Hāpai Te Hauora congratulates Te Whare Hukahuka and the graduates of the rangatahi into governance programme Ka Eke Poutama.

Today the second and third cohort graduates of this unique leadership programme celebrates their achievements with a graduation ceremony at the Auckland University of Technology.

"We believe in the programme and the way they empower Rangatahi into decision making positions and have supported public health champions on every one of the cohorts thus far" said Anthony Hawke, General Manager of Māori Public Health at Hāpai Te Hauora. "This is an important strategy for us in Māori public health as we want to see our future leaders making smart, strategic decisions."

This year Hāpai Te Hauora will attend the graduation in support of the three graduates they have sponsored this year: Kera Sherwood-O’Regan, Conor O’Sullivan and David Frost. Frost says "Ka Eke Poutama is an essential platform for upcoming leaders of all cultural backgrounds to utilise in their leadership journey. The intersectoral learnings taken from the course have empowered my understanding of not only Maori entrepreneurship but enabled my own levels of confidence in advocating for Maori progression in a business context. In particular, the course has elevated my awareness of how effective leadership is critical to Maori health outcomes. Overall, Ka Eke Poutama educates young Maori leaders in a way that no other course can,"

The programme is facilitated by Te Whare Hukahuka and designed to offer pathways into governance for rangatahi across Aotearoa, the programme teaches best practice governance models in a kaupapa Māori setting. This approach challenges rangatahi to consider the fit between globally utilised business practices and Māori cultural frameworks. Participants included iwi, hapū, Māori NGOs and businesses.