We are delighted to share with the Nelson Tasman Climate Forum community an opportunity provided by Peter Lawless, Director at The Lawless Edge Ltd and Facilitator at Phoenix Facilitation.

Peter invites us to deepen our understanding of the Māori worldview and principles to develop the capacity of the Nelson Tasman Climate Forum community to engage positively with the Māori in te Tau Ihu o te waka a Maui.

This Māori engagement training will be divided into 6 Modules of 6 weeks each. The overall approach will be to follow a koru pattern introducing all the necessary elements from the beginning and then offering opportunities to deepen understanding and capability in each aspect.

The objective is for participants to become confident and capable in engaging with Māori in the region. Minimum learning to reach conscious incompetence, knowing what you don’t know in relation to what you need to know. For some, it can be the beginning of a learning journey where they can become consciously competent in a range of situations.

The training will be divided as follows:

• Module 1 – Foundations (round 1 beginning in October 2024 – round 2 in February 2025)
  

• Module 2 – Te Reo
  

• Module 3 – Values and beliefs

• Module 4 – Te Tiriti 

• Module 5 – Māori structures in Te Tauihu 

• Module 6 – Interacting and tikanga

Registrations to the Module 1 are open now, and the other Modules will be organised later on.

The learning objective of the 1st Module on Foundations will be to have a basic understanding of the elements required to competently engage with Māori on behalf of the Climate Forum. The foundational module (Module 1) will be required for participation in later modules. The later modules are standalone for those that have done module 1.

The 6 sessions of this 1st Module will be organised as follow:

• Session 1 – Te Ao Māori (Māori beliefs and values – Creation – The Atua (Gods) and relationship to Tangata (people) – Climate and Biodiversity –  Whakapapa).
• Session 2 – Te Tiriti (Reason for the Treaty – Preparation and signing of the Treaty – The versions – Legal status – Relationship to individuals).
• Session 3 – Te Reo Rangatira (Why Te Reo Rangatira matters – Pronunciation – Basic greetings).
• Session 4 – Interacting (Māori structures in Te Tauihu – The iwi of this region – Mana whenua and tangata whenua – Tribal structures – traditional and modern).
• Session 5 – Communicating respectfully (Tikanga in a range of situations – Mihi and powhiri).
• Session 6 – Integrating for engagement (Drawing the understanding together – Where to go for more information or training – Future modules).

Due to the great value of this opportunity and the fact that places are limited, we strongly encourage participants to commit to coming to the sessions of the Module they’ve decided to register to.

The first module is offered a second time in February, and we ask participants to contribute with a Koha when you register for the Module (including 6 sessions of 1 hour each), which will help further the goals of the Nelson Tasman Climate Forum.

This round begins on Tuesday 4th of February 2025 for 6 weeks (with a pause on the 25th of Feb, and the training ending on the 18th of March).

Registrations for the Module 1 in early 2025 is available HERE.

If you have any questions about this training, please get in touch using this address: info@ntcf.nz