Unlocking Rangatahi Potential
Media story and photo courtesy of Alka Prasad - "The Post" - 30 March 2025
Ihumatao and Hāpai Tūhono
In the heart of Manukau City, Tanya Kaihe has seen dozens of young Māori go from low-skilled job assignments in factories and security to finding their passion ‒ be it Te Ao Māori, tech, retail or publishing.
Kaihe (Ngāpuhi) leads Hāpai Tūhono, a publicly funded organisation that gets rangatahi (young people) into sustainable, long-term employment. These young people are known to the system as NEETs ‒ not in education, employment or training ‒ and have been on what she calls the “merry-go-round” of Government-led workplace schemes.
But few of these placements fit their skillset, passion or aspirations, Kaihe says.
“We saw a young woman who was sent to a factory, which didn’t work for her, but she was ready to work. So, we helped her with interviewing skills, looked at some jobs.
She went for a role at the Spark shop in the mall, and now she’s three years in, she recalls.
“A young man was told to work in security all his life, and he did work as a security guard. Then we find out he has a love for children's books. Who would have thought?”
All Photos supplied to "The Post" - 30 March 2025
- See link below for original content
Guiding young Māori towards a career path and job satisfaction | The Post
Empowering Māori Workforce Futures - Tanya Kaihe - Te Amorangi
In the June 2024 quarter, the NEET rate for rangatahi Māori was at 18.9% compared with a national rate of 10.8%. Meanwhile a 2024 report from workforce development group Southern Initiative highlighted that 70% of Māori felt existing career services did not meet their needs, with rangatahi stereotyped into low-value roles.
Kaihe says a lack of robust workforce planning leads young people to be jammed into labour market gaps that don’t suit them.
“There's no real career development strategy in place,” Kaihe says. “While the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) has released a career strategy plan, successive Governments haven’t figured out how career development works.”
Equity opportunists - Hapai Tuhono and jr mckenzie trust
Everyone deserves the opportunity to flourish in a career and a life pathway that allows them to pursue these.
Hāpai Tūhono is a Kaupapa Māori career development/activation organisation based in Manukau, Auckland. Working as ‘Equity Opportunists,’ Hāpai Tūhono has a clear mission: to ensure that Māori have the necessary networks, resources and support to gain wealth and life sovereignty for their futures.
Taking a holistic, personalised approach to career navigation that is immersed in Te Ao Māori, Hāpai Tūhono place identity at the centre of their philosophy, taking the time to understand the individual, their whakapapa, their interests and their drive.
“The power of a good career intervention and activation is not to be underestimated – it can change the entire life trajectory of not just an individual, but also their whānau (family),” says Tanya Kaihe (Ngāpuhi), Amorangi (CEO) at Hāpai Tūhono.
“At times, a job is a job and is necessary just to put kai (food) on the table (it doesn’t have to be your "forever" job). However, within us, we each have unique strengths, interests and passions.
“On top of this, to carve a future that allows us to gain wealth and life sovereignty creates a beautiful empowerment for whānau that cannot be replicated in any other way. It’s powerful to have agency over the decisions we make, and to live outside of just meeting our basic needs.”
The Mana Turoa approach
Mana Tūroa is at the heart of Hāpai Tūhono, a 12-week programme that aims to identify career pathways by mapping out realistic, but aspirational plans and outcomes for Māori, so they are able to create a legacy they can be proud of.
Codesigned with rangatahi (youth), career practitioners, teachers and youth mentors, the process revolves around four pou (pillars). These include whakapapa (connection to whānau and the environment), pūmanawa (skills and qualities), tūmanako (hopes and interests) and mana (the unique power and strength we hold).
“A lack of confidence or inability to visualise a logical path forward can make the pressures of navigating a career feel insurmountable,” says Kaihe. “It was important to us to create a network that considers a person as a whole, and makes pursuing these more accessible,” says Kaihe.
A recent case saw a young man, who taken at face-value, had previously been told he would make a good security guard. However, upon diving deeper, Hāpai Tūhono discovered his passion for books and creative writing, and he has since gone on to become a librarian – a role that brings him great enjoyment and has changed his life but had previously never been considered as an option.
Practically, the programme ensures everyone leaves with a CV, a career plan, and short and long-term goals. However, the Kaupapa Māori nature of Mana Tūroa also far transcends this, incorporating 12 months of ongoing pastoral care, career support, and mentorship.
“Particularly as Māori, the beauty of our culture is our ability to unify and uplift one another,” says Kaihe. “Finishing the 12 weeks does not mean that that tautoko (support) stops – we work with rangatahi for up to 52 weeks.”
Through Mana Tūroa, job placements have been made everywhere from libraries and sports teams to companies such as Steel and Tube or Spark. Throughout this, Hāpai Tūhono continue to work with employers to ensure that they are including Māori into their management structures, and that Māori employees are getting the treatment and promotions they deserve.
He Taonga Pūrākau
Hāpai Tūhono also enlist their ‘He Taonga Pūrākau’ stream of work, as advocates for equitable access to quality and culturally appropriate career development advice and support. This honours Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi) as a way of strengthening rangatiratanga (sovereignty) for Māori.
“Urban Māori have suffered systemic and entrenched racism, that unfortunately continues to linger,” says Kaihe. “We’re often represented too highly in poverty, and yet stereotyping sees us continue to be directed towards mundane, low-paying roles.”
“A holistic programme grounded in Te Ao Māori considers Hauora (wellbeing), intergenerational trauma and finding acceptance in our identities in a way that a Westernised system cannot.”
“Our mahi (work) is about creating careers by design rather than default and is equally focused towards helping people to find their voice, draw strength from their whakapapa, and acknowledge being Māori as their superpower.”
Although predominantly delivered to rangatahi Māori (Māori youth), the goal is to firmly embed career interventions and activations of quality across the ecosystem of Aotearoa (New Zealand), for rangatahi (youth) right through to kuia and kaumātua (elders).
Going forward, they are working with the Tertiary Education Commission to develop a community resource/service into a product that can be used across the country. This is to firmly embed career intervention through your lifetime learning journey.
“We are by Māori, for Māori, for everyone; and simply want to see that everyone is able to access and harness the opportunities that allow them to reach their full potential.”
Equity Opportunists: The Hāpai Tūhono approach to Māori career development — J R McKenzie Trust