Te Poukapa: The Belonging and Equity Matrix
A framework to guide the work of equity and belonging in organisations.
Te Poukapa is the framework I use to guide how I approach belonging and equity in organisations. It came out of my doctoral research into community football organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand, but it was built to be practical, and it travels well beyond football.
Equity is not achieved by having the right words on a page. It is achieved in the movement from policy to practice, and from intention to accountability. Te Poukapa is designed to hold us to that.
Where the name comes from
The name Te Poukapa was gifted by Associate Professor Hone Morris, an expert in tikanga Māori, in conversation with my supervisor Professor Dame Farah Palmer. Pou are the strands or pillars that make up the matrix, and also the foundations and principles that exist in the world. Kapa means the collective, the team, the group. Te Poukapa is the collective of strands woven together to address equity and belonging, holding both the theory and the practice in one name.
A woven matrix
The image that came to me when I developed this framework was of weaving. In raranga, the whenu (vertical strands) and the aho (horizontal cross threads) are carefully and purposefully interwoven, and the way they intersect is what holds the integrity of the whole. Each of the four aspects contributes its own strands, and the finished pattern is different for every organisation, depending on which strands it chooses and how it weaves them.
The four aspects
Each aspect is process-focused, spanning time and attention: Showing looks to the future, Telling honours the past, Doing lives in the present, and Being holds the people at the centre.
- Showing — the future path. Purpose, vision and values, with equity at the centre of strategy and decision-making.
- Telling — our history. Owning the whakapapa, so belonging starts from a true and complete story.
- Doing — co-created rituals. The everyday practices that carry culture, made deliberate rather than left to chance.
- Being — able to be. The trust and psychological safety that let people truly belong.
The four are not independent. Pull one strand and the whole weave loosens, which is why all four have to be addressed together, not one at a time.
How I work
Te Poukapa is a foundation, not a finished template. I do not arrive with a fixed plan to install. I start by helping an organisation understand its why, then work with them to identify which strands are already present, which are missing, and which need to change. The finished pattern is different for every organisation, and it belongs to them, not to me.
Where Te Poukapa has been used
- WaiBOP Football: Te Poukapa underpins the federation’s Gender Equity Action Plan.
- Women in Sport Aotearoa: Te Poukapa informs the national NSO Gender Equity Dashboard currently being developed.
- NZ Cricket: A workshop and presentation to the Major Associations on belonging and equity in community sport.
- Central Football: An early application of the framework through a diversity and inclusion survey.
Work with me
If your organisation is serious about moving from representation to equity, and from policy to practice, I would like to hear from you.