Honouring Our Shared Ground
In Aotearoa, meaningful social impact begins with a firm commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This isn’t just a nod to history—it’s a living relationship that guides how we show up, make decisions, and walk alongside others in our mahi.
Practising Te Tiriti means more than acknowledging obligations—it means committing to partnership, equity, and tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) in how we work and who we work with.
When we ground our mahi in the values of Tikanga Māori, we’re not just improving systems—we’re nurturing the soil they grow in.
🌺 Guiding Values from Te Ao Māori
These are not abstract ideas. They are principles woven into daily life—anchored in whakapapa, shaped through tikanga, and lived through relationships:
- Manaakitanga – Practising care, respect, and generosity in all interactions
- Whanaungatanga – Building and sustaining meaningful relationships
- Kaitiakitanga – Caring for people and planet as interwoven responsibilities
- Rangatiratanga / Tino Rangatiratanga – Supporting communities to lead their own change, on their own terms
These values provide the roots and rhythm of how change is nurtured—centred in trust, care, interdependence, and responsibility.
🌀 Te Tiriti in Practice: More than Principles
Working in alignment with Te Tiriti invites us to:
- Create systems and services that uphold mana and are shaped with iwi, hapū, and communities
- Recognise and support Māori leadership in defining and delivering wellbeing
- Encourage the use of mātauranga Māori (Indigenous knowledge) alongside other approaches to shape solutions
- Track success using culturally grounded outcomes—like belonging, connection, and intergenerational wellbeing
Rather than seeing this as a compliance task, we treat it as a collective opportunity: to reimagine impact through the lens of equity, culture, and enduring connection.
🌊 A Te Ao Māori Lens on Impact and Investment
In Te Ao Māori, impact is not short-term or isolated. It unfolds across generations and relationships.
- Ka mua, ka muri – We walk backwards into the future, guided by what came before
- Wellbeing is collective—not just personal—and includes people, place, and spirit
- Success is measured not only by outputs but by mauri restored, mana upheld, and whanaungatanga deepened
This worldview encourages us to invest with care—nurturing outcomes that are culturally meaningful, environmentally responsible, and future-facing.
🌱 What This Means for Your Practice
Embedding Te Tiriti and Tikanga Māori values in your social impact mahi can look like:
- Holding space for co-design with iwi, hapū, and whānau
- Using tohu of change and pūrākau (narratives) to track meaningful outcomes
- Creating leadership roles and opportunities that reflect tino rangatiratanga
- Building systems that support mana-enhancing engagement—not just service delivery
- Committing to continuous reflection, relationship-building, and cultural learning
“It’s not just about what we do—but how we do it, who we do it with, and whether the whakapapa of our mahi honours the past, strengthens the present, and prepares the ground for future generations.”