Where We Are At: FASD Challenge-Led Innovation

The FASD Challenge-Led Innovation is a joint project between Ember Innovations, Te Matapuna Hauora (NorthAble), and Te Hau Ora o Ngāpuhi, established to support and amplify innovation that works for whānau affected by Te Iho Tātai Ā Rongo Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and Substance-Exposed Pregnancy (SEP)1 in the mid-North region of Te Tai Tokerau.

What’s the background? Over the past six months, working groups made up of key stakeholders from Te Taitokerau, Tamaki Makaurau and other organisations across Aotearoa, including community members, whānau and rangatahi, government agencies, service providers, and kura, have come together to explore what currently exists and where innovation could be possible.

This process has involved:

•Mapping existing services and supports;

•Exploring research and best practice;

•Identifying previous Kaupapa and or innovations in the FASD space throughout Aotearoa;

•Most importantly, listening to the lived experiences of whānau and rangatahi navigating the day to-day realities of FASD. From the synthesis of this kōrero and insight, four key themes have emerged to shape the direction of the project and guide future innovation.

Four Key Themes

1. Raising Awareness & FASD-Informed Practice Increasing public and professional understanding of Te Iho Tātai Ā Rongo | FASD, and building capability across sectors to ensure responses are trauma-informed, culturally grounded, and effective.

2. Education that Works for Rangatahi with Te Iho Tātai Ā Rongo | FASD Reimagining learning environments, supports, and teaching practices so that rangatahi living with FASD can succeed on their own terms, within pathways that recognise their strengths and aspirations.

3. Living with Te Iho Tātai Ā Rongo | FASD - Supporting Whānau to Thrive Focusing on the everyday realities of whānau and caregivers, strengthening networks of support, and ensuring they have access to the tools, resources, and relationships needed to flourish.

4. Multi-Agency Collaboration - Connecting the Dots Improving coordination across health, education, social services, government agencies and community organisations to ensure that support systems are connected, navigable, and centred on the needs of whānau.

Throughout this document, we refer to Te Iho Tātai Ā Rongo | FASD. This is our chosen working definition to encompass both Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and Substance-Exposed Pregnancies (SEP). Substance-Exposed Pregnancies refers to the exposure of a developing pēpi to substances such as methamphetamine, alcohol, nicotine, and other drugs during pregnancy, which can have significant and lasting impacts on development, behaviour, and wellbeing.

So where are we at?

Northland College Partnership Matua Duane Allen, Principal of Northland College in Kaikohe, has been an active member of the wider working group exploring opportunities for innovation around Te Iho Tātai Ā Rongo | FASD within the education space. He has made a generous and humbling offer to partner with Northland College and its wider community as part of this kaupapa.

This is an incredibly exciting opportunity to work alongside a kura that sits at the very heart of its community, enabling authentic, grounded, and honest relationships with rangatahi, whānau, and local organisations. Northland College is currently engaging with its wider community to reimagine its future direction and is deeply committed to developing and testing innovative approaches within its education and pastoral care systems to better support the rangatahi and whānau it serves.

Partnering with Northland College provides a unique opportunity to explore all four key themes of the FASD Challenge-Led Innovation within the context and hapori of Kaikohe, and across the wider Mid-North region (as many of the college’s rangatahi travel from communities over an hour away).

Ngapuhi Iwi Social Services / Te Hau Ora o Ngapuhi Partnership: Being grounded in community was one of the key kōrero that emerged from our working groups, that whatever happens within these communities must be by them and for them. Our role as outside organisations is to support innovation and sustainability, not to drive it. In hearing this, it became paramount to work alongside agencies and social services that are already working in Kaikohe, supporting whānau, often by whānau, for whānau. With this in mind, there are important relationships with Te Hau Ora o Ngāpuhi and Ngāpuhi Iwi Social Services, two of the key service agencies within the Kaikohe community.

Our shared endeavour in this partnership is to ensure that whatever takes place over the remaining period of this Challenge is done in a sustainable way, so that whānau are equipped and empowered to continue this important mahi, supporting those living with Te Iho Tātai Ā Rongo | FASD, and the whānau who walk alongside them. Following the findings of the working groups, there is a clear need to strengthen connections between the education and social service sectors, and these partnerships have created the foundation for that collaboration to happen.

Other Developments: Matt Newman joined our Kaupapa as Programme Manager in September 2025 in a role that joins the aspirations of communities with the aspirations of the joint Kaupapa between Ember Innovations, Northable and Te Hau Ora o Ngapuhi. Matt’s role is to act as nga ringaringa me ngawaewae, to be working and walking alongside all of the partners, supporting and taking on the ‘nuts and bolts’ of day to day operations.

Awesome! What do the next steps look like for this Kaupapa? There is important background synthesis work currently underway, particularly in partnership with Northland College, as Matua Duane leads a process of reimagining what innovation could look like for his students, staff, and the wider community.

Following this period of reflection and further dissemination, all partner organisations are scheduled to meet in early November to determine and agree on the practical actions that will take place within the kura beginning next year.

This marks a key period for the whole kaupapa as we move into the action phase. We are fortunate to be partnering with Dovetail as our evaluation and research partner. Their expertise will help to shape, measure, and strengthen the outcomes of this kaupapa, ensuring that what we learn and create can continue to grow and be sustained beyond the life of the Challenge.

Supporting this work are ongoing conversations and developing action plans with various government agencies within Kaikohe and across the wider North. There is strong buy-in and interest from agencies such as Oranga Tamariki, the Ministry of Social Development, and New Zealand Police, all of whom recognise the importance and potential of this kaupapa.

In addition, there have been significant recent announcements of government funding and the release of a new FASD Action Plan, alongside renewed national conversations about how best to support individuals, whānau, and communities impacted by Te Iho Tātai Ā Rongo | FASD. These developments provide an encouraging backdrop for the mahi ahead. Mapping of existing services and supports at a micro level within the Kaikohe community is also underway, offering a clearer understanding of what is currently in place and where the gaps and opportunities for collaboration exist.