The organisation’s work is inspired by Tāne Mahuta, the atua of forests and lands, emphasising the customary right of Māori to work on their ancestral lands. Tāne Mahuta Aotearoa partners with iwi, hapū, marae, community, and government agencies to create meaningful employment opportunities for rangatahi within their local areas.
Their core programme, Learn While You Earn™, offers career pathways in primary industries and other trades through a kaupapa Māori framework. A crucial aspect of their success is the Kaihautū Pastoral Care service, which addresses the Hauora Oranganui (health and wellbeing) of tauira and kaimahi. This service removes barriers to learning and employment, enabling Tāne Mahuta to effectively support rangatahi facing educational and employment challenges.
Guided by the cultural values they were brought up on, the team at Tāne Mahuta truly “eat, drink, and live” the kaupapa.
“Our approach to caring for our tauira and kaimahi is based on how we were brought up by our elders here in Te Teko,” says Marama Moses, Kaihautū. “We looked after all our kaumatua and kuia, pakeke, rangatahi, tamariki and mokopuna so it’s no different to us at mahi.”
The biggest problem in their local area is rangatahi being disconnected from their whānau, and the support they provide aims to remedy this. “There’s no magic wand or secret to looking after them,” she says. “I just look after them the way I was taught.”
Tupuna-inspired and built on Te Ao Māori foundations, the pastoral care that Tāne Mahuta provide their tauira and kaimahi contribute to wellbeing in both their work and personal lives.
The support includes:
Tāne Mahuta have trained 800 staff since 2012, and, for the majority, this was the first qualification they’ve ever received. Their training programmes offer a second chance at education and their pastoral care encourages strengthened engagement with whānau, improved health and wellbeing, increased employment opportunities, and tauira and kaimahi growing their respect for themselves and others.
“The journey hasn’t been easy. It’s been stressful, frustrating, irritating, challenging and doubt-raising,” says Wini, with Simon echoing her sentiments. “But through resilience, commitment, dedication and belief we look back with pride that we have helped so many rangatahi and their whānau achieve their kaupapa of connecting to their whenua.”
“To us pastoral care is a holistic approach. That’s not just about the glamourous stuff, it’s the hard mahi as well. It’s about whakapapa. He aha te mea nui o te Ao – he tangata he tangata he tangata.”
Read more Tiaki Tangata stories here ›
Muka Tangata finishes operations on 19 December 2025.
We are continuing to process applications for pre-moderation, consent to assess, micro-credential support, and programme endorsement. We’re working to our usual 20-day turnaround, but please be aware we can’t guarantee new applications will be completed before we close.
Any applications still in progress at that time will be handed over to the newly established Food and Fibre Industry Skills Board for completion.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss a proposed submission, we encourage you to contact us as soon as possible.
