Final report
Project objectives
He Wahine He Whānau He Whenua is creating the opportunity for women and whānau to access and share information that will strengthen their roles as land owners and leaders and assist them to increase the sustainable viability of their lands and farms.
Background
The program Wahine Whānau Whenua started in late 2003 with funding from the MAF Sustainable Farming Fund. The leadership of this program is vested in six founding women.
Mission statement
Wahine Whānau Whenua exists to uphold sustainable Māori land utilisation and business development, to acknowledge the valued role of Māori women as landowners and farmers, to support their social, educational and training needs and to celebrate their contributions to sustainable farming and agriculture, past and present and future.
The program was designed to a) address gaps in the whānau approach to whenua and b) to leverage off strengths in culture and whānau. Findings from previous research undertaken by academics and consultants (McLean, Kingi, Scrimgeour, Lambert, Sheath, and SFF Women In Farming Project) further confirmed for the founders of Wahine Whānau Whenua that there are gaps in women and whānau involvement in sustainable farming that needed to be addressed. In particular it was noted that there is:
- a lack of women presenting at extension workshops;
- the potential for Māori to better utilise the land they already own;
- a lack of recognition by traditional farming sectors that Māori women are significant owners/shareholders of land;
- a lack of exploration of the international findings that Māori are world class innovators and entrepreneurs.
The key goal of Wahine Whānau Whenua is:
- To support Māori women in their whenua related work.
Strategies to achieving the key goal are:
- To create Wahine Whānau Whenua networks among:
- Māori women who are land shareholders or have an interest in sustainable farming and the products thereof;
- Māori women and whānau who are interested in land related business development;
- Māori women and whānau who are seeking out learning events and forums for knowledge acquisition;
- Māori who have access to research, science and technology and the ability to link landowners and others to the opportunities within the agricultural and farming industries for Māori women.
The programme aim
The purpose for which the programme ‘Wahine Whānau Whenua’ was instigated was to improve the viability of Māori land holdings by supporting the training and information needs of the wider whānau/family and in particular, Māori women.
The reasons why
The programme Wahine Whānau Whenua was instigated in response to a need expressed by Māori women and landowners for more information about land use options, to have forums where ‘ordinary landowners and whānau’ would be comfortable in sharing their information and experiences among people with similar concerns and aspirations and ā desire by the formation group to recognise and ‘value’ the roles and status of Māori women in relation to their contribution to land and farming and as landowners within the context of the wider whānau.
Where women are actively engaged in farming and/or whānau and/or whenua related matters the roles they take may include key support to the main decision makers, advisor, main influencer, decisions maker, committee member, administrator, treasurer, farm hand, gardening of crops, product developer and so on. It is seen however, that the numbers of women involved in farming related activity has dropped significantly since the 1960s. There are a number of reasons for this including increased urbanisation by Māori and the flocking of Māori women to roles in health and education.
According to leaders of the FOMA Conference 2003, the large tracts of land that have remained in Māori ownership still hold opportunities to provide wealth to whānau Māori and the nation. In their report entitled Māori Economic Development, Te Puni Kōkiri estimates the contribution by Māori to be $700 million, representing about 7.4% of New Zealand economy.
The potential for improved utilisation of these lands is largely untapped. It is this existing asset base, according to FOMA leaders, that provides the greatest potential for future growth in the Māori economy. At the same conference, the numbers of Māori women registered to participate was very low and efforts were being made to begin to address this inequity.
These issues together with the expressed need for improved land utilisation and greater involvement by Māori women to engage in matters related to the whenua together with the success of an earlier sustainable farming fund programme run by the Rural Women group prompted the foundation group to implement a programme that would increase the participation by Māori women in sustainable farming and associated activities and in so doing, unleash the potential as described at FOMA 2003 for ‘whānau’ to better utilise their lands.
This project aimed to answer the question, “What opportunities are available for smaller land owners”? At the same time it was acknowledged by the group that the participation of Wahine Māori urban dwellers is also an important consideration as many urban bound women are still shared owners of ancestral land.
It was deemed by the group that there would be opportunities to pilot some initiatives with landowners affiliated to Wahine Whānau Whenua. One of the ways the group envisaged helping landowners was by assisting Wahine Māori to obtain or access technical knowledge, science or to by taking a governance role in matters related to their lands.
The following were some specific areas identified by the group where Māori landowners in some areas needed help with access:
- land maps
- Industry
- Soil scientists
- Other scientists, agronomists, farmers
- Lobby groups
- groups with similar values, aims and objectives
- Need more good messages
Need a better understanding of:
- How Māori landowners are placed today
- What is the level of Māori farming
- How many Māori are involved in sustainable farming and land utilisation
- What progress is being mad in terms of Māori land ownership and governance.
