The Office of Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu has created two new scholarships for Ngāi Tahu whānui.

These scholarships aim to create pathways for Ngāi Tahu whānui to work in communications and environmental management. They include full fees for study and paid work experience within the office. If you are interested email [email protected] or call 0800 KAI TAHU and ask for Nicole Bowden.

Arihia Bennett, Chief Executive Officer, says these are an opportunity for whānau to gain a qualification and get valuable experience within the office.

“These new scholarships are like our matakahi cadet programme, which places cadets within the Ngāi Tahu Holdings business unit that is relevant to their degree for paid-work experience. Now we are using our teams within the office to provide practical application of the tertiary skills the recipients learn.”

“We have always had a policy to select the best person for the job. These scholarships ensure that we are creating a pathway for our whānau to be in the best possible position.”

The aim of the communications scholarships is to grow story-tellers within the iwi. During the scholarship they will gain a technical understanding and a practical application of these skills.

The successful recipient will study broadcasting at Ara Institute of Canterbury and gain experience in radio reporting, writing stories and creating short-video clips.

Julian Wilcox, Chief Operating Officer, says this is an opportunity for a whānau member to report on the kōrero happening within the Ngāi Tahu rohe.

“There are so many rich and fantastic kaupapa in the Ngāi Tahu takiwā. This opportunity is a way of bringing those stories to the fore, as well developing journalistic capabilities amongst Ngāi Tahu.” He says that he hopes the recipient will continue to work with Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and with Papatipu Rūnanga past their study.

The environmental scholarships will allow Ngāi Tahu whānau to work within Te Ao Tūroa and create Ngāi Tahu environmental advocates of the future.

Aaron Leith, Acting General Manager of Te Ao Tūroa, says the recipients of this scholarship will get to work with our team and Papatipu Rūnanga on key environmental issues such as sustainability, protection of customary access and use rights, heritage protection and management of taonga resources.

“This scholarship isn’t just about helping the students pay for their study, we want to help build capacity and for our students to become strong environmental voices for Ngāi Tahu,” says Aaron.

Ryan Hepburn, Junior Environmental Advisor, says working within the Te Ao Tūroa unit is a great path for environmentalists of the future.

“Within our team we get to work across a wide variety of environmental aspects and we get to make a difference for mana whenua,” says Ryan.