Te Tihi o Ruahine: Digital dreaming and supporting the aspirations of Māori
Tihi o Ruahine is an alliance of nine iwi, hapū and Māori organisations who work collectively to deliver whānau-centred services. Utilising the Te Ara Whānau Ora process, Te Tihi works with their communities to support the aspirations of their people.
Te Ara Whānau Ora (TAWO) is a process of engagement developed by the community for the community of the Mid-central district that supports whānau on their journey to self-managing their social, economic and cultural development. It puts whānau at the core of decision-making and aims to equip whānau with the tools they need to be empowered in managing their own collective wellbeing.
Te Ara Whānau Ora 2.0 is a platform that allows customers to create a customisable tool that supports
their end-users in creating and fulfilling their dreams and realising their wellbeing aspirations. These tools
can be re-framed and designed to meet the needs of our customer's intended end-users. The platform has two key areas of functionality: The Dream System and Wellbeing System
The Dream System allows end-users to:
Determine their own dreams and aspirations (Momeomā).
Collaboratively create collective dreams (Momeoeā).
Invite whānau and Friends to support their dreams (Papori).
Identify the Qualities and Resources they have and need (Qualities and Resources).
Create clear action steps to reach their dream (Action Steps).
Time Stamp action steps (Action Steps).
Align action steps to the taha of Te Whare Tapa Whā (Action Steps).
The Wellbeing System allows users to:
Determine wellbeing for themselves.
Create the indicators of success for themselves.
Visualise their wellbeing aspiration, the current status of their wellbeing and monitor their progress towards realising wellbeing.
Insights from both the Dream and Wellbeing system enable the ability to understand how the achievement of our dreams contribute and impact our Wellbeing.
Te Tihi o Ruahine Project Manager, Pikihuia Hillman, says that they wanted to use the Te Ara Whānau Ora approach to flip the traditional framework of supporting whānau on its head.
“Often when social agencies engage with Māori, they approach it from a ‘what’s wrong’ place, which immediately puts the focus on the issue that people are facing,” says Hillman. “We wanted to move beyond that, and instead focus on the aspirations of our people and see how we could support them to achieve their dreams.”
TAWO 2.0 likens wellbeing to the concept of Mauri and one’s ability to move through its various states. In this way wellbeing has the ability to change through different stages of life and any good wellbeing framework should reflect an individual’s priorities and focus as they change over time.
“We know that your goals when you’re 18 are often very different to your goals when you’re 50, and so this suite of products can help whānau track and progress their goals at the different stages of life,” says Hillman.
When Te Tihi’s team first embarked on the digital dreaming journey of TAWO 2.0 in 2018, they were a team of 15. Today, this number sits at 25 staff, this has seen a growth in access to data and specific skillsets integral to the ongoing development of TAWO 2.0 as a platform. The Te Tihi team now has software development skills and leans into the skills and interests of rangatahi in their rohe to develop the products.
“For us, it has always been about creating a tool that can support the aspirations of whānau,” says Hillman. “It’s about engaging rangatahi, upskilling our people, and making the dreams and aspirations of our community possible.”
Te Mauri Moemoeā is nearing BETA testing where the application will be functioning, this will allow the team at Te Tihi to onboard feedback and considerations to finetune Te Mauri Moemoeā and TAWO 2.0 for a wider release to the community.
For more information about TAWO 2.0 and Te Mauri Moemoeā contact: Pikihuia Hillman, pikihuia.hillman@tetihi.org.nz