The one who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones

- confucious.

It is wonderful to be connecting with your all again as together we strive for our vision of A Food Secure Aotearoa for All. The proverb above reminds us that if we each carry our small part we can make amazing things happen. When we work together, through kotahitanga, that we will get to the end goal. Even if we do different things from each other, our common vision and goal holds us together.

We hope that throughout this year there will be many opportunities within our food system to awhi and tautoko each other, to journey deeply together, and to see things beginning to shift, so that all might have agency and access to nourishing, good food in Aotearoa.

Kotahitanga is about a cross-sector approach to this complex problem. While we all use our voices to call out things that undermine food security, like the possibility of removing funding from Ka Ora Ka Ako, we want to celebrate the many awesome things happening across the motu to help make food secure a reality.

Let’s celebrate the good stuff from individual farms exploring regenerative practice, to gardening experiences in schools, to local food co-ops springing up in more communities, to weekly kai boxes being locally grown and distributed, to cooking classes at Mārae and churches, to Kai Ika partnering with big fish companies distributing fish heads that would otherwise be in landfill, from local authorities looking to te Ao Māori to guide their local food security plans, to big business commiting to honouring Te Tiriti, to learning from other countries to develop tech here to inspire young people into farming, from MPI working with hunters and community to clarify the regulations to allow the distribution homekill, to groups advocating for access to affordable housing, to food rescue being considered an essential part of our country’s approach to reducing food waste, to continuing to challenge the government on a mana-centred national food strategy. So much is happening. The tapestry of our collective efforts are rich, meaningful and mighty.

We thank you all for your courage, commitment and on-going relentless mahi across all sectors to be a part of this collective journey. It is a privilege for Kore Hiakai to hear your stories, work alongside you and to serve as connectors and thought leaders in this space. We love being with you in this space. If you are interested in connecting with us or any of our mahi please get in touch.

Here are some of the ways we are working on our collective vision:

Mana to Mana: At your request, throughout the next six months of 2024 we will be running some local workshops on our Mana to Mana framework across the motu, beginning in Tamaki Makaurau, Te Whanganui a Tara, Kāpiti, Ōtautahi and hopefully Tahuna Queenstown. Please let us know if you are interested.

Our first Mana to Mana workshop of the year will be on Monday 15 April, 10-2pm in Waitakere hosted by Visionwest. Register here: https://event-13725-f091.lilregie.com/or check out our facebook page.

Māori kai sovereignty: We have been weaving otgether the wisdom of our tupuna, exploring how a Māori framework is foundational for realising a food secure Aotearoa. We will be releasing a paper on this in May and offering a webinar in June. Connect with Moko here if you want to engage some more.

Pacific income adequacy and food security: We are exploring a joint project with The Good Fale looking at how the role of employers and adequacte incomes can aid food security. If you wish to know more or be a part of this ongoing project contact us here.

Measuring food security in Aotearoa: Following on from our ‘Realising Food Secure Communities in Aotearoa’ report in 2023, we will continue to explore how we might know a community is food secure and what factors need to be in place to realise this.

Changing the Narrative: Working with others in the Community Food Space we are exploring how we might influence the media to flip to a strengths-based narrative around food security.

Ka Mākona: Research on this begins at the end of the first financial quarter of 2024. We hope to release our fourth edition of this in October. Contact Jennie if you wish to know more

Advocacy: We continue to work alongside others in the community to look for levers to address the root causes of food related poverty. Our latest piece of advocacy to the Minister of Child Poverty Reduction and Social Development and Employment highlights again the relief that forgiving the government overpyament debt held by those receiving a benefit would make. Read it here.

Local Kai Strategies: We are working alongside several areas who are in the thick of creating or implementing their local kai strategies, while there are many more rohe who are doing this in their own innovative ways. Let us know if your area is digging deep creating a kai strategy or if you want to know more about what others are doing. It is wonderful to learn from each other.

Connecting our food journeys: The biggest privilege of being a part of Kore Hiakai is connecting with people who are passionate to see the best for others and to honour the food we are kaitiaki of. Being inspired, hearing your stories - the good and the bad, journeying together, wondering together, seeing new partnership made and collaboration happening, trying stuff out together is how this vision with be realised. Thank you for giving us the privilege of doing this journey in proximity to you. Please do not hesitate to be in touch!

Aotearoa Food Parcel Measure (AFPM):

We continue to collect data on the levels of community food distribution. Being able to speak to government about the number of people experiencing food insecurity, by mapping the amount of food being distributed each month, is a powerful form of advocacy. It helps us to keep the reality of the experience of poverty, inadequate incomes, and high housing costs on the agenda until we resolve these. If you wish to add your community food organisation’s data to the Aotearoa Food Parcel Measure please get in touch.

