Member Spotlight: Fila Fuamatu (The Cause Collective)
Your role... The Cause Collective (TCC) Lead Systems Innovator, with a portfolio in Movement which includes physical activity, sport, active recreation and play. I connect the dots to identify the systems related to movement and where people are placed in order to understand how we can create conditions for systems change that enables and empowers people to live active lifestyles.
The Cause Collective... As a Pacific social change agency, we're interested in social problems facing communities most in need and seeing what's getting in the way of them thriving in South Auckland. TCC uses different tools to get to the heart of these problems, to understand peoples experiences and the way that systems and services interact with those most affected. Our current initiatives include Healthy Families South Auckland, Do Good Feel Good, Nga Vaka O Kāiga Tapu, and One Love in Mangere and Te Wirihana.
Why you joined Recreation Aotearoa... I used to work at Harbour Sport on the North Shore as the Pacific Community Manager. Recreation Aotearoa funded our pilot leadership programme for Pacific young ladies to lead walks in their local green spaces. This was innovative and created great opportunities for young Pacific girls in secondary schools. We then piloted a programme, Nga Tamatoa, based on the outcomes of the Pacific Young girls programme, at Birkdale Intermediate for Pacific and Māori boys (Year 7 and 8) to help strengthen their culture and identity for holistic wellbeing.
Most important thing about wellbeing... I believe we need to look at the whole person holistically. There are Māori and Pacific Health Models that demonstrate all aspects of a person contribute to their wellbeing; such as the Fonofale model (Pacific), this model includes culture, family, the physical, spiritual and mental aspect of a person, while also recognising the current environment, time and context a person is in.
The best part about working with the community... I am Samoan, born in New Zealand. My parents taught us to live in New Zealand with Samoan cultural values and traditional social structures. It is not easy to navigate between two systems, Samoan and NZ. Some of our values include respect (Fa'aaloalo) and service (tautua); to understand the importance of relationships, and to know our role in different settings and with people (Le Va). The best part for me about working with the community is that I can live out my values and know my role. I can respectfully engage communities and serve them by sharing my particular skill set.
How TCC managed COVID-19... During lockdown TCC created digital communities; Prepare South Auckland, a private Facebook group, and Prepare Pacific, a public Facebook page. Both pages were established to provide the community with up-to-date information relating to Covid-19. This was done through panels in Pacific languages and medical advice relating to Pacific and South Auckland communities. It was also an avenue for people to share their concerns and voices. During lockdown, food security was a major issue for our communities. TCC collaborated with frontline services such as the Manukau Māori Urban Authority (MUMA), The Generator, and Mataatua Marae to distribute food and hygiene packs to vulnerable families in South Auckland. We also continued with our initiatives but adapted the way we worked by meeting online with stakeholders, and community leaders to hear the concerns of our communities. Our Healthy Families Movement initiative collaborated with Recreation Aotearoa to present messaging on moving from Alert level 4 to level 3 to key Pacific Activation champions working with communities in South Auckland. It created a platform for these champions to meet one another and to Talanoa (discuss), to have Esther Bukholt of Recreation Aotearoa run a Q&A session with them, and then share insights on what mattered to them and their communities during Alert level 4.
Post lockdown and post COVID-19... Our Movement team will look to formally lead more FONO, bringing together Pacific Community Activators in South Auckland to Talanoa about our COVID-19 response and about our new norm of working with our Pacific communities.
Your hopes for the future... To see strong families and strong communities living well longer.