There were laughs and tears aplenty when our Wāhine o te Whenua 2024 cohort shared their stories and the growth they’d achieved at their graduation ceremony in Wellington last month.

Fourteen of the 17 graduating wāhine were able to attend the final wananga, which included The Wall Walk workshop experience, which looked back at our country’s history and events, and their impact for Māori and for Aotearoa New Zealand.

Several of AWDT’s trustees, partners and alumni from previous programmes were also able to participate in The Wall Walk.

The following day’s graduation ceremony was a chance to celebrate the development the wāhine had enjoyed as a benefit of the programme.

Kate Emery, Graduate, Janet van Polanen, MPI and
Anne-Marie Broughton AWDT Co-Chair

Many shared they felt more culturally confident, able to enforce boundaries and stronger in their ability to speak up and stand in their own mana. This reflects one of the core aims of the programme – recognising that leadership starts with self. 

The programme also provided a space where these wāhine could find the keys to unlocking their true potential, be unapologetically Māori and feel confident to share their dreams, aspirations and vulnerabilities in a safe, caring and warm roopu.

AWDT Trustee and course co-facilitator Anne-Marie Broughton says the Wāhine o te Whenua programme has been refined over the course of four pilots.

“Now we have a programme that is entrenched in Māori principles, frameworks, and ways of being. We have some fine tuning to do – there’s always room for improvement – but we believe running wānanga that are solely focused on self-development of wāhine is the most effective way of connecting, supporting and enhancing the development of wāhine Māori me wāhine katoa.”

Co-faciltiator Poto Davies, also an AWDT Trustee, says the programme has been dismantled and recreated to produce powerful wānanga and strong, resilient wāhine who are ready to step up and into new challenges.

“We know that we have the tools (taonga tuku iho) from our ancestors to cope and we draw on those taonga throughout the programme to lift the tinana (body), hinengaro (mind) and wairua (soul).”