Tania Haerekiterā Wolfgramm

Tania graduated from the University of Auckland with an Arts Degree (Psychology/Sociology), an Honours degree (First Class) in Psychology, and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Science. Her studies have included cultural and social psychology, NZ society, criminology, public law, evaluation and research methods, statistics, clinical psychology, forensic psychiatry, learning / behaviour, and philosophy (reason and argument). She is a member of the Māori and Indigenous (MAI) Doctoral Studies National Cohort and her futures-focused research continues to build a culture of evaluation within Māori, Pacific and Indigenous leadership, governance, and management structures, embedding them within Māori and Pacific entities, organisations, communities and groups.

A creative and visionary leader, highly skilled and highly motivated, her particular competencies include: sound decision making based on robust qualitative and quantitative data inquiry and analysis; applied community and participatory research and evaluation; narrative and structured interviewing techniques; case study approaches (individual and group); focus group research, questionnaire design and observational research; knowledge dissemination and transfer; developing comprehensive models of implementation; strategic development and design; and project management.

She is excellent at negotiation and facilitation with multiple research stakeholders, and able to adapt and implement a variety of research methodologies that meet their needs. She can confidently express complex data and information in clear and meaningful ways across a wide range of stakeholder groups. She also continues to develop and maintain extensive networks and healthy relationships with Māori, Pacific and Indigenous groups and communities, iwi and hapu, and a diverse spectrum of organisations throughout the Auckland region, around New Zealand, the Pacific, and internationally, and can confidently call on many of them for both assistance and support in a number of developments and projects.

As a very competent and experienced researcher, evaluator and consultant, she has also undertaken a broad range of research projects, including partnership evaluation with a number of Pacific and Māori organisations, including family / whānau health and wellness programmes (CYFS); skills and work programmes (SKILLNZ; Work & Income NZ); the development of the Code of Claimants Rights (ACC); and recommendations for assisting rangatahi in the Court Education for Young Witnesses Programme (Department for Courts). She is a founding board member of the Aotearoa New Zealand Evaluation Association (anzea), the national body of evaluators and key evaluation and action research stakeholders, and is a leader of the Māori and Pacific evaluation portfolios.

An experienced analyst, strategist and project manager, she has also lead key projects including the development of the Māori/English Multilingual Keyboard (HAKAMANA). As the Executive Director of Creatrix she heads the research, design and development of the project; as well as networking and scoping other languages for application of the Creatrix code to other Pacific (including Tongan), and Indigenous/endangered languages.

She is also passionate about the expression of culture through traditional technologies, and as the Co-Project Manager for Pou Kapūa Creations she has worked alongside the Whakairo, carving and design team in the creation of a magnificent Taonga for Aotearoa. Standing in Manukau City, at a magnificent height of 80 feet, this beautiful sculpture carved of ancient kauri is a powerful visual icon and symbol of our collective identities, available for all peoples of the world to visit and experience at any time of the day or night. She has been responsible for the background research, strategic and financial planning, funding requirements, systems accountabilities, coordination and administration, communications, and relevant documentation requirements. Pou Kapua Creations is continuing to undertake many creative projects throughout New Zealand, the Pacific and around the world.

She is an excellent trainer and teacher and has enjoyed tutoring and mentoring Pacific students and lecturing at the University of Auckland, Auckland University of Technology and a number of other institutions over the last ten years, teaching subjects ranging from cultural psychology, legal method and gender studies, to Pacific / Māori entrepreneurship and enterprise. She has also facilitated and conducted many workshops and seminars on Te Tiriti o Waitangi / Treaty of Waitangi, and Māori health, wellbeing and advancement.

Her general work experiences have spanned a wide range of sectors, having started work land surveying in Tahiti, plotting sites and drawing up plans for clients through many of the island groups. She was trained by an expert French/Tahitian surveyor. She has also held positions in administration, accounting, international banking, and systems design with multinational corporations including Rayonier Corporation and Qantas.

She has worked with several government (international, national and local) departments and agencies including the Australian Consulate, Auckland City Council, Department of Internal Affairs, Te Puni Kōkiri (Ministry of Māori Affairs) and many other organisations in New Zealand and Australia. She has undertaken considerable work-related training in all of these positions, the skills of which she has continued to utilise throughout my research and various developments and projects. She has also enjoyed my voluntary work with various community organisations, marae and kōhanga reo including Piritahi, Te Puea, and Kirikiriroa Marae.

She has a strong sense of values, and will courageously stand up and advocate for the recognition and enhancement of Māori, Pacific and Indigenous rights, and women’s and children’s rights. She is close to her very skilled and talented, multicultural and multilingual family who live in Tonga, Australia, Rarotonga, Tahiti and Auckland. As an adult survivor of meningococcal septicaemia, she has experienced firsthand the power of aroha in healing and the lived reality of whānau ora.

Tania continues to work hard to fulfil our shared vision for a better future for our peoples, our places, and our past, present and future.

Kia ora – Malo aupito