Collaborating With Others

Participatory grantmaking is an evolving practice requiring trust and openness to innovation and, most importantly, supporting community-led fund design, development and decision-making.

Through our third iteration of participatory grantmaking with Pacific youth in South Auckland, a panel of young Pacific South Aucklanders has designed, promoted and delivered a unique funding programme to distribute 20 grants of $10,000 to projects benefitting Pacific communities in South Auckland – the Pasifika Waymakers Fund.

Thirteen young people (aged 18-26) responded to our call, put out in December 2022, offering youth who were passionate about their community the opportunity to step up and take the reins of decision-making to create their own $200,000 fund, with $100,000 from Foundation North and $100,000 from the Ministry for Pacific Peoples.

Over fortnightly sessions, guided by youth facilitator Isi Loamanu and supported by Foundation North staff, the panel collaborated to decide the fund’s objectives and assessment criteria - culminating in the launch of the Pasifika Waymakers Fund in April 2023.

The community response, spurred on by the panel’s eye-catching social media activity, was overwhelming, with 51 applications. Panel members were excited about the opportunity to get behind the projects, and mindful of the responsibility that came with that.

“I always come back to the saying ‘Be the change you want to see’, and I have never been part of anything like this before”, said panellist Callum Fiu (23), a digital content producer from Māngere East. “I loved being able to put my passion for my community together with my love of everything creative. I am glad I stepped up and gave this a go, and it directly benefits our Pacific communities which is a massive win!”

For others on the panel, the experience fuelled a fire in them to contribute more to the governance space. “I have joined two boards since joining this panel!”, commented Nova Tagi (26), an entrepreneur from Pukekohe. “This project has excited and challenged us in equal measure – it has required all of us to come with an open mind, to ask questions, to not be afraid to voice our opinions and also to share the talanoa space, even when there might be disagreement.”

The 20 funded projects were selected for their fit with the Fund’s intent to benefit Pacific people, their families, and communities in South Auckland: from a barbershop academy and health/allergy aware cooking lessons, through to a Niuean cultural festival and a hip-hop dance showcase.

Through our South Auckland Community Innovation Fund, which operated from 2019 to 2021, a cluster of Māori and Pacific-led organisations working on food sovereignty emerged. In addition to individual grants to these innovators (Whenua Warrior, OKE Charity, The Food Hub Papatoetoe Collective, Papatūānuku Kōkiri Marae, Te Pu a Nga Maara), a social innovation strategist was engaged to support the collective work together for greater impact and to build an ecosystem for innovation around kai. These kai innovators continued to connect together, even through the COVID-19 disruption, and it became clear that with a shared aspiration of kai sovereignty and security, the collective was seeking to move from a network of learning to a network of action.

To further advance this kaupapa and extend the collaborating partners, joint funding with Auckland Council enabled a kai innovators incubator process to be launched. Twenty expressions of interest to participate were received, resulting in eight Māori and Pacific change makers from across South Auckland completing the eight-week innovation pathway. With kai initiatives ranging from a seedling movement for home cultivation, to growing traditional kai in public spaces and iwi based rongoā, the participants have progressed their ideas to transform the South Auckland kai ecosystem into prototypes they have tested and are now piloting, enabled by the allocation of start-up grants.

More information about the Kai Innovators and how to join the network can be found at kaiinnovators.co.nz