Description:

Te Pae Hononga is a digital inclusion kaupapa centred around developing connection. It is a collaboration between Toi Āria: Design for Public Good, Te Kei o Te Waka Tainui and Te Rourou, One Aotearoa Foundation. The project began in 2022.
It arose from a pressing need to address digital inequities for Waikato Tainui whaanau based in South Auckland. COVID lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 demonstrated the profound and very real impact of digital exclusion. This kaupapa is not only about enabling digital equity (through the provision of devices, reliable internet connection, online skills and safety training) but also about the development of cultural connection for participating whaanau.

At the heart of the design for Te Pae Hononga is an ambition to be radically inclusive, whaanau-centric and to support mutual, intergenerational learning experiences. It is delivered primarily through kanohi ki te kanohi waananga. Wherever possible, engagement takes place on marae to promote a sense of comfort and safety for whaanau. Whakawhanaungatanga is a grounding principle of Te Pae Hononga — enabling relationships of mutual trust and respect to develop between ‘researchers’ and ‘participants’. Spending time together, and sharing kai as friends and equals enables the sharing of deeper confidences. Whaanau reflections are captured in relaxed conversations, and through creative activities. The elevation of whaanau voice and experience is consistently prioritised.

Grounded in tikanga and ngaa matapono (values) of Kiingitanga, Te Pae Hononga represents a unique approach to research project design. Whilst fostering greater digital connection for whaanau may have been its starting point, its pilot year showed it is a project with far greater potential for multi-layered impact.

— It offers an ongoing opportunity for intergenerational learning – where rangatahi support kaumaatua with digital learning and kaumaatua share ancestral knowledge and history;
— It shows the value of reciprocity and working in partnership, and of weaving together different ways of learning and being together;
— It enables disconnected whaanau to become connected whaanau – connected to each other, to their Waikato whakapapa and Tainui waka history, and to their whenua;
— It allows rangatahi and tamariki to more easily access educational opportunities — with more devices in a household generally having a positive impact on whaanau life;
— It supports older participants to access banking and health records online;
— It develops increased confidence and self-belief for participants from engaging in society as an equal, rather than from a place of disadvantage;
— It makes possible new connection to whakapapa and whenua through access to digital records and being able to store whaanau taonga (photos) online;
— It deepens participants’ connection to each other and te ao Maaori;
— It demonstrates how relationships of mutual trust can develop when whakawhanaungatanga is prioritised – and a research project becomes more of a relational than transactional process
— Most notably, the act of being ‘given to’ rather than ‘taken from’ proved to be of profound importance to whaanau.