Niuvaka Trust – Thriving, Flourishing and Resilient Tagata Pasifika
Based in Palmerston North, Niuvaka Trust’s purpose is to work cooperatively with Tagata Pasifika, Pasifika communities, and Pasifika families in the MidCentral region, to build their capacity and capability, and realise their aspirations. It has a vision is for Tagata Pasifika to be ‘Thriving, Flourishing and Resilient’.
Niuvaka Trust was established in response to the impact of COVID-19 on Pasifika communities and initially it was focused on the distribution of care packs, education packs, and other essential everyday items to support those who were self-isolating. Since that time, the Trust has expanded its work to delivering community projects and initiatives, and providing services within the health, housing, financial, employment, and social service sectors.
We asked ‘Aka’aere/General Manager, Dana Kunaiti (Nō Mangaia o Ngā Kuki Airani, Tahiti, Te Ātihaunui-a-pāpārangi me Horana) to tell us about some of the highlights of the Trust’s work.
Vaka Festival 2023
“In March 2023, in collaboration with many other organisations, Niuvaka Trust hosted a Vaka Festival, the first Pasifika Festival of its kind in Palmerston North. We had between 2,000-3,000 people attend on the day, over 60 stallholders ranging from kai, retail, and promotional stalls, as well as organisations and agencies.
The Vaka Festival was an opportunity to share the beauty of our Pacific cultures, the bringing together of all our Pacific communities, to provide opportunities to celebrate our identity, to acknowledge the uniqueness of each Pacific nation, to be proud of our multiple Pacific cultures and languages, and to provide a platform to connect us all. This was a huge undertaking and the feedback we have received indicated the desire to continue this on a regular basis,” says Dana.
There have been challenges as well. The need to secure ongoing funding has meant that a significant amount of time has had to be spent seeking financial support for long-term sustainability.
Tamariki Clinics - run in partnership with Te Whatu Ora
“As a small Pasifika Charitable Trust and a community provider of Health and Social Services, we play a crucial role in supporting Pacific families to shift out of poverty and to achieve better health outcomes, yet as an NGO we are not resourced enough for doing the work we do. We are grateful to have partnered with J R McKenzie Trust to have a Business Development Manager role whose primary function is to implement the key actions in our Business Plan, explore social enterprise activities, and ensure Niuvaka Trust maintains growth and sustainability,” says Dana.
She is excited about new and ongoing projects that are in place.
“We have been focused on activities to support Kai Resilience and Kai Sovereignty starting in January 2024 with a six-month pilot for a Pasifika Home Gardening Initiative. The objective is for families to become self-managing and self-sustaining and to shift away from a reliance on services such as Niuvaka Trust.
Pasifika Home Gardening Initiative
We continue to provide opportunities for our Pasifika communities to participate and engage in community initiatives such as Poly Paddles – Water Safety & Awareness Initiative, Pacific Languages, and the Vaka Youth Programme to name a few,” says Dana.
Niuvaka Trust has also co-designed a Pacific Cultural Model and Framework used to engage with its aiga (families), to identify goals and aspirations and develop a plan to achieve these. In addition to this, the Trust is currently developing a Pasifika Cultural Competency Training Programme to deliver to organisations that are unsure how to engage and work with Pacific communities.
“All these programmes of work will help support the achievement of Tagata Pasifika who are thriving, flourishing and resilient!” says Dana.