Approach
What we proposed
- The priority, seminars and workshops allowing members to gain a broad overview of the current realities facing Māori women in the areas selected for this project on sustainable farming.
- Leadership will come from excellent Māori women champions who have already been identified.
- Three central hui will be held with all groups over the year and at the first, ownership and management of the project will be established.
- Collective goals and objectives will we discussed and clearly defined.
- An operational document will be drawn up to reflect the diverse skills and interests of the group.
- All financial arrangement will be formalised and an appropriate financial management plan established.
- There will be approximately six meetings per year some in adjunct to existing Iwi meetings with possible overnight stays on marae.
- Expert speakers will be drawn from the local Māori women and farming community and from industry and CRIs.
- Explore opportunities for internet contact and website access for the groups.
- Contribute articles to local Iwi newspapers.
- There will be a minimum of five inter-group visits to farms and or land blocks in conjunction with an extension workshop activity.
- To contribute to the FOMA forum.
- Evaluations will be conducted at the end of each conference to gauge programme benefits.
What we did and how we went about it
The first step was to consult with Māori women within their communities and to identify leaders to steer the project; women who had a track record of leadership and achievement in their given areas of service delivery. The second important tenet was to identify Māori perceptions about what constitutes success in terms of the key cultural determinants and to build those into the fabric of this programme.
The approach in this project is premised on the notion that ‘working for the collective and for the collective good’ implies that all members inclusive of age, gender and various abilities will be included because each has something to contribute.
The approach taken was based on adherence to some key determinants determined by Māori researchers to be critical to achieving success when working with our own Māori landowners and innovators:
- Build on the Māori preference for working collectively and for the collective good.
- Establish local ownership and relevance for the programme by encouraging groups to revisit their own local stories and history. Find out who the women were who worked the land, created product from the land, used rongoa, farmed, gardened and so on. Use the stories of these women to inspire current Māori women and to reaffirm their roles as landowners.
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Acknowledge the positives. Often in the past, Māori have been described in ‘deficit’ terms and little acknowledgement has been afforded to their contribution, in this case, to farming and agriculture. The approach in this programme is to celebrate the positive as a means of inspiring collectives towards improvements. For example: In 1929, Princess Te Puea of Waikato led the development of 12 dairy farms in the Northern Waiuku area.
What we did - examples from 2006
Conference hosting
Wahine Whānau Whenua has convened an annual conference each year since the inception of the group and this programme. The popularity of the fore prompted the group in 2007 to run both a Spring and an Autumn conference. The following pictures and snippets are taken from the conference reports. The feedback from participants to the inaugural 2005 Wahine Whānau Whenua Conference can be summed up by he following comment made by an attendee who wrote in her evaluation that:
Inaugural Autumn Conference 2005
“It was truly inspirational” (Conference participant)
In 2005 Mamae Takerei gave the opening address for the first Wahine Whānau Whenua conference when she spoke on the life of “Te Puea” who was born in 1883 at Whatiwhatikoe and died at Ngaruawahia in 1952.
Te Puea was the daughter of Tiahuia (daughter of Tawhiao) and Te Tahuna Herangi (son of an English surveyor) and therefore the granddaughter of Tawhiao. She was raised and educated in Maori beliefs, values, and culture. The life of Te Puea spanned the period of time where her people bore the effects of events such as the influenza epidemic and the conscription at Mangatawhiri. She is remembered for the remarkable contribution she made to both her own people of Waikato and to Māoridom. In the context of this inaugural conference special reference is mad of the work she did to encourage the uptake of dairy farming in the Northern Waikato.
Launching the Wahine Whānau Whenua kaupapa
Wahine Whānau Whenua exists to uphold Māori land and business development, to acknowledge the valued role of Māori women as shareholders of land, to celebrate their contributions to sustainable farming and agriculture, past and present, and to support their learning, training and development aspirations for the future.
The programme is designed to address gaps in current methods applied to information transfer and farming:
- the lack of women presenting at ‘extension workshops’
- the low numbers of women attending FOMA conferences
- the potential to better utilise the land they already own
- the lack of recognition of Māori women as significant owners/shareholders in land in NZ.
Goal
To support Māori women in their whenua and whānau related work.
Conferences were utilised to receive feedback from Māori women and whānau.
Sustainable Farming – some conference presenters
Rau Hoskins
His kaupapa centred on Papakainga development and included alternative energy systems, a whare raupo project, an uku project and garage technologies as contemporary living alternatives for today that is low cost.
