,2) space has been ongoing for more than 2 years and several major pieces of work are current underway (see below). When our previous Kai Challenge Lead Amber Hammill moved into her new role at Te Whau Ora, we decided to explore other recruitment options that could create more lasting impact and opportunity.In partnership with WWP Manu Taki and GoEco CE Jo Wrigley, we are pleased to announce a new and exciting partnership for the Waikato Kai Challenge. We will jointly r...

Hunger and Poverty (SDGs 1,2)

As was reported in our July update, we have several major pieces of work currently underway:A baseline survey of the measures and indicators currently available to assess food security in our region. Currently being undertaken by StrategEase LtdAn analysis of the regions’ ‘foodshed’ – that is, a measure of our nutritional needs and outputs across the region. Currently being undertaken by Whirika Ltd. At this time, both pieces of work are nearing completion and will be available for ...

Lots of Little Fires

An update by Lead Social Innovator, Joe Wilson...

Te Ara Poutama- Hauraki Opportunity- Survey Open!

The Hauraki Opportunity is the flagship project of Te Ara Poutama, designed to deliver in co-construction with the people of Hauraki a repeatable Wellbeing Measurement and Management System that measures what matters to them, so that their needs, aspirations, and priorities can be further understood and evidenced, and so that – aligned to the intentions of Te Ara Poutama - important choices regarding the present and future wellbeing of the region can be made wisely.Completing the Community Sur...

Community Leaders Ecosystem Event

In partnership with Community Waikato, Hamilton City Council, and the Good Day Matrix, the Waikato Wellbeing project is delighted to be supporting the 2024 Community Leaders Ecosystem Event.This is not your ordinary leadership event. We all have a stake in the future, and we are setting the stage to make magic happen. If you are a community leader, a member of a not-for-profit organisation, a local government official, or someone who cares about their community thriving, we are inviting you to d...

Upcoming Creative Waikato Events

Jeremy Mayall, CEO of Creative Waikato and WWP SDG 3 Manu Taki is facilitating several amazing events in Kirikiriroa Hamilton over the next few weeks- please see details below.Ihirangaranga – Te Hua o Koanga: The Elixir of SpringSaturday 19th October - 5pm @ The MeteorWelcome the energy of Koanga (Spring) with the next iteration of Ihirangaranga, titled:  “Ngā Hua o Koanga: The Elixir of Spring“, where sounds and visuals will captivate and transport you to an experience you will...

Community Leaders Ecosystem Event

This is not your ordinary leadership event. We all have a stake in the future and we are setting the stage to make magic happen. If you are a community leader, a member of a not-for-profit organisation, a local government official, or someone who cares about their community thriving, we are inviting you to do something extraordinary with us....

Elevating the voices of young women (and non-binary people) in the Waikato

With our friends at YWCA of Hamilton, Huber Social, Trust Waikato and WEL Energy Trust, we are seeking to hear and elevate the voices of young women (and non-binary people) in the Waikato to understand what really matters to them, and their wellbeing, in their own words.We're asking Young Women and Non-Binary People aged 16-35 to take this survey before the end of September.Survey Link: https://tinyurl.com/ytytxz89...

Takurua 2024 | Winter 2024

A lot can happen in 8 weeks! Since our May update, we have started to see some of the major research projects we have co-funded and supported over the past 12-24 months reach a conclusion point, and several others major new projects have also kicked off. You can catch up on these below.We are starting to see some definite links and threads to our workstreams. For example between food, organic waste, climate change and water/river quality. There are also some very clear interconnections between p...

Hunger and Poverty (SDGs 1,2)

While we search for a replacement for Amber, we are making sure that the work programme she started continues.The Waikato Wellbeing Project’s Kai Challenge has an ambitious target of reducing child poverty in the Waikato region to less than 1% and eliminating child hunger by 2030. Our goal is that: “Our children can thrive because none are hungry at school or cold at home. They can afford to participate in social, artistic, cultural and sporting activities.”People and groups working at the...

Waikato Foodshed

A baseline foodshed analysis shows the estimated food production potential of a specific area’s productive land relative to the food needs of its population. A foodshed is a geographic area (typically within the boundaries of a district or region) that encompasses all the sources of food that are grown within that area. In an ideal world, a localised foodshed would also supply the population or community within that foodshed. Due to the complicated nature of a globalised food chain, this is no...

Circularising Organics Project and Webinar (SDG 12)

Update provided by Valerie Bianchi, Manu Taki SDG 12, Waste Prevention Advisor Waikato Regional Council....

Waikato Housing Stocktake (SDG 11)

The WHI was established under the Waiakto Plan in 2016 as part of the Waikato Plan and is the peak leadership body for housing in the Waikato. The WHI vision is that “Every person and every family in the Waikato region is well-housed, living in sustainable, flourishing and connected communities”.WHI members work to change the current status quo of housing across the region by leading, connecting and facilitating the delivery of affordable, quality and accessible homes in the Waikato. The Ini...

Awhi Healthy Homes Initiative

AWHI is a free initiative that works to improve housing conditions for whānau in South Auckland and Waikato. At the heart of the AWHI programme is equipping whānau with the skills, confidence and knowledge to create homes that are healthy, safe, warm and dry.The AWHI team achieves this by connecting whānau with local service and community providers who help ranging from minor repairs, access to resources like bedding, curtains and heaters to providing advice, support and education.A...