On the road again: the Tāhono Belonging Conversations, Aotearoa 2025

2025 marks the third round of Belonging Conversations, a nationwide series of conversations held by Inclusive Aotearoa Collective (Tāhono) exploring shifts in belonging and inclusion for different communities and people across Aotearoa. 

Since 2019, Tāhono has periodically delivered these conversations to provide a platform for communities to share their lived experiences and aspirations by discussing three simple questions:

• When do you feel like you belong in Aotearoa, New Zealand?
• What stops you from feeling like you belong?
• What needs to change for you to feel like you belong?

Join us for this webinar to hear from the Tāhono team about their 2025 sessions, highlighting emergent and recurring themes of and barriers to belonging in Aotearoa. We will reflect on how experiences of belonging have changed since the project began, and consider how these conversations and stories can help build and strengthen social cohesion across the country. 

Inclusive Aotearoa Collective Tāhono is an organisation focused on connecting and empowering communities and community-based action across Aotearoa Te Waipounamu. The project creates and supports cross-sector community networks that reduce discrimination and strengthen belonging, centred on upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

We will be joined by Anjum, Ari, and Atarau from Inclusive Collective Tāhono.

Anjum Rahman is the project founder and a facilitator of Inclusive Aotearoa Collective Tāhono. She is a member of international committees dealing with violent extremist content online. She was the inaugural co-chair of the Christchurch Call Advisory Network and Vice-Chair of the Independent Advisory Committee of the Global Internet Forum for Countering Terrorism. She is also Vice-President of the Internet New Zealand Council. She also commits to various volunteer roles in the community and is a trustee of Trust Waikato, a major funder in the Waikato Region.

Ari (Ngaati Puukeko, Ngaati Mahuta) has an eclectic history working within mental health and rainbow spaces, food safety and SME consulting with a wealth of administrative, logistical, and operational experience. They are a proud member of the neurospicey, spoonie and disabled communities. They are passionate about decolonisation, kai sovereignty, and community building.

Atarau Hamilton-Fuller (Ngati Kahungunu, Ngarauru, Ngati Raukawa) is a project facilitator who enjoys the big picture and chasing down ways to get to the goal. He has experience supporting several community opportunities on the ground, and for Tāhono has been involved in developing mahi under Constitutional Transformation and strengthening connections across cultures, communities and conversations.

Facilitator: Bev Tso Hong | Kaitūhono, Ethnic Research Engagement Lead, Community Research