Nau mai, haere mai, kuhu mai!
Welcome to Kia Māia Bicultural Communications. We are the developers of Te Rito, a series of transformational bicultural competency modules.
Te Rito has its genesis in our vision of a truly bicultural Aotearoa New Zealand, where everyone understands the impacts of our shared history and where everyone has a strong sense of belonging and the opportunity to thrive.
What does Te Rito offer?
Te Rito provides:
- a captivating, engaging way to increase confidence and understanding of te ao Māori – including te reo Māori, tikanga and kawa – and how to apply new learning in the workplace
- a deep and robust exploration of issues that stem from the colonisation of Aotearoa
- the confidence for learners to recognise and tackle discrimination and harmful stereotyping, and
- the opportunity to develop and apply new practices that support equity and counter racism.
“Absolutely brilliant training course, one of the best I have had the pleasure to be involved with. A very courageous and effective approach, celebrating differences, highlighting the facts and reasons for these differences, and acknowledging the areas where people feel comfortable, and uncomfortable, about te ao Māori. Ka rawe!
My gratitude goes to the course writers, and also to my employer for the opportunity to participate in this course. I feel encouraged that it will make a difference to the way we approach our mahi from now on.”
Why is Te Rito transformational?
Because it invites you to become a conscious learner.
With the skills, tools and new awareness gained, you can contribute to weaving the strong threads we need to make a more cohesive social fabric in Aotearoa.
Te Rito is not just about increasing organisational competency as a ‘feather in the cap’ of the individual. We’re aiming to transform workplace practice through raising awareness, increasing knowledge, and building cultural capability.
Te Rito asks you to use your new skills and perspectives to help create a better, more equitable future.
How do we ensure our organisation is ready to get value from Te Rito?
We have seen many organisations using Te Rito very successfully, and all are slightly different. But they are all underpinned by one thing: Te Rito is integrated with their overall strategy and aligns with their stated values. Embedding Te Rito isn’t just about adopting a framework – it’s about weaving its principles into the heartbeat of your organisation.
At Kia Māia, we walk alongside you to bring Te Rito to life in ways that are authentic, actionable, and enduring. Our Strategic Integration Service helps leadership teams align Te Rito with organisational purpose and strategy, ensuring bicultural practice is lived, not just learned.
What We Offer
- Executive Framing Workshop – a focused session for senior leaders to connect Te Rito outcomes to organisational goals and culture.
- Strategy Alignment Paper – a tailored document mapping Te Rito principles to your strategic priorities and measures of success.
- Action Roadmap – clear, practical next steps to embed Te Rito across governance, people, and operations.
Why It Matters
- Move confidently from awareness to meaningful action.
- Strengthen your organisation’s commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
- Build internal capability to lead bicultural change with conviction.
- Ensure your investment in Te Rito creates real, lasting transformation.
How It Works
- Discovery Hui – explore your context, aspirations, and current Te Rito journey.
- Co-Design Session – a half or full-day wānanga to align strategy and pathways forward.
- Deliver & Support – receive a practical integration plan, with optional follow-up coaching or mentoring to sustain momentum.
Investment
We offer tailored packages to suit your context and scale. Let’s kōrero about what would best serve your organisation.
Ready to embed Te Rito into your strategy? Email us to begin the conversation: info@kiamaia.co.nz
Coaching, Mentoring & Cultural Supervision
Kia Māia has also partnered with Claudia Faletolu (Ngā Puhi) to offer personalised coaching, mentoring, and cultural supervision for leaders and practitioners embedding bicultural practice in their work.
Claudia brings extensive experience in organisational development, leadership transformation, and Māori strategy. Her approach is honest, forward-thinking, and deeply relational – grounded in wairua, whanaungatanga, and accountability.
What We Offer
- Leadership Coaching – build confidence, clarity, and courage to lead with bicultural integrity.
- Mentoring for Practitioners – reflective guidance for those leading or embedding Te Rito in complex environments.
- Cultural Supervision – a safe, kaupapa-aligned space to process challenges, reflect on practice, and stay grounded in values.
Why It Matters
Sustaining bicultural practice is not just about knowledge — it’s about who we are and how we show up. Coaching and cultural supervision create the space to pause, reflect, and reset, supporting leaders to grow resilience and authenticity in their mahi.
To explore coaching or cultural supervision with Claudia email info@kiamaia.co.nz
Some of our Te Rito whānau
Is Te Rito right for your organisation?
Te Rito is a taonga that draws on the mahi of many people who have dedicated their lives to these issues. For this reason, it should be deployed with care and commitment in the right conditions.
Te Rito is right for you if you:
- are aligning your values, strategies, policies, and organisational culture towards becoming a Tiriti-responsive organisation, and you’re ready to translate this into action
- seek an online, interactive, self-paced training tool to support other face-to-face and experiential offerings in your workplace
- are prepared to make this training an expected part of working for your organisation for all staff, and
- are willing to provide appropriate tautoko for both the training itself and your learners.
If this sounds like you, we would love to hear from you!
What's in Te Rito?
There are 44 modules of Te Rito, spread over seven carefully scaffolded courses. Te Rito is designed to be delivered and tracked through your workplace’s Learning Management System (LMS). Alternatively, it can be easily accessed via the Kia Māia LMS.
Te Pakiaka
Foundational Courses
- Introduction /
He Whakatakinga - Te Ao Māori, the Māori World
- Back to the Future /
Titiro Whakamuri - Walking in Two Worlds /
Kia Hīkoi i Ngā Ao e Rua
Te Kōrari
Extension Courses
- Identity /
Tuakiritanga - Decolonisation /
Purenga Ihomatua - Back to the Future /
Titiro Whakamuri
Who are we?
Kia Māia is the creative and long-standing partnership of Alexandra Tidswell (Tangata Tiriti) and Janine Kapa (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha).
We have been creating and delivering bicultural training since 1999, with the launch of Te Waharoa, and an early prototype of Te Rito in 2003. Since then, Te Rito has been through a number of different iterations, with a focus on continual improvement as a result of learner feedback, self-reflection and social change. It was born from a clear need in the private and public sectors for a powerful yet compassionate online tool to augment in-person training and other educational experiences.
We bring to Te Rito all our professional experience, plus our natural passion, curiosity to keep learning and our deep commitment to the kaupapa.
Alexandra Tidswell
Janine Kapa
What's our kaupapa?
The vision we work towards each day is of an Aotearoa New Zealand where biculturalism is a natural way of being, and where everyone is empowered to contribute fully to our nation.
To this end, educating our learners about the impact of our shared history and the subsequent inequities and discrimination is a key driver for us.
Aotearoa New Zealand is the only place in the world where our unique indigenous culture and language exist. Our passion is celebrating this fact, and providing high quality information and tools that help others celebrate it too.
