Tara Moala

Tara Moala MNZM
Awards	Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit

Tara Lai-Ianne Moala MNZM is a New Zealand social and community development worker. In 2023 Moala was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the community and environment.

Family and education

Moala is Māori and affiliates to Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Māhanga Hourua, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Paoa, Ngā Wairiki Ngāti Apa, and Ngā Rauru iwi.[1] She also has Chinese, Irish, Croatian and Lebanese heritage.[2] Moala has a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Social Change Leadership degree, in which she focused on indigenizing regeneration.[2][3]

Career

Moala was a youth and social worker in 2016 when she founded Rākau Tautoko, which supports community development workers to engage and empower communities, in the areas of environmental and social improvement.[1][4] Rākau Tautoko was founded as a limited liability company with charitable status, which was a new structure for social enterprise.[2] Moala has been involved in many environmental projects, including waste reduction projects such as Hub Zero and Tāmaki WRAP.[1] Most recently she is the Outcomes Manager at the Tāmaki Regeneration Company, where she has worked on ways to repurpose old housing stock to divert it from the waste stream.[1][5][6] During the COVID-19 pandemic Moala set up a programme to provide food access to communities, using funding from the Ministry of Social Development, Foundation North and the Department of Internal Affairs.[1]

Honours and awards

In the 2023 King's Birthday and Coronation Honours, Moala was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the community and environment.[1]

Moala was awarded an Atlantic Fellowship for Social Equity in 2022, which are hosted by the University of Melbourne, and in 2018 was awarded a Lifekeepers Award.[3][7] Lifekeeper Awards are conferred by Lifekeepers National Suicide Prevention Training, and are "designed to recognise the often heroic but unacknowledged commitment of individuals and organisations who persevere with efforts and work which make a vital contribution to suicide prevention".[8]

References

1. "The King's Birthday and Coronation Honours List 2023 – Citations for Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit | Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC)". www.dpmc.govt.nz. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
2. "Tara Moala MNZM". Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
3. "Local Community Hero honoured in King's Birthday List". 30 June 2023.
4. "Our Team". Rākau Tautoko. 29 February 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
5. "'Demolition but smarter': How old state houses are turning into tiny homes for the homeless". The New Zealand Herald. 8 December 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
6. Finn Blackwell (8 August 2023). "Innovation, sustainability, affordability: How Auckland stacks up against other cities around the world". RNZ. Retrieved 18 October 2024.
7. "2018 awards | Awards | FUEL". LifeKeepers. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
8. "Awards". LifeKeepers. Retrieved 19 October 2024.

External links

• Ka Tū Māia – Ep03: Ka Whati te Tai ft. Tara Moala & Keu Iorangi, podcast episode from Ngahere Communities, 3 June 2022