Chur Kaha Rangatahi: Shifting Systems Through Hauora, Identity and Leadership
The Healthy Families East Cape team has been working alongside Chur Kaha to embed kaupapa Māori approaches into their kaupapa with rangatahi. This mahi is about creating spaces where rangatahi can lead, strengthen their identity, and experience hauora in action, while actively reshaping the systems that influence their wellbeing.
This kaupapa is already driving early systems shifts. Local gym environments are beginning to reposition as hauora focused spaces rather than purely physical fitness-based, with growing intent to be more accessible and culturally grounded for rangatahi. There is increasing demand and visibility for Māori led training approaches, and decision-making is being shared more directly with rangatahi, who are co-designing how the programme looks and feels. These are some early signals of a wider system redesign.
Recent mahi has included hui with Chur Kaha gym owners and the development of a draft maramataka informed guide to support co-designed workouts alongside rangatahi and whānau. Together, this is evolving Chur Kaha beyond a short-term programme and into a longer-term pathway for leadership, wellbeing, and workforce development.
Through this process, new conditions for change are being established. A shared vision is emerging that connects hauora with identity and cultural practice. Relationships between gym owners, whānau, kura, and kaupapa partners are strengthening, creating a more connected local system. At the same time, new practices are being introduced, including the use of maramataka to guide training and wellbeing.
Rangatahi are not just participants in this kaupapa but they are influencing the system itself. Through co-design, storytelling, and leadership, they are shaping how gyms operate, how wellbeing is understood, and how programmes are delivered. The launch of Chur Kaha social media platforms further strengthens this, creating space for rangatahi to share their journeys, influence their peers, and normalise new narratives of strength, identity, and hauora.
Healthy Families East Cape’s role in this work is intentionally weaving together gyms, kura, health providers, and kaupapa Māori frameworks to align efforts toward prevention. This includes connecting partners such as Whiti Ora, Te Mahi Ako, and local kura, supporting the integration of this kaupapa into health, education, and workforce pathways rather than it sitting alongside them. Alongside this, HFEC continues to support co-design, insight gathering, and the development of a clear kaupapa plan that enables sustainability and scale.
This approach strengthens prevention by addressing the upstream drivers of inequity. By reconnecting rangatahi with identity, belonging, and leadership opportunities, this kaupapa contributes to long-term reductions in chronic illness, disconnection, and inequitable health outcomes. It shifts the focus from individual behaviour change to transforming the environments, relationships, and systems that shape wellbeing.
Chur Kaha is also emerging as a prototype with potential beyond its local context. The integration of maramataka into fitness, the repositioning of gyms as hauora hubs, and the centring of rangatahi leadership offer a model that could be adapted across other hapori and settings throughout Te Tairāwhiti and beyond.
Looking ahead, the focus will be on refining the maramataka guide, supporting facilitation alongside rangatahi and whānau, and continuing to strengthen system connections. This is a long-term shift that calls on coaches, whānau, and communities to embrace new ways of working where hauora, culture, and leadership are interconnected and led by those most impacted.
Through Chur Kaha, Te Rarangatira is more than a programme, it is a growing system shift grounded in prevention, identity, and rangatahi-led change. Watch the space on this kaupapa.
For more information contact our Pou Whakawai via george@healthyfamilieseastcape.co.nz