He Muka Tangata – He Mana Wāhine
International Indigenous Women’s Forum - Aotearoa New Zealand
United Nations Foro Internacional de Mujeres Indígenas
Weaving the voices of indigenous women.
Program Overview
He Muka Tangata – He Mana Wāhine is endorsed by the International Indigenous Women’s Forum (IIWF-FIMI), a global network uniting Indigenous women from America, Asia, Africa, the Arctic, and the Pacific, fostering progress and unity. Additionally, Te Rōpū Wāhine Māori Toko I te Ora (Māori Women’s Welfare League Inc.) stands as a Māori Women’s Organisation in Aotearoa, committed to the wellbeing of Māori women and their families. Together, these organisations symbolise empowerment and resilience for Indigenous women globally.
It is with great honour that we welcome Makau Ariki Atawhai, who will provide an opening address as patron of Te Rōpū Wāhine Māori Toko I te Ora.
This online event connects the voices of Indigenous women, amplifying our vital role in protecting and revitalising the intellectual knowledge of our ancestors. It is through the leadership and foresight of Māori women that the Wai 262 claim was initiated. Continuing this legacy, Tiaki Taonga is the collective aspiration for the remedies to those original claims. The weaving of relationships from Wai 262 to Tiaki Taonga has reaffirmed the prestige and standing of Māori women in their communities. This standing has informed the important next step of extending Tiaki Taonga into the international domain. Achieving this requires visible and active support to other indigenous groups who are seeking to increase their influence internationally.
The Wai 262 claim, Kanapu, and AATEA Solutions, have collaborated to bring you this opportunity for connection ahead of the upcoming FIMI events and the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC) in Hawai’i. Our objective is to facilitate the exchange of statements, further intertwining the threads of our shared experiences and aspirations.
In honour of the esteemed Whina Cooper, one of the founding members of the Māori Women’s Welfare League, we are reminded of her wisdom within our culture. Her legacy teaches us this wisdom gains even greater strength when shared across regions and among indigenous women:
"The seed I would like to plant in your heart is a vision of Aotearoa where all our people can live together in harmony ..... and share the wisdom from each culture. - Dame Whina Cooper
Program Itinerary
13 May 2024 12pm-4pm NZT - Online
12:00pm
Mihi whakatau
A traditional Māori welcome will be shared with delegates across the Pacific.
Hema Wihongi shares the purpose of He Muka Tangata, He Mana Wāhine
12:15pm
Opening Address – Makau Ariki (Kiingitanga, Aotearoa)
An opening address will be provided by Makau Ariki, patron of Te Rōpū Wāhine Māori Toko I te Ora.
12:30pm
Session 1: Mililani Trask (Hawai’i)
Native Hawaiian activist, attorney and founding mother of the Lannan Indigenous Women’s Network.
12:45pm
Session 2: Tarcila Rivera Zea (Peru)
Executive President of the United Nations Foro Internacional de Mujeres Indígenas (FIMI) forum.
1:00pm
Session 3: Shirley Simmonds (Raukawa (Ngāti Huri hapū), Ngāpuhi) and Helen Potter (Maniapoto, Ngāpuhi)
Key findings from the Mana Wāhine Kaupapa Inquiry.
1:15pm
He Puna Kōrero: Facilitated Panel session
Marina Alefosio (Samoan)
Inez White-Faitala (Te Arawa, Ngāti Porou, Tainui)
Jade Hadfield (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga, Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara)
Facilitated by Keti Marsh-Solomon (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou)
A panel session featuring Indigenous creatives driving connection and empowerment within their own families and communities across Aotearoa, the Pacific, and globally. Alumni of the 2023 Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity, discuss the transformative power of the arts and culture in their professional and everyday lives.
1:45pm
Session 4: Kiri Reihana
(Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Whakatōhea, Ngāi Tuhoe)
Protecting and enhancing the marine environment.
1:55pm
Session 5: Vanessa Clark
(Waikato)
An Indigenous Atua framework for research.
