Peter McKenzie Project

I’ve had the great pleasure of ongoing involvement in the Peter McKenzie Project, a philanthropic project focusing on systems change for whānau wellbeing (alleviating child poverty). Their participatory model of philanthropy is ground‑breaking in Aotearoa: a high‑trust model for working with and cultivating relationships amongst the Ngā Kaikōkiri organisations they fund.

The project has a rich visual metaphor of a flotilla of waka sailing in a shared direction. The flotilla ‘tethers up’ every six months for a Mahi Tahi hui, to connect and learn from one another in order to super‑charge the impact the flotilla as a whole.

Mahi Tahi VII, May 2024

For this latest Mahi Tahi, we were joined by Prof. Ingrid Burkett and Dr. Joanne McNeill from the Griffiths Centre for Systems Innovation.

The Peter McKenzie Project invited them here to share their experience in systems change from the Australian Context and to share Bill Sharpe’s Three Horizons Model.
Here is the drawing I developed to interweave the Three Horizons model with PMP’s flotilla/moana navigation metaphor, along with the whakatauki gifted by our wonderful facilitator Trent Hohaia. We used this in the space as 3.5m wall print onto which the rōpū added their whakaaro.

content captured at Mahi Tahi VII:

In this project drawings form an ongoing visual record and help introduce new participants into the kaupapa.