Rau identified some of the key issues within his presentation as:
- Māori & Societal Housing expectations versus economic realities - affordability
- Whānau, Māori Land Court, Local Government challenges
- Skills
- Design for extended whānau dynamics
- Energy
Rau’s work is aimed at enabling Māori gain access to housing that is affordable and warm. He noted that even the lowest cost “off the shelf houses” produced by housing companies are out of reach of most unemployed/low income rural Māori.
The advent of rural Māori affairs housing coupled with urbanisation has overseen both a de-skilling of the Māori population in their ability to take control over their own housing and matching modern Māori and societal housing expectations with Māori social & economic realities has proved increasingly difficult since Māori began returning to rural papakainga in the 1980s. The double garage as a low cost, self build/assemble housing alternative has proved to be a much maligned exception to the rule of affordable housing options. The double garage has given Māori a level of control over their own accommodation although currently such conversions seldom reach “acceptable” health or desirability standards.
The issues for whānau Māori are:
| Issues | Implications |
| Higher number of occupants | More "house" required durable/robust materials |
| Higher numbers of adults | More privacy required |
| More children | Play space/opportunities Study space/opportunities |
| Changing occupancies | Flexibility of spaces |
| Low incomes | Self build/assemble Staged construction/fit out |
Rangi Te Kanawa was asked to be the closing speaker for the day. She has a background in textiles derived from her grandmother, the late Dame Rangimarie Hetet and mother Diggeress Te Kanawa. Supported by the ‘Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa’ weavers group, Rangi was introduced to the practice of conserving textiles and in 1990 completed a 3 year Bachelor of Science degree in the Conservation of Cultural Materials at the University of Canberra, Australia. She then interned at the Textile Conservation Centre, Hampton Court and the British Museum, London, before returning to New Zealand and being employed by the National Museum of New Zealand- Te Papa. One of Rangi’s ‘kaupapa’ is to support the planting of pa harakeke.
Te Waiarani and Hana Harawira gave a presentation on whenua from their area, Ngai Tuhoe of the Ruatoki/Taneatua valleys and Priscilla McAllum Wehi gave a presentation on her research work about Māori and the transportation of harakeke before the pakeha came to New Zealand.
Wai opened with korero on her life and upbringing within her iwi boundaries and how her experiences taught and told to her enriched her life and understanding of Te Ao Māori in respect of whenua and how it can sustain people so long as it is treated well. Hana then continued with her korero on the healing of the spirit…
- What does healing the spirit mean to you?
- What three things do you identify with Te Ao Māori?
- What can be done today to heal the spirit?
The 3 things identified with Te Ao Māori in her korero are Te Whenua, Nga Tangata and Te Reo me ona tikanga. Through the use of proverbs Hana extended her discussion to include how other indigenous people view the land.
Toitu he whenua whatungarongaro he tangata
People come and go, but the land remains
The third and final of this collective presentation was delivered by Priscilla McAllum Wehi. Her korero was about the way traditional cultivation of pa harakeke has been misrepresented by some pakeha ecologists in historical writings. She uses whakatauaki, pepeha and has interviewed weavers throughout NZ to draw conclusions about how Māori have grown and transported harakeke throughout NZ that began before the arrival of pakeha.
Autumn Conference 2006
Wahine Whānau Whenua ran their ‘Autumn’ sustainable farming conference at the Tainui College, Hopuhopu on 28 April 2006.
This was prompted in part by the success of the inaugural conference in 2005 where participants requested a similar hui to be arranged for 2006.
Executive member Dr Ngapare Hopa is interviewed by Māori television
The conference participants filled the Hopuhopu Conference facility roomFeedback was given in written and verbal form. The feedback received on the day and after the event was positive.
Executive team member Christine Brears
“We believe that as learning and knowledge exchange opportunities to discuss sustainable farming, Wahine Whānau Whenua hui are the forum of choice for a growing number of women and their whānau”.
A separate evening session allowed those who were unable to attend during the day to join the conference for dinner. The evening programme featured an exhibition of ‘harakeke’ garments by Taumarunui designers. This was followed by special guest presenter and renowned chef, Charles Royal.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better venue. The ‘manaaki’ and care given, the catering and presentation and the view from the hilltop made this a first class venue and we feel privileged to have the opportunity to hold our conference there.”
Tainui kaumatua Hone Haunui and wife Hera presided over the hui from beginning to end.
The Wahine Whānau Whenua schedule of workshops, hui and training for 2006 includes presenting the programme at the annual Agricultural Field Days to be held at Mystery Creek and to have representation at the Indigenous Knowledge Conference to be held at Te Papa.