2:15pm
Lunch Break
A selection of waiata – Mana Wāhine
2:45pm
Session 6: Kiri Toki
(Ngāti Rehua, Ngāpuhi)
The relationship between Wai 262 and Intellectual Property Rights.
3:00pm
Session 7: Tasha Hohaia
(Ngāpuhi)
Digital tools that protect Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) from misappropriation and misuse.
3:15pm
Session 8: Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke
(Waikato, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou, Te Ātiawa, Ngāi Tahu)
Hana-Rawhiti at the age of 21 is the youngest member of The New Zealand Parliament in over 170 years.
3:30pm
Panel session
A panel that reengages previous speakers in a discussion aimed at drawing out insights and statements to be carried to the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture (FestPAC) in Hawai’i.
3:45pm
Closing Address: Dr Hope Tupara
(Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Rongowhakaata, Ngāi te Rangi, Ngā Pōtiki a Tamapahore, Ngāpuhi)
As the Chair of Te Rōpū Wāhine I Te Ora, Dr Hope shares on the highlights of indigenous women at a national level and how many regions are overcoming these barriers and bringing leadership to their worlds.
4:00pm
Whakakapi
Speakers
Tarcila Rivera Zea
(Quechua)
Tarcila is the executive President of the United Nations Foro Internacional de Mujeres Indígenas (FIMI) forum. As a Quechua activist from Ayacucho, she has dedicated more than 30 years to defending and seeking recognition for the Indigenous Peoples and cultures of Perú.
In 2011, she was recognized by the Ford Foundation as an extraordinary global leader and was appointed the following year to UN Women’s Global Civil Society Advisory Group. She was elected as a member of the Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues for the period of 2017-2019.
Millilani Trask
(Hawai’i)
Mililani Trask is a Native Hawaiian attorney and founding mother of the Lannan Indigenous Women’s Network. She is widely recognized as an international human rights advocate and served as the indigenous expert to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in its inaugural term.
Trask has an extensive background relating to the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy, the creation of the post-monarchy Hawaiian Trusts, including the state’s Public Land Trust, the Hawaiian Home Lands Trust, the Admissions Act, and the trust obligations of both the State of Hawaiʻi and the United States to Hawaiians. She will share a perspective on the role of indigenous women in protecting indigenous rights with the state and some powerful recommendations on how to navigate issues of the Pacific.
Hema Wihongi
(Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi)
Hema Wihongi carries an environmental science, education and activism background that she weaves with Māori traditional knowledge to reconnect people to their ancestral intellectual and spiritual capital.
Her research interests are in freshwater ecology in particular monitoring acid mine drainage, mapping utilising drone acquired imagery, traditional Māori knowledge, and is an expert in the Wai 262 flora and fauna inquiry.
Hema has represented Māori at United Nations for and has prioritised the connection to indigenous women such as Te Rōpū Māori Toko I Te Ora Māori Womens’ Welfare League, the Pacific Indigenous Women’s Network and The International Indigenous Women’s Forum (IIWF-FIMI).
Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke
(Waikato, Ngāpuhi)
Hana is of Waikato, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou, Te Ātiawa, Ngāi Tahu descent.
Aged just 21, Maipi-Clarke is the youngest member of The New Zealand Parliament in over 170 years. She is of the Kōhanga reo generation and committed to growing the sphere and influence of Māori and has a particular interest in data sovereignty and the protection of mātauranga Māori. She is recognised as an author, a maramataka practitioner, as well as an advocate for Māori rights. She is the mokopuna of revered Māori activist Hana Te Hemara and the daughter of Māori broadcaster Potaka Maipi.
As a practitioner, she has recently revitalised the growth of kūmara for her people and advocates for mātauranga Māori to be the authority for māra in the horticultural industry. Hana envisions taonga Māori as a means to reclaim indigenous identity and restore harmony between ourselves and Te Taiao (natural environment). This paves the way for rangatahi to foster a deep connection with their holistic well-being.
