Indigenous-informed consultancy • research • innovation • capability

Growing Indigenous futures through design, innovation, and system transformation.

He Puāwai partners with whānau, communities, and organisations to design, build, and implement culturally grounded solutions that shift systems and improve outcomes.

Our work brings together Indigenous knowledge, research, innovation development, and capability building — combining strategic thinking, practical design, and implementation pathways so good ideas become real change across local and international settings.

Work with He Puāwai View the model
A kaupapa grounded in growth, emergence, and futures shaped with intention.
The He Puāwai Model

From whakaaro to implementation.

He Puāwai operates through four connected engines. Together they support a full pathway from insight and relationship-building through to innovation development, capability growth, and sustained change in practice.

Consultancy

Community-centred design, system review, strategic advisory, and service transformation support grounded in Indigenous values, equity, and structural change.

Research & Thought Leadership

Indigenous-informed research, evaluation, and framework development that generates evidence, sharpens direction, and influences policy, practice, and sector thinking.

Innovation Development

Active development of models, tools, pathways, and digital solutions that respond to real system gaps — including applied frameworks, service concepts, and Indigenous AI opportunities.

Capability & Training

Capability building through He Pikinga Waiora and implementation science, supporting leaders and teams to design well, implement well, and sustain what matters.

About He Puāwai

Community-centred. Culturally grounded. Future-facing.

He Puāwai exists to support whānau and communities to shape their own pathways forward. Our work is grounded in Indigenous knowledge, lived experience, collective insight, and a deep understanding of how systems enable or constrain wellbeing.

This is more than strategy. He Puāwai moves ideas into active development, testing, and implementation — ensuring culturally grounded thinking is translated into models, services, and innovations that can work in the real world.

We work best with partners who want depth, integrity, and practical movement: not just better language, but better design, clearer pathways, and stronger systems.

Who He Puāwai works with

Partners committed to meaningful change.

Māori health providers, iwi organisations, and Indigenous collectives.
Health and social sector organisations.
Government, commissioning, and system leadership agencies.
Clinical, academic, and community-led teams.
Partners seeking culturally anchored and operationally viable solutions.
Founder

Chae Simpson (Rongomaiwahine, Waikato)

Portrait of Chae Simpson
Founder of He Puāwai. Senior Māori health leader, researcher, and systems innovator working across service design, equity, and Indigenous futures.
Experience

Chae Simpson is a senior Māori health leader with over 15 years’ experience advancing equity and Indigenous health outcomes across Aotearoa. She has held national and regional leadership roles across ACC, Waikato DHB, and Te Kōhao Health, working at the intersection of policy, service design, and system transformation.

Based in the Waikato, she is a māmā of four and a proud nana. Her work is shaped by lived experience, whānau, and a commitment to creating futures that are better for the next generation. She has a deep passion for travel, exploring, and connecting with people across different cultures, and draws inspiration from the ways communities live, care, and create meaning in everyday life.

Selected experience
Led development of a kaupapa Māori cancer care service at Taakiri Tuu.
Established partnerships with Health NZ to deliver specialist services in community settings.
Led national Māori health and equity programmes across ACC.
Developed community-based interventions to improve diabetes outcomes.
Current Research

Te Ara Wāhine

Te Ara Wāhine focuses on strengthening pathways for wāhine Māori with symptomatic breast cancer in the Waikato.

The journey through diagnosis and treatment can involve complex systems, long wait times, and multiple barriers. Existing services often do not fully reflect the cultural, social, and economic realities of wāhine Māori.

This research explores how Indigenous and whānau-centred approaches — including integration of practices such as rongoā — can improve access, experience, and outcomes.

The work contributes to the development of culturally grounded models of care and informs future innovation, including AI-enabled navigation and system redesign.

What this enables

Research with practical application.

Culturally grounded pathways for wāhine Māori.
Stronger system insight into barriers and access gaps.
Models of care that uphold mana motuhake and rangatiratanga.
Applied innovation opportunities, including future AI-enabled navigation.
Work with He Puāwai

Partner to grow work that is grounded, useful, and built to last.

He Puāwai partners with providers, collectives, health and social sector organisations, researchers, and system leaders who are ready to move beyond surface-level engagement and into meaningful, culturally anchored change.

Email: [email protected]

© He Puāwai