Meet RISE’s Hikitia! team working to prevent family violence and sexual violence
The mahi (work) is underway at Hikitia! with the new roles at RISE created through an ACC contract now filled.
What is Hikitia!?
Hikitia! is a community-led initiative funded by ACC as part of Te Aorerekura, the National Strategy to Eliminate Family Violence and Sexual Violence.
Between 2024-2026 ACC is funding a network of 16 organisations across Aotearoa New Zealand to create a network of primary prevention partners. Five organisations gained contracts in the first round, and RISE is thrilled to be one of these first five groups.
RISE’s Hikitia! manager Dr Nikki Evans says over time, the 16 Hikitia! partners will create teams to lead primary prevention across different settings and sectors in the community.
This includes working at individual levels, with community and its leaders, and at systems levels, to create sustainable changes.
Nationally Hikitia! will establish a workforce of at least 65 roles.
In Te Tauihu (the top of the south) the Hikitia! team of 7 include a Primary Prevention Practitioner, Community Mobilisers, a Communications & Engagement Lead, and a Manager.
Meet the Hikitia! team
At RISE, Kelly Anderson has been appointed the Hikitia! Primary Prevention Practitioner. Kelly has 30 years practice experience in child protection and family violence work with Oranga Tamariki and its predecessors.
Nikki says the Primary Prevention Practitioner is a subject matter expert. They understand the theory of sexual violence and the systems of oppression and bias that perpetuate violence such as racism, sexism and ableism.
They mentor their team, provide quality assurance on communications and programmes, and support others to strengthen the protective factors that prevent against violence.
RISE has appointed three Hikitia! Community Mobilisers, Miranda Warner, Rob Roche and DeSeanrae Lukitau.
DeSeanrae Lukitau is of Niuean and Samoan descent, and his children and partner are mana whenua of Te Tau Ihu.
Rob Roche has accepted a 20 hours a week Community Mobiliser role with Hikitia! Rob has worked as a Clinician for RISE and will continue in this role alongside his work for Hikitia!
Miranda Warner has also accepted a 20 hours a week Community Mobiliser role with Hikitia! Miranda also worked as a Clinician at RISE part time before accepting this role.
The Hikitia! Community Mobilisers are specialists in change and activating communities, Nikki says. They work with communities to weave their voices and concerns, facilitating and eliciting peoples’ ideas and helping everyone to learn from each other. They support problem solving with groups and individuals and map out the next steps to enable mobilisation.
Karolina Gorton has been appointed as Communications & Engagement Lead with Hikitia!. Karolina has extensive graphic art, media, communications, and engagement experience across a range of platforms. Karolina will be working 20 hours a week with Hikitia!
Nikki says as a communications expert the Hikitia! Communications & Engagement Lead see and hear what's happening in their communities and support them to amplify their stories. They also listen to the national change and help localise the conversations.
Within the top of the south rohe (region) the Arts will be an important vehicle for both engagement and communication of key messages, as well as a platform to disrupt attitudes and beliefs that create and maintain violence in society.
Pâmela Port Westerich is the Administrator for Hikitia! Pâmela has a wealth of experience in administration, business management, and academic research within the non-profit sector.
The RISE Hikitia! team clockwise from rear Pâmela Port Westerich, Dr Nikki Evans, Rob Roche, DeSeanrae Lukitau, Miranda Warner, Karolina Gorton, RISE General Manager Dee Cresswell, and Kelly Anderson.
Dr Nikki Evans is the Hikitia! Manager. Nikki has worked in the family violence and sexual violence field for about 30 years – in direct practice as a senior therapist with STOP in Ōtautahi I Christchurch , as a supervisor and consultant, a Principal Advisor to the Chief Social Worker, Oranga Tamariki, and for just over 20 years, as a Senior Lecturer in Social Work practice, policy and research at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | The University of Canterbury.
What will the Hikitia! kaimahi (staff) be focused on/doing?
More than 2000 men have engaged with RISE’s non-violence and dad’s programmes over the years and RISE consistently receives feedback from men that they want to do more.
Hikitia! will work with men as powerful allies and leaders in their communities who can challenge harmful behaviour.
Drawing from the insights of these men, alongside the voices of tamariki (children) and rangatahi (youth), whānau and families, those working in the Family Violence and Sexual Violence fields, and research and literature, Hikitia! contributes to three overarching long-term national and regional outcomes:
Mokopuna Ora: protecting the whakapapa of our tamariki, rangatahi and whānau;
Communities are safe, inclusive spaces where children, young people and whānau flourish; and
Primary prevention is prioritised across the family and sexual violence system.
Hikitia! aims to address the underlying causes, or drivers, of sexual and family violence (e.g. social norms, practices and structures that influence attitudes and behaviours) through a systems change approach to primary prevention.
Nikki says this could look like local storytelling activities to shift mindsets and social norms towards safety, equity and respect. Or partnering with local councils to address high-risk areas.
Crucially, Hikitia! is not focused on service delivery – it focuses on building the infrastructure (workforce, strategy, etc) to support a high-functioning prevention system by working with partners and the community to:
increase coordination and alignment of sexual violence and family violence prevention (including child sexual abuse prevention),
identify, implement and leverage initiatives that strengthen protective factors and transform the conditions (including policies, practices, resource flows, relationships, power dynamics etc) that hold sexual violence and family violence in place, and
enable and activate local leadership to take action to prevent violence.