A Māori-led Women’s Refuge service has received a community project grant from the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) to explore the experiences of Māori in the Hauraki rohe1 in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, and how their needs can be incorporated into future civil defence management.
Denise Messiter, ONZM (Ngāti Pūkenga ki Waiau) is General Manager of Te Whāriki Manawāhine o Hauraki (Te Whāriki), the sole Women’s Refuge supporting whānau who have or are experiencing domestic and/or sexual violence in the Thames, Coromandel, and Hauraki District Council regions. Te Whāriki’s research team includes Research Manager Paora Crawford Moyle (Ngāti Porou), Irene Kereama-Royal (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whanaunga, Ngāti Tuwharetoa, Ngāti Raukawa ki te Tonga) and Lesley Kelly (Waikato, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Maniapoto), who, with Denise, have been working closely with Thames Coromandel District Council to improve the disaster and recovery response for Hauraki Māori, some of whom lost homes and livelihoods following Cyclone Gabrielle.
“During Cyclone Gabrielle, Te Whāriki helped five rurally isolated Māori communities in our rohe – Manaia, Harataunga, Koputauaki, Whangapoua and Paretu – stand up emergency centres in their communities because there was no response from the district councils or civil defence. One of our communities was isolated for 15 days with no official response,” says Denise.
“We had to run our own emergency centres, provide our own food, and get hold of our own equipment to cut trees that had come down and were blocking roads. It was through this experience that we decided we needed to document how tangata whenua had mobilised to meet the disaster response and recovery needs of whānau and use that information to influence policy decisions for emergency management in isolated Hauraki Māori communities.”
Now with their newly awarded HRC Ngā Kanohi Kitea Project Grant, Te Whāriki will be able to build on their recent work with Thames Coromandel District Council to develop Hauraki whānau-centred solutions that will improve civil defence planning, response, and recovery efforts for Hauraki Māori in the event of extreme weather events.
Denise says with the increased numbers of natural hazards and climate change disasters in Aotearoa, it’s essential that the country captures and learns from the local disaster management practices of tangata whenua. Moreover, she says capturing tangata whenua-led responses to severe weather events provides the evidence base for legitimising localised indigenous responses that are grounded in knowledge that is thousands of years old.
“We hope Hauraki whānau, hapū and iwi will benefit from our project’s findings through improved relevant and timely disaster communication by local civil defence, access to a range of disaster information resources that cater to Hauraki Māori, fairer deployment of extreme weather tools and equipment, and by being better resourced for overall disaster management.”
HRC Manager of Māori Health Research Le-Shan Pomana-Wesley (Ngāti Kahungunu ki te Wairoa, Ngāti Rakaipaaka, Ngāti Pahauwera) says the HRC had a great response to this year’s Ngā Kanohi Kitea Community Advancement Fund, with 13 grants awarded – many from Māori community organisations who haven’t applied for funding before – and more to be confirmed in the next few months.
“These Ngā Kanohi Kitea grants give Māori communities the chance to access funding at any stage of their health research journey and to develop their research capability and knowledge in areas that their whānau, hapū and iwi have identified as being important,” says Le-Shan.
See below for the full list of 2023 Ngā Kanohi Kitea Community Advancement Fund recipients. To read lay summaries about any of these research proposals, go to hrc.govt.nz/resources/research-repository and filter by proposal type (e.g. ‘Ngā Kanohi Kitea Development Grant’) and year ‘2023’.
1The Hauraki rohe covers the Thames Coromandel and Hauraki district councils’ areas as well as part of Matamata-Piako District Council. See https://teara.govt.nz/mi/map/735/te-rohe-o-hauraki
2023 Ngā Kanohi Kitea Community Advancement Fund recipients
Ngā Kanohi Kitea Development Grant
Dr Kura Lacey, Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira (Porirua)
Integrating oral health into the funding and management of diabetic patients
12 months, $99,947
Dr Stephanie Palmer, Tumana Research Services (Waikato)
Māori experience of the criminal justice system in Pare Hauraki
12 months, $100,000
Mrs Amanda Scobie, Pou Tāngata Ngāi Tai Ki Tāmaki Community Development Trust (Auckland)
Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki Hauora Strategy Development
12 months, $100,000
Ngā Kanohi Kitea Project Grant
Tia Huia Haira, Rangiwaho Marae (Gisborne)
Weraroa taonga species
18 months, $300,000
Mrs Tracy Macfarlane, The Moko Foundation (Northland)
Biomedical Matauranga Hub
18 months, $300,000
Associate Professor Te Kahautu Maxwell, Whakatōhea Māori Trust Board (Bay of Plenty)
Tohe-ora Wānanga-whenua
18 months, $299,658
Denise Messiter, Te Whāriki Manawāhine o Hauraki (Waikato)
Hauraki Māori weathering Cyclone Gabrielle
18 months, $300,000
Mrs Amanda Scobie, Pou Tāngata Ngāi Tai Ki Tāmaki Community Development Trust (Auckland)
Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki Health Research Project
12 months, $219,000
Ngā Kanohi Kitea Training Grant
Dr Maria Baker, Te Hiku Hauora (Northland)
Te Hiku Rangahau
12 months, $150,000
Denise Messiter, Te Whāriki Manawāhine o Hauraki (Waikato)
Gang whānau healing from intergenerational trauma
12 months, $136,000
Denise Messiter, Te Whāriki Manawāhine o Hauraki (Waikato)
Research manager for Te Whāriki Manawāhine o Hauraki
12 months, $119,990
Ngā Kanohi Kitea Knowledge Mobilisation Grant
Ms Waitiahoaho Emery, Ngāti Pikiao Iwi Trust (Bay of Plenty)
Koeke-ā kō ake nei
12 months, $94,800
Professor Te Kani Kingi, Te Whare Wānanga O Awanuiārangi (Bay of Plenty)
He Aha Taku Oranga Hauora Mo Apopo
12 months, $93,860