Tumu Whakarae Report

He Pūrongo

Raukawa Charitable Trust Tumu Whakarae Report

Kia wāhia ake aku mihi ki te whakaaro nui tonu ki te Atua. Ko ia rā te tīmatanga me te whakamutunga o ngā mea katoa. Kia mihia hoki a Kīngi Tūheitia, e noho ana i te ahurewa tapu o ngā mātua tūpuna, paimārire. E kui mā, e koro mā, e rau rangatira mā, kei te iwi whānui tonu o Raukawa, ka nui te mihi ki a koutou katoa.

Firstly, I would like to take this time to acknowledge Koro Hori Deane who held the position of Kaunihera Kaumātua for many years. With a heavy heart, we mourned his passing earlier this year and we continue to feel his absence within our organisation. Koro was loved by many and we often turned to him for his wisdom, his knowledge of tikanga, his guidance and reassurance. While our thoughts and aroha continue to go out to the whānau and his many mokopuna, I find comfort in knowing that his many words of wisdom continue to flow throughout the mahi that we do each and every day. I would like to pay tribute to Vanessa Eparaima, who after 12 years of dedicated service officially ended her tenure on July 29 2021. Throughout this time, Vanessa has driven the development of our iwi year on year. If I had no word limit then I would list the many accolades of her leadership during her many years here at Raukawa. In lieu of that privilege, I will narrow my focus to make special mention of Vanessa who took a leading role in our iwi response during our first nationwide lockdown in March 2020. Despite what was often a challenging space to work in, her consistency and ability to understand, influence and advocate, helped to shape many positive outcomes that

supported the needs of our iwi during the March lockdown, and positioned our organisation to confidently meet the second lockdown later in August 2021. I have said it before, and will say it again, the confidence and ability to champion the health and wellbeing of our people during an unprecedented pandemic is something that our iwi can absolutely be proud of. I wish Vanessa all the best in her future endeavours.

I have known Kataraina for many years, and she brings a wide range of skill and experience to the helm, I look forward to working with her. The social and economic impact of Covid-19 very much remained with us throughout this financial year. We have seen a visible shift in the daily lives and social behaviour of our community, from restrictions on gatherings, travel and even how we go about greeting each other. Scanning has become a new social norm, along with working from home, mask wearing and social distancing. Despite this new world of uncertainty and shifting alert levels, our kaimahi successfully navigated this new reality by adjusting appropriately and safely to meet service needs, both during the initial lockdown and the many months following. Despite the pandemic, our organisation continues to deliver meaningful and valuable benefits to our people. Throughout the year, our organisation provided a number of Covid-19 related services that

I have absolute confidence that the momentum of our iwi “ will continue at pace under the leadership of our new chairperson, Kataraina Hodge. “

supported our iwi and the wider community, from delivering hygiene and food packs, kaumātua care packs, collaborating with our community partners to provide community based assessment clinics and hosting vaccination clinics at Te Whare o Raukawa. I am proud of how again we continue to be agile, innovative and responsive to changing times. Our executive leadership team continues to provide steady guidance for our operations, each of our group managers should be proud of the mahi that their respective teams have carried out over the last 12 months. Our environment team continues to provide quality advocacy and leadership across a myriad of policy changes at a national, regional and local level. The team has been very busy delivering key projects like Te Ārohirohi o Raukawa, the Marae Renovation project and the release of the new cultural landscape website, Waipapa ki Arapuni Wāhi Ahurei. Our culture and identity team has been equally busy, from providing a wide range of reo Māori and tikanga based wānanga, to hosting the Ngā Kura o Tua Whakarere exhibition that celebrated Raukawa history, taonga and stories. This team also launched Te Manawapouhīhiri, a new website that explores our new Raukawa cultural education strategy. Our health and social wellbeing team has grown its capacity with two new director positions, along with expanding our services such as Te Kei o te Waka which partners with Oranga Tamariki. There have been many achievements from this team over the year, too numerous to list, however, a few key highlights were the Raukawa Kaumātua Games held in March this year, the new Mahi Tahi agreement with Waikato DHB and our new office in Te Awamutu. Our corporate services team remains the engine room of our organisation, and has completed

Charitable Trust Raukawa

some exciting new mahi with Honda New Zealand, providing three new apprentice opportunities for our iwi. This team has also contributed to our new Covid-19 resurgence storage facility, which proved invaluable during the August lockdown. I encourage you to read the rest of this report, which outlines the many achievements of our team in more detail than I can provide here. I continue to be grateful for the support of our trustees and kaumātua, who provide wise advice and guidance that help our operations team carry out the mahi. Likewise, I am grateful and appreciate the commitment and passion that our kaimahi bring to their mahi each day. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern often refers to our nation as a team of 5 million. Here I pay tribute to team Raukawa, who has certainly done their part to unite against Covid-19. Coming out of the 2020 lockdown did not mean stagnation for us; instead, it meant an even busier year where forethought, responsiveness and agility formed major themes. I am proud of the mahi we have completed over the last 12 months, and I look forward to greeting the new challenges that come our way.

Nā Maria Te Kanawa

Raukawa Charitable Trust Tumu Whakarae (GM)