Kia ora!

Piki mai, kake mai ki The Auckland Co-Design Lab.

We enable a more responsive and effective public service system that is focused on what matters and makes a difference to whānau.

At The Auckland Co-Design Lab (The Lab) we build public sector capability to work collectively with families, whānau, communities and iwi to address complex socio-economic issues.

We generate practice-based evidence that connects what works for communities to policy and implementation.

Search The Lab

A man, with a baby in a front pack, is holding hands with a woman. A small child is nearby playing with leaves and stones. The family are on a bush walk.

Nā tō rourou, nā tōku rourou, ka ora ai te iwi.

Practice Models

At The Lab the following three practices guide our approach to innovation and learning. They are also how we evaluate and track change. Together they represent 10 years of learning developed from working alongside whānau, hapori and other partners, and from drawing on Indigenous and Western knowledge bases, grounded in Aotearoa and the Pacific.

A waka on the ocean at night. A star constellation is highlighted, which is the shape of Niho Taniwha (a large triangle made up of small triangles).

Hautū Waka

Hautū Waka is an Indigenous knowledge system.

The Hautū Waka framework, developed by Roimata Taniwha-Paoo and Ayla Hoeta, with guidance from Matua Rereata Makiha, is a valuable tool for navigating complex systems like the public sector.

Hautū Waka provides a powerful language and approach to guide and articulate complex and collective transformation and reform work.

Learn more about Hautū Waka

Niho Taniwha

Niho Taniwha is a systems-learning framework developed from working with whānau, hapori and other partners.

Grounded in Aotearoa, Niho Taniwha draws respectfully from mātauranga Māori to encourage a values-led set of practices that weave learning and evaluation through the innovation process.

Niho Taniwha helps connect ‘on the ground’ learning with whānau back into systems to inform investment and decision-making.

Learn more about Niho Taniwha

Te Tokotoru

Te Tokotoru is an evidence based approach for investment in whānau wellbeing.

Te Tokotoru recognises the importance of supporting the knowledge and networks that communities already hold, and investing in locally led, culturally grounded responses that strengthen, heal and restore.

Te Tokotoru reflects what we have learnt from working alongside whānau in South Auckland, over the last 10 years.

Learn more about Te Tokotoru

An open envelope, with a paper plane coming out and pointing towards a laptop with a person's face. Text says join our mailing list to receive information for upcoming sessions. Click here.

Practice Foundations is a monthly public sector community of practice hosted online by The Auckland Co-Design Lab and Healthy Families Far North.

Practice Foundations focuses on shared opportunities and challenges that exist across the public sector. In our sessions we explore topics, tools and resources that public sector practitioners have told us are the most useful in building practice and tooling them up for implementing complex and ambitious mahi.

Learn more about Practice Foundations