In the month of January 73 sites food distribution sites across Aotearoa distributed food assistance to :

50,722 people

through the equivalent of 12, 681 food parcels

which equates to 152, 167 meals and worth around $1.5 million

Community Food Distributors Network:

Every 8 weeks we hold a forum for those who contribute their data to the AFPM to listen to their insights, share ideas and innovations, and network on joint projects. From Wānaka to Kaitaia, from small and local to national social service organisations, this is a place of support and clarity. These voices combined help us connect lived experience to decision makers, provide a safe space to unpack what is happening in communities and be inspired by the innovation, tenacity, hope and compassion of so many. Contact us here to join

inspiration across the motu

Ray Good - We acknowledge the life and death of Ray Good, and pay tribute to his life of service to the community of Newlands, Wellington. Ray served terms as president of both the community association and Newlands Community House, overseeing the local foodbank, very often delivering support to whānau himself. Ray has long been an inspiration to many and a champion of the lives of ordinary people. We are grateful for all that Ray did to support so many within his community and offer our aroha to Kaye and their whānau as they mourn this sudden loss of their husband, father, granddad, community champion and friend.

Te Umu ki Rangituhi - Ngati Toa have opened the first self serve foodbank in partnership with Foodstuffs. In addition to providing food support, Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira also offer wraparound services to help people access additional support, such as housing, employment, training, social services and mental health, helping address the underlying causes of food poverty and promoting overall wellbeing. Ka mau te wehi!

fruit and veges Pop up shops are being trialed across Auckland. A great way to offer affordable healthy kai into communities. Auckland City Mission in the CBD, and Visionwest in Waitakere have been working with Foodtogether and others to offer this. Salvation Army are preparing to open their version titled ‘The Community Grocer’ in Manukau and others places soon.

Rakau Tautoko continue their garden mentoring programme with the legendary Tricia. This mentoring includes caring for your own chickens. Evidence shows that when a few households in a community have their own laying chickens it increases the food security of the wider community. It helps to create a culture of swapping resources and a sense of providing for your own. Wherever Tricia is, tamariki are usually there too - learning, sharing and inspiring.

The Kumara Vine – Aunty’s Garden founder at Waipatu Marae,  Haanui Lawrence has released her delicious, long-awaited  book, copies are available by emailing tahuriwhenua@gmail.com $35

Whanganui City Mission collected a harvest of plums from their gardens with their amazing team of volunteers, ready for the cooking classes turning it into yummy jam whilst building community and connection on the way. This bounty, along with other fruit donations from the trees across the city in the Autumn harvest, will help fill pantries across the city.

Inspiration across the world

Our Pou Māori, Moko Morris, attended the Regional small scale fisher women’s forum on behalf of the International Indian Treaty Council and International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty, in Sri Lanka at the end of February.  Gaining deeper understandings of various structures and processes implemented among the fisher network and broadening the perspectives of the realities of Asian fisher women experiences in the region was the main objective.  Kotahitanga prevailed, learning more about fisher rights,  sharing and advocating for the hidden role women endure in their fishing communities. You can read our statement for International Women’s Day here.

Opportunities to dive deeper:

He Whenua Rongo - The bi-annual conference on Māori kai and soil sovereignty is happening in April in Tāmaki Makaurau. Be in quick to get tickets. https://www.papawhakaritorito.com/he-whenua-rongo Incredible speakers include Dr Vandana Shiva from India, Jessica Hutchings, Annette Sykes, Aroha Te Pareake Mead, India Logan-Riley, Teina Boasa-Dean, Pounamu Skelton and more. It’s going to be an amazing three days, including a site visit to Papatūānuku Kokiri Mārae.

He Pito Mata - NSC Webinar: Jessica Hutchings and our own Tric Malcolm were part of a panel exploring food security and resilience with the team from the ‘Resilience to Nature’s Challenges’ of the Nation Science Challenge. Check it out here:  https://youtu.be/5Izlv0m8kjw

Community think webinars: Cissy Rock and their incredible team have some great webinars and hui on offer in the community development space, especially one on decolonising community development. Sign up for their pānui here.

Groundwork - Te Tiriti upskilling: As you consider your journey, if you are Tangata Tiriti, either as an individual or organisation, and need some assistance with that, Kore Hiakai has deeply appreciated the companionship of Groundwork on our journey. They have some amazing courses and resources, many fully accessible online. Their 2.5 hr self-paced online workshop provides a succinct and engaging overview of: Pre-treaty relationships, Te Tiriti –the agreement, colonisation and its impacts, current issues and action you can take. They have a special discounted rate during the Te Titiri Based Futures event on across 16-26 March - which is also worth checking out.

Kore Hiakai Admin and Comms position: We are preparing to appoint a new person to our kaimahi team to do the magic with our admin and comms. If you or you know some who is looking for part time mahi and might be keen to join our team in Pōneke, who are details focused, loves finishing tasks off, believes in a mana-centred food system, wants to be part of a Te Tiriti committed workplace, champion a Pasifika voice in the food security space and has some skills in coms and social media, send us a message and we’ll make sure you get the details when the offical advert comes out in April.

Thank you again for your courage, tenacity and sense of hope as we navigate how we work together to create a food secure Aotearoa.

ngā mihi maioha, the Kore Hiakai kaimahi team.

The one who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones - confucious.