Manakotea Limited
Executive Summary: Manakotea
Manakotea is a Māori and disability-led creative organization that transforms complex policy, research, and lived experience into accessible, engaging, and culturally grounded media. Serving as a creative bridge between information and community, Manakotea ensures important issues reach the people they affect while giving a voice to all peoples and communities—offering disabled people, tangata whaikaha Māori, takatāpui, and whānau a direct platform to share their own stories with the world.
What We Do
Matriarchal & Inclusive Leadership: Founded on and embodying matriarchal leadership principles, ensuring all projects are deeply collaborative with women to uplift, support, and center Wāhine leadership across the organization's creative and strategic direction.
Giving Voice to All Communities: Amplifies diverse, authentic human experiences through inclusive storytelling, ensuring marginalized communities and those with lived experience speak for themselves without being interpreted by others.
Creative Translation: Adapts dense reports, policy, and research into multi-format media—such as short videos, documentaries, podcasts, campaigns, and educational resources—without duplicating existing advocacy or service delivery.
Accessibility by Design: Implements built-in accessibility features from inception, including New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL), accurate captions, Plain Language, Easy Read, audio descriptions, and accessible digital formats.
Māori & Intersectionality-Led Foundation: Grounded in whakapapa, manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, and rangatiratanga, centering the intersection of disability, culture, gender, and takatāpui identity so people can participate as their whole selves.
Empowered Storytelling: Prioritizes lived experience and informed consent, ensuring disabled creators control how their narratives are documented, produced, and shared.
Phased Rollout: Initiates with a focused pilot project to establish proof-of-concept, building toward services such as accessibility consulting, media production, wānanga facilitation, and community event development.
Executive Summary: Manakotea
Manakotea is a Māori and disability-led creative organization that transforms complex policy, research, and lived experience into accessible, engaging, and culturally grounded media. Serving as a creative bridge between information and community, Manakotea ensures important issues reach the people they affect while giving a voice to all peoples and communities—offering disabled people, tangata whaikaha Māori, takatāpui, and whānau a direct platform to share their own stories with the world.
What We Do
Matriarchal & Inclusive Leadership: Founded on and embodying matriarchal leadership principles, ensuring all projects are deeply collaborative with women to uplift, support, and center Wāhine leadership across the organization's creative and strategic direction.
Giving Voice to All Communities: Amplifies diverse, authentic human experiences through inclusive storytelling, ensuring marginalized communities and those with lived experience speak for themselves without being interpreted by others.
Creative Translation: Adapts dense reports, policy, and research into multi-format media—such as short videos, documentaries, podcasts, campaigns, and educational resources—without duplicating existing advocacy or service delivery.
Accessibility by Design: Implements built-in accessibility features from inception, including New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL), accurate captions, Plain Language, Easy Read, audio descriptions, and accessible digital formats.
Māori & Intersectionality-Led Foundation: Grounded in whakapapa, manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, and rangatiratanga, centering the intersection of disability, culture, gender, and takatāpui identity so people can participate as their whole selves.
Empowered Storytelling: Prioritizes lived experience and informed consent, ensuring disabled creators control how their narratives are documented, produced, and shared.
Phased Rollout: Initiates with a focused pilot project to establish proof-of-concept, building toward services such as accessibility consulting, media production, wānanga facilitation, and community event development.