Dr Hope Tupara
(Ngāi Tāmanuhiri, Rongowhakaata, Ngāi te Rangi, Ngā Pōtiki a Tamapahore, Ngāpuhi)
Chair of Te Rōpū Toko Wāhine I Te Ora, a powerful legacy movement of the Māori Women’s Welfare League – Dr Hope shares the highlights of indigenous women at a national level and how many regions are overcoming these barriers and bringing leadership to their worlds.
Shirley Simmonds
(Raukawa Ngāti Huri hapū and Ngāpuhi)
Shirley Simmonds is a Kaupapa Māori Researcher and mother of two young sons, Tamihana and Raukawa. She initially trained in Science and Adult Education, turning to Public Health and research almost 20 years ago. Her areas of expertise include; Kaupapa Māori Epidemiology, Hauora Māori, evaluation, adult education and facilitation, development of models and frameworks, strategic planning, curriculum design and learning material development. Shirley is a passionate advocate of te reo Māori and is involved in a number of language revitalisation initiatives. Shirley and her whānau live in Ōtaki.
Dr. Helen Potter
(Maniapoto, Ngāpuhi)
Helen Potter (Ngāti Maniapoto, Ngāpuhi) has been involved in kaupapa Māori research for nearly twenty-five years across several fields including: education; adult learning; health; housing; whānau wellbeing; cultural identity; and the environment. In 2004, she completed a PhD in sociology which examined the prospects for just forms of Treaty relationships between Māori and the Crown. Helen then worked as a research manager and senior advisor for the Māori Party and Mana Movement in Parliament and also as a senior researcher in Te Wāhanga, the kaupapa Māori research unit at the New Zealand Council for Educational Research. Since 2015, she has been an independent researcher and helped establish the kaupapa Māori research and evaluation consultancy, Tīaho Limited, of which she is a co-director.
Kiri Reihana
(Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Whakatōhea, Ngāi Tuhoe)
Kiri Reihana (University of Waikato in Tauranga, Aotearoa New Zealand) is a marine researcher whose work on cockles forms part of the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge, a program that aims to protect and enhance the marine environment. Kiri is collecting and creating information that can inform iwi and council decision-making through mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and marine science.
Vanessa Clark
(Waikato)
Vanessa is the Pouhere Kanapu, Executive Director of Kanapu, a six-year programme under the korowai of Ngā Pae o Te Māramatanga and funded by MBIE. She will speak about an indigenous-led framework developed in partnership with AATEA Solutions, He Kura Nō Te Ao Atua – Recoded careers through Atua knowledge systems – a strengths-based resource for te iwi Māori, enhancing our understandings of Atua domains in research, science, innovation and technology spaces and the responsibilities and obligations that are inherent in our worldview.
Kiri Toki
(Ngāi Rehua, Ngāpuhi)
Kiri carries an extensive legacy of legal work in intellectual property rights for over a decade, supporting indigenous peoples through the World Intellectual Property Organisation. She will provide a summary of the Wai 262 claim that sought the protection, conservation, propagation, sale, dispersal, utilisation, and restriction on the use of and transmission of the knowledge of New Zealand Indigenous Flora and Fauna to ensure te tino rangatiratanga o ngā taonga Māori me te mātauranga Māori. Some background will be shared on the legacy of the women who lodged the claim and proposed solutions and legislative change to protect the intellectual property rights of indigenous people in Aotearoa.
Tasha Hohaia
(Ngāpuhi)
Tasha has worked across a number of hapū and Iwi developments and has served in national Māori movements including the Office of The Kiingitanga, The Māori Party and National Iwi Chairs Forum Freshwater Rights and Interests for Māori. In 2018 she was asked to attend the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and is committed to unlocking economic opportunities in Horticulture and Aquaculture for Māori through the Iwi, community and commercial boards she serves, including Whaingaroa Fisheries Ltd. She will share on the Wai 262 claim opportunity for Māori from whānau business to hapū and Iwi in guarding against misappropriate use of mātauranga and reclaiming and protecting an economy through digital tools in the midst of open sources and the AI era.