Executive member Rahera Douglas welcoming attendees
A sample from Charles Royal/Kinaki foods presentation
Orewa Barrett-Ohia (AgResearch and Project Manager) with Aroha Mane from TVNZ
Spring Conference 2007
The Annual WWW Spring Conference 2007 was held at the Glenview Hotel in Hamilton on Friday October 5th. This would be the fourth Conference to be hosted by Wahine Whānau Whenua since the project got under way in 2005. Attendees received updates from WWW leaders and the project manager. The opportunity was given to attendees to participate in the new Wahine Whānau Whenua ‘puha project’ research programme.
Wahine Whānau Whenua celebrated the arrival of spring 2007 with a one-day conference on sustainable farming, land utilisation, organics and innovation.
Wahine Whānau Whenua presented facilitated a wonderful showcase of wahine and whānau Māori who are involved in farming, land utilisation and/or product development. They included farmers, innovators and niche product creators such as Kristin Katu, Queenie Chadwick, Cathy Tait Jamieson, Eleanor Barton and others. A stand alone session was offered featuring New Zealand truffle growing expert - Dr. Ian Hall.
Seminars
Each year WWW have been host and organisers of a range of learning events such as seminars, workshops, field and farm visits and Conference. For example, 2007 events included:
- Jan: workshop held at Taupiri on Sustainable farming and organic fertilisers
- 2007 Feb: Workshop held at Narrows on issues of indigenous governance
- 2005, 2006 and 2007 Representatives of WWW attend the FOMA Annual Conference
- June: WWW members who are involved in ‘dairy farming ‘ attend the Māori Farmer of the Year Awards
- August: WWW representatives attend the annual Māori Women’s Welfare League National Conference held in Paihia.
Field trips
The executive committee of Wahine Whānau Whenua committed to two major events per year including a field trip.
Members of the Wahine Whānau Whenua network travelled from all over the region to take part in the visit to Kaiwaka and Lynn’s organic garden out at Raglan.
A field trip to Northland took members of the network to the saffron garden of Queenie Chadwick. Included in the visit was a ‘workshop’ led by Queenie involving discussions around the cultural protocols of growing ‘kai’.
The project Co-ordinator represented the group at the annual Tree Croppers Conference in Auckland.
Workshops
Different members of the Wahine Whānau Whenua network convened workshops on a regular basis. Topics covered included the following:
What were the main findings from this project?
Māori, both men and women, said they valued and enjoyed the chance to meet and speak together, to discuss their own needs, aspirations and challenges and to share and value their own stories in ways they are comfortable and familiar with. It was not unusual for example to hear people turning to waiata and whakatauki to illustrate a point or to identify the reason behind values and beliefs.
We believe that as learning and knowledge exchange opportunities focused on sustainable farming, Wahine Whānau Whenua hui are the forum of choice for a growing number of women and their whānau.
To date two hundred people have attended at least two Wahine Whānau Whenua knowledge exchange and learning events.
Undertaking regular evaluation among members of the network has shown there is strong support from Māori women for the work being undertaken by Wahine Whānau Whenua. The following comment is indicative of the many written responses and recommendations from those involved in WWW activities:
“There remains an ongoing need among land owners of small land blocks to have access to information that will help them find solutions to the challenges of economies of scale and to have the ability to make informed decisions about how to best utilise their land in ways that are both sustainable and productive for the owners (Member of the WWW network/conference attendee).
What did participants at the 2007 Spring Conference say?
- Great speakers, all very approachable women so I was able to ask questions at lunch.
- What an excellent conference, great to see ā range of Māori women attending.
- Ko te ‘kanohi ki te kanohi’ te mea pai.
- Kua tau te whakawhānaungatanga.
- Awesome website.
- Information sharing and networking was cool during the forums.
- Encourage WWW to continue to create the opportunities for sharing info/networking.
- Excellent opportunity to network for Māori Women and economic advancement.
- Website for sharing is a great idea. Samples of products was awesome e.g. paua pickle, saffron, puha plants.
- Tautoko what is being done for information sharing and networking.
- Waananga whānau, hapū, iwi.
- Kotahitanga tatou katoa.
- Yes – definitely. That’s why I came and I have taken everyone’s names and interests.
- Personal networking and communication is important – and maintaining these. Can’t beat this person to person net working and communication but internet is a step forward.
- This hui provided great opportunities for giving and receiving info.
What difference has this project made to your group/community of interest/industry?
Over the last six months there has been an increase in interest in WWW forums by established Māori women leaders/farmers. The involvement of these women has brought many benefits to the WWW network including links with Industry (Fonterra and others).
WWW has supported the interest of these women and their families by inviting dairy farming women to speak at the recent 2007 Annual Spring Conference. The speakers were Eleanor Barton: Director/owner/chairman of Haerepo Trust Dairy Farms, Cathy Taite Jamieson: Organic dairy farmer/owner of Bio Farms Ltd.
