Through 2021-22 our Manu Taki have been listening to the voices of those who experience food poverty, as well as sharing and celebrating the stories of communities who are finding ways to both feed their whānau, restore mana and knowledge about food cultivation, caring for the land and enhancing community connections. 

Manu Taki for SDG 1 and 2 have undertaken a series of consultation hui to understand how we can develop kai resilience and kai sovereignty in our region including:

·       Initial Hui held at Wintec (2021)

·       Two on-line seminars to celebrate local successes[1]. Speakers included:

o   Joyce Maipi from Matawhaanui Trust

o   Arthur Grimes, Victoria University

o   Dr Rebekah Graham

o   Lisa Booth from Kete Kai

o   Mike Rolton from St Vincent De Paul Hamilton

·       A number of empathy interviews with kaumātua

·       The Manu Taki are all engaged with various strategies focused on developing kai resilience and kai sovereignty in our region - this includes supporting the network of Te Puna Kai o Waikato - an initiative of Go Eco that focuses on connecting communities with Papatūānuku

·       Maara kai are developing throughout the Waikato, including a 22-hectare maara kai in Rāhui Pōkeka and a Tongan whānau garden in Templeview, Kirikiriroa.

All this input has given us some broad indications of areas of potential opportunity for the WWP to explore, but we still want to better define and refine our exact role in this important discussion for the Waikato.

 To help start this process we held an initial framing workshop with a small number of stakeholders on 23 February (postponed from 13 February due to cyclone Gabrielle), which will help us to start the process to clarify the question(s) we are looking to explore and how we might go about that.   Once our new project lead is on board, we will advise the next steps in this process.

[1] Our kai webinars can be viewed online here:

o    https://youtu.be/ASj313ndz9I

o    (102) The Waikato Kai Challenge: Seminar 2 - YouTube