Hinerangi Edwards
(Taranaki, Ngāruahine, Ngāti Ruanui, Te Arawa, Samoan)
Hinerangi Edwards is a mum of five te reo Māori speaking children and young adults. Hinerangi lives in her husband’s tribal community of Ngāti Kahungunu o Te Wairoa. She is an executive director and founding partner of AATEA Solutions, a kaupapa Māori professional services consultancy since 2000. Hinerangi is an experienced bilingual facilitator and strategist, who builds authentic connections between kaupapa and groups. She served on an iwi (tribal) board at age 25, and then in other fields, including women in agriculture, tertiary education, community development, Māori economic development and digital enablement. She currently chairs Ringa Hora Services Workforce Development Council and is a trustee of Poutama Trust, and Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (formerly The Correspondence School) with 28,000 learners and 930 staff.
Aotearoa
Date of Event
13 May, 12pm – 4pm NZT
Samoa
Tonga
Banff Canada
Hawaii
Peru
Melbourne
Chatham Islands
He Puna Kōrero – Panel Session
A panel session featuring Indigenous creatives driving connection and empowerment within their own families and communities across Aotearoa, the Pacific, and globally. Alumni of the 2023 Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity, they discuss the transformative power of the arts and culture in their professional and everyday lives.
Panellist
Marina Alefosio
(Samoan; Villages of Mulifanua, Leauva’a, Faleasiú and Falefa)
Marina has worked over a decade with the artforms of spoken word; hip hop and theatre and is passionate about using the arts as a way to serve her community with a focus on youth and women’s groups.
Marina is developing an international residency for Pasifika and Indigenous spoken word artists and practitioners to strengthen their voice, leadership capability and connection to culture.
Panellist
Inez White Faitala
(Te Arawa, Ngāti Porou, Tainui)
Inez graduated from RMIT University and became a practising valuer throughout Victoria and Tasmania. Inez returned to Aotearoa to explore how Māori can maintain sovereignty in land through a modern construct such as home ownership. She started her own business; Indigenuity Limited, with the idea of demystifying homeownership for Māori families on general and Māori land.
Inez has dinner table conversations with her children to normalise homeownership and wealth in their whakapapa, and shares her story with her people on social media to support others to do the same.
Panellist
Jade Hadfield
(Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga, Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara)
Jade is a curator and conservator residing in Narrm (Melbourne), has over 20 years of invaluable experience gained from prominent cultural institutions, including Te Papa, ICCROM, The Koorie Heritage Trust, Museums Victoria, and her current position at State Library Victoria.
Jade seeks Indigenous unity, reawakening Indigenous ancestral connections, uniting against colonialism and challenging the hierarchy of knowledge within cultural institutions.
Facilitator
Keti Marsh-Solomon
(Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou)
Keti is a Co-Leader at Te Pae Roa, a cutting-edge kaupapa Māori impact hub and investment connector based in Te Tai Tokerau. She has deep experience in whānau, hapū and iwi projects, supporting them to establish and build a track record of success. She is also the Kaiwhakahaere (lead in secretariat and projects) for Wai 262 Taumata Whakapūmau.
Her greatest achievements are raising kind and conscious children and building intergenerational kaupapa alongside her kindred spirit – her husband and wider whānau. Whānau support in a lifelong learning journey, both locally and internationally, fuels her dedication to continuing their legacy in driving social change.
Registration
Registrations are now closed!
Videos of our speakers will be online soon!
Wai 262 Tiaki Taonga Privacy Statement
We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your information in line with Aotearoa New Zealand regulations such as the Privacy Act and a higher standard regarding any mātauranga or traditional knowledge shared, in accordance with the principles of Wai 262 Tiaki Taonga, ensuring appropriate permissions and consent are sought.
Providing your details will ensure we are able to provide you with a copy of the session recordings of speakers, the collective statements and any content shared.
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