Emerging Impacts

Impact Story

In May 2025, we captured an early impact snapshot of Te Huringa ō Te Ao after its first 12 months of working alongside providers. It reflects what we were seeing and hearing across the sector at that time, as providers led locally driven change, strengthened practice, and evolved services to better support men and their whānau.

Theory of Change

This is the Te Huringa ō Te Ao Theory of Change. It is a living document which is part of designing for impact and continuous improvement based on what we are hearing from communities and providers. Currently we are undertaking an evaluation which will strengthen our Theory of Change into the future.

Current evaluation

Currently Te Huringa ō Te Ao & Whānau Resilience are on a journey to understand the ecosystem approach to Family Violence Services.

The evaluation will:

• Focus on the experiences of tāne and their whānau supported by these services.
• Use a theory-based, outcomes-focused approach to strengthen our evidence base.
• The evaluation will work with providers in five regions to co-design what outcomes are being achieved for individuals and whānau, and how services connect and support each other to strengthen whānau wellbeing.
• A strong emphasis of this work is learning together, supporting continuous improvement, and strengthening long-term sustainability.

Keep an eye out for future updates and we look forward to sharing insights and learning towards the end of this evaluation process!

Ako sessions

Ako sessions create space for providers to pause, reflect on their mahi and explore what's working. These sessions are for providers to build reflective practice and learning loops at the heart of Te Huringa ō Te Ao.

Ako sessions are active, relational spaces that support collective insight and connect local learning back into the system, to embed what works for whānau. They offer the Community Design and Service Development team the opportunity to listen, identify shared challenges and better support providers to strengthen and grow services.

Check out some of the insights from our ako sessions.

March 2026

“ He Tirohanga Whakamuri, He Anga Whakamua”

We reflect on the past to guide us into the future.

Building on the learning from the October 2025 Ako, the March 2026 sessions created space for deeper collective reflection across providers and MSD. Centring tāne, wāhine, and whānau voice, this Ako focused on recognising shared patterns emerging in practice including the importance of relational, long‑term change, trust, workforce sustainability, and how the system shows up. These insights capture learning across rohe and guide how we continue to listen, learn, and adapt together alongside communities.

Read more about this here:

October 2025

“Mā te rongo ka mōhio, mā te mōhio ka mārama, mā te mārama ka mātau, mā te mātau ka ora.”

Through listening comes understanding, through understanding comes clarity, through clarity comes knowledge, through knowledge comes wellbeing.

In the first Ako sessions, we reflected on tāne and whānau voices, what excites and challenges us, making sense key themes and turning it into action. These sessions have reminded us that listening is not passive – it’s active, relational, and deeply restorative.

Read more about this here: 

“Healing starts inward then out. This could be an opportunity for more targeted cultural interventions.” – Family violence provider feedback