ROIMATA Harmon (right), a graduate from last year’s programme, with her sister Rawinia Hohua. Their marae is Te Kauae Marae in Hangatiki. PHOTO SUPPLIED
Applications close tomorrow for the Agri-Women’s Development Trust (AWDT) Wāhine o te Whenua programme, designed to support and develop Māori women’s leadership.
Hosted at Hangatiki’s Te Kauae marae, it will run until November 2023.
Graduate Roimata Harmon completed the programme last year, and appreciated the way it connected her with like-minded wāhine as well as providing governance skills and knowledge.
“It was a real eye opener,” she said.
“I was attracted to the leadership aspect of it. They had lots of ladies doing awesome stuff. It’s quite inspirational in that respect – just seeing how can we push through barriers and make stuff happen?”
Roimata had asked the committee of her home marae, Te Kauae, if they were prepared to use the meeting house as this year’s venue.
“So we had somewhere more central,” she said.
Last year the course was held in Northland, which meant difficult travel times for those from the central North Island, Whanganui and Taranaki.
Would Roimata recommend it to others?
“For sure. I definitely would recommend it. They’ve got a wealth of knowledge; you get supported throughout.”
She would also do meditation and yoga during the programme’s in-person workshops, she said.
AWDT development manager Mandy Armstrong said the programme defined leadership in terms of the goals and needs of the wāhine.
“It’s an opportunity for Māori woman to [learn] leadership skills and some understanding of how they can progress the issues, and the journey that’s important to them.”
Personalised coaching means the journey is customised according to each woman’s needs.
The kaupapa is shared in a culturally appropriate setting.
“They [will] explore … what the possibilities are in an environment that’s more comfortable for them, in order to keep setting themselves up on their own journey, and progressing forward.
Previous graduates have worked in a range of fields.
“We had one woman who went and represented New Zealand at a youth APEC meeting; a couple of them went in to chair their whānau trust or kōhanga trust.
“We had a woman who was doing some really leading work around water quality and putting the matauranga Māori voice forward around water. It really depends on the individual.”
The development trust has worked on the project for around five years; last year was its first formal pilot.
The programme is the brainchild of AWDT patron Mavis Mullins and founder Lindy Nelson.
It costs $1000 per woman to take part, which goes towards “much behind the scenes work,” including curriculum development, the costs of hiring the marae and its buildings, and the four professional coaching sessions.
“It is worth several thousand dollars,” Mandy said. The AWDT would be flexible, and work with women to find solutions for paying these costs.
The feedback from last year’s pilot was very positive.
“The learning happened in a place, and in a manner where people felt really comfortable, and felt they could be completely open. They felt seen from a cultural point of view,” she said.
The AWDT uses a proverb to describe the goals of the programme:
“Te toto o te tangata he kai, te oranga o te tangata, he whenua, he oneone.” While food provides the blood in our veins, our health is drawn from the land and soils.
Participants do not have to be farmers or work in primary industry. It is available to all wāhine Māori in the primary sector and to those in rural communities.
