Help us create environments that promote movement and active lifestyles that work for you, your communities, and your whānau. 

We are on a mission to get people to ‘Move Well to Feel Well’, an initiative that aims to get 10,000 people in South Auckland moving by June 2026.  

Movement and Sports Systems Innovator, Narita Vaivai says this initiative aims to get South Aucklanders moving by encouraging them to regularly engage in movement as a natural part of their daily lives, driven by compelling, culturally relevant and accessible opportunities.  

“We all know that physical activity and movement have direct implications on people’s health and is the most easily attainable prevention method available for us to tackle long-term health conditions.  

“Through this initiative, we are working towards collaborating with stakeholders, communities, leaders to help turn the dial in getting people active, in ways that work for them, are easy and support them and their families to get a kick start on moving.” 

With the rise of health hindering products and services available in our communities, it’s important to match this increase with an increase in accessible, affordable and sustainable physical movement pathways. 

The ‘Move Well to Feel Well’ mahi will work alongside people to develop a tool-kit that provides starter ideas and activation guides to support movement in the home, schools, churches, workplaces, marae or anywhere that is open to introducing or re-introducing quick and easy ways to get active. 

“Our team at Healthy Families South Auckland – The Cause Collective want to address the environmental factors at play through a systems change lense while looking at how me move intrinsically as Māori and Pacific to create environments that promote movement and active lifestyles and reduce sedentary behaviour, especially in our homes, schools, and public spaces.  

“We found that despite the significant health risks associated with low physical activity, these are not compelling enough reasons for our communities to move and that there are system conditions that hinder our physical health, namely the prevalence of fast-food outlets and alcohol stores in proximity to our whanau.  

“While we continue our journey at Healthy Families New Zealand as a collective to address the system barriers in place, in the South Auckland region we want to address these barriers by making movement an everyday and natural habit while also encouraging our stakeholders to think of and develop movement programmes that are compelling enough to get people to move,” says Narita.  

To learn more about the Move Well to Feel Well initiative, email [email protected].