Failoa Famili are a Pacific-led community support organisation working to grow Pacific people and families through education, wellbeing, and wraparound support.
In 2024, Foundation North approved a multi-year grant to support Failoa Famili in their work to increase equity and create more positive outcomes and opportunities for Pacific communities.
O le ala i le pule o le tautua – the pathway to leadership is through service
Failoa Famili believe strong families are the backbone of a strong community and society. This belief, alongside the organisation’s Pacific values underpin the transformative initiatives and programmes Failoa Famili offer the community in their journey toward addressing health and wellbeing inequities impacting Pacific families in Aotearoa.
Since their establishment in early 2019, Failoa Famili have created and delivered opportunities to empower and engage Pacific people and families from across the country.
With a new strategic plan Failoa Famili are focusing on Housing, Health, Education, Employment and Youth (HHEEY) as key to achieving their vision of thriving, resilient, and sustainable Pasifika people, families, and communities.
“We want our communities to do well, we are their biggest advocates,” shares Karen Daniels, Chair of Failoa Famili.
In growing the capacity, capability, and confidence of participants in their programmes, Failoa Famili hold the door open for people from all walks of life to become leaders in their own right and envision new horizons in their futures.
Now you’re speaking my language!
“Our lived experience, values and passion are key drivers towards equitable, sustainable transformation. It starts with one individual and the power of their brain, one family, one community and their collective power to bring about change.”
The Failoa Famili team have an intrinsic understanding of what they want – and what they need to do to achieve it.
Providing impactful support for communities is not a one-size-fits-all process, this is something Failoa Famili know well. When engaging with diverse demographics of people, you can’t put a price on lived experience and innate understanding. Knowing this, the team lean into indigenous models of care to understand the different ways they can provide culturally relevant support and education to community members, to transform their futures for generations to come.
“Our Pacific values keep us grounded.”
By designing workshops and programmes alongside qualified tutors and facilitators that reflect the experiences, ways of thinking, and values of participants, Failoa Famili’s offerings engage communities on a deeper level.
Empowerment through education
“We all have the capacity and capability to learn.”
Informed by their focus areas, Failoa Famili’s offerings seek to provide educational opportunities exploring the various areas in life that contribute to overall wellbeing and can be woven together to create strong foundations – foundations that benefit not just the individual, but their families, communities, and ultimately our wider society.
Modelling leadership and providing people with the opportunity to learn and upskill in a safe and familiar environment is a recipe for magic. Failoa Famili employ this recipe throughout their programmes – whether it’s a talanoa about the successes and challenges of Pacific leaders, or a workshop on financial wellbeing – participants learn with dignity and respect, and are able to engage with role models they can see themselves in.
“We want to treat the cause with education.”
The 21-Day Life Journal is a resource developed by Failoa Famili targeted at youth aged 12+ but also helpful for families and anyone wanting to break down the stigma of suicide by weaving information around mental health and wellbeing together with practical ways to apply the learnings for mental, social, physical, and spiritual growth.
Evidence-based and centred on Pacific values of service, faith, family, and culture, at the time of its launch, this offering was one of the first prevention/intervention well-being resources written for Pacific, by Pacific in Aotearoa. This resource is part of a wider range of life skills offerings that touch on financial wellbeing, employment, health and safety at work, and nutrition that come together to give young people and parents tools and confidence to build healthy, happy, and successful lives.
To date, Failoa Famili have supported over 3,000 famiies through their programmes, workshops, and resources.
No Place Like Home (NPLH) is a programme delivered alongside JMS Community Trust, to build financial literacy and capability with a goal of creating responsible and sustainable pathways to home ownership.
Since 2020, the NPLH workshops enabled 150 families to learn about budgeting, debt management, savings, credit reports, and mortgage servicing while also receiving mentoring and pastoral care, with 4 families going on to secure home ownership upon completion of the programme and 4 families close to achieving their own homes.
Internal growth supporting external outcomes
Community needs are constantly evolving, and in order to continue providing impactful support, Failoa Famili don’t shy away from learning opportunities that allow them to produce innovative, cutting-edge programmes and resources.
The small but passionate team behind Failoa Famili will be the first to tell you they’re on their own individual and collective learning journeys. Understanding emerging practices and new evidence and research ensures the organisation’s offerings continue to grow alongside the communities they serve.
Failoa Famili’s intentional relationship building with other organisations working toward similar goals enables the team to both receive support for their offerings and build their capability.
In building relationships with similar organisations, Failoa Famili are able to create opportunities to increase the impact of their offerings. Their partnership with Tei Mua Tatou, a Cook Islands community group, enabled greater access to affordable and quality laptops, which contributed to the delivery of their digital programmes aimed at upskilling Pacific youth.
Horizons
For five years, Failoa Famili have gone from strength to strength delivering culturally informed, values-based support for Pacific communities. With offerings that seamlessly blend research and evidence with Pacific values and experiences, their programmes and resources act as tools that enable families and individuals to thrive in Aotearoa building on the strength of their cultural values, beliefs and lived experiences.
Failoa Famili are a passionate team of individuals with the knowledge that the communities they serve already have the potential to live happy and successful lives, they just need someone to show them the path to get there.
