Sport NZ Ihi Aotearoa has further demonstrated its commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi with the release of Te Aho a Ihi Aotearoa, its Māori Activation Plan, and a Māori Outcomes Framework, Te Pākē o Ihi Aotearoa.  

Te Pākē and the Sport NZ Outcomes Framework carry the same status and together guide Sport NZ Ihi Aotearoa towards building a Te Tiriti-led and bicultural future.  

Sport NZ Ihi Aotearoa CEO Raelene Castle says it is the strength of Te Aho and Te Pākē that will propel the organisation toward its vision of Every Body Active. 

"Te Aho and Te Pākē are the culmination of three years’ work across the organisation.  Māori need pathways where they are enabled to participate and succeed as Māori, and this sits at the heart of the kaupapa." 

COVID-19 has proved challenging for the play, active recreation and sport sector and heightened the existence of inequities for Māori. 

"The new Māori Activation Plan, unveiled today, ultimately seeks to move Sport NZ Ihi Aotearoa beyond its commitment to Te Tiriti and reflect that commitment to action," says Raelene Castle.  

Data collected by Sport NZ Ihi Aotearoa from the Active NZ 2019 and Diversity & Inclusion 2020 surveys show that Māori participation in sport and active recreation is high and only slightly lower than Europeans.  

Despite that, the data shows Māori are significantly under-represented in leadership and management across the sector.  It also shows Māori are under-resourced and, for the most part, unable to access culturally distinctive pathways. 

Sport NZ Ihi Aotearoa Toihautū Moana-Lee Raihania says Sport NZ Ihi Aotearoa has a huge opportunity to work in partnership with the sector to develop and increase bicultural pathways, and pathways that are culturally appropriate to Māori. 

"We acknowledge that Māori are not all the same. There is as much diversity within Te Ao Māori as there is in other cultures. So, we have more work to do to lead and influence the sector in being Te Tiriti-led and valuing Māori culture. It’s important to us that we have a number of strategies and pathways operating to engage with and cater for whānau, hapū, iwi, Māori in both spaces, "says  Moana-Lee Raihania. 

Features of the new Māori Activation Plan are: 

• More culturally distinctive pathways will be available to Māori across the country 
• More Māori organisations will be sustainable and supported by Sport NZ Ihi Aotearoa 
• He Oranga Poutama, one of the longest standing Sport NZ Ihi Aotearoa initiatives, will be extended nationwide to more communities across the country 
• Tapuwaekura, that runs parallel to Healthy Active Learning, will be rolled across the country into Kura Māori Levels 1 and 2 
• A National Māori Sport Collective will be established, and a Te Tiriti partnership formed between the Collective and Sport NZ Ihi Aotearoa, and 
• A new Māori play plan will be implemented. 

Te Aho builds on several pieces of work that Sport NZ Ihi Aotearoa has already started as part of the COVID-19 Kaupapa Māori Response Plan, approved in 2020.  

"It’s been almost three years since we made a commitment to Te Tiriti.  A lot has been done internally and there is still a lot more mahi to do.  Activating Te Aho in a timely and meaningful way is another demonstration of our genuine commitment to Te Tiriti and the strengthening of our responsiveness to Māori," says Raelene Castle. 

This follows the announcement from earlier this month about the new governance and organisational review of Sport NZ and High-Performance Sport NZ. This includes establishing Taumata Māori to support strategic decision making and investment in relation to Te Tiriti o Waitangi commitments across Sport NZ and High-Performance NZ. 

To find out more about Te Aho a Ihi Aotearoa and Te Pākē o Ihi Aotearoa, click here. 

ENDS