Thinking of the Whole: An Intro to Systems Science

This one day introductory workshop aims to support and uplift the Waikato health promotion workforce by providing participants with the opportunity to gain a fundamental understanding of Māori systems science. Looking at the concepts of whakapapa and mātauranga Māori, participants will gain valuable insights around:

• The practical application of analysing a system within a community.
• Gaining an understanding of systems science from a health perspective.
• Examining the kaupapa Māori planning tool, He Pikinga Waiora, which uses systems thinking as part of its framework and has indigenous self-determination at its core.
• Looking at a local intervention that has utilised systems thinking in its development and implementation phases.

Facilitated by Erina Korohina and Zaynel Sushil, participants will have the opportunity to learn, share and connect around systems based thinking through a mātauranga Māori lens.

What is systems science?
Systems science comes from engineering and science methodologies and is a way of considering the whole as well as all of the parts. When thinking about nutrition and wellbeing, Prof Boyd Swinburn considers this to mean looking at the enabling environment for nutrition improvement as well as health behaviour and biological factors. (Food Thinkers, 2017).

From this we can consider whakapapa which can be seen as a form of mapping genealogy. Dr Ihirangi Heke explains whakapapa as the organising system that arranges the various theoretical and practical concepts inherent in mātauranga Māori (Mātauranga Māori and Systems Dynamics, 2017).

Who is this for?
This training programme aims to support the Waikato health promotion kaimahi to better understand the basics of systems science, Māori systems thinking from a whakapapa perspective and the practical application of analysing a system within a community.

Toi Ako
Toi Ako is a part of Toi Tangata’s workforce development project. Although the medium and topics vary, Toi Ako is specifically targeted at providing valuable and relevant vocational training opportunities for the Māori public health, physical activity and nutrition sector. 

For more information please contact Erina Korohina: erina@toitangata.co.nz or 022 326 5602