Te Hāpai Ō website supporting cultural capability

Te Hāpai Ō is an organisational approach to building cultural capability, supporting kaimahi to grow their understanding and apply it in their day-to-day work.

The programme brings together a range of initiatives, resources, and learning pathways, each with its own identity and meaning. The challenge was to create a platform that brings this together in a way that is clear, usable, and culturally grounded.

As an internal-only platform, the site needed to support secure access and integrate with organisational systems, while still providing a simple and intuitive experience.

It also needed to move beyond static content, supporting tools that help people apply knowledge in real situations, not just read about it.

The platform was built on Silverstripe Cloud using a virtual stack, with authentication handled through Entra ID to ensure secure, internal-only access.

The work was guided by the Te Hāpai Ō style guide, ensuring cultural elements such as language, structure, and visual identity were applied consistently and appropriately.

A key focus was designing structured content and tools that support how kaimahi engage with the material in practice. This included developing reusable content patterns and clear navigation across different parts of the programme.

This approach enabled the development of practical tools such as He Kete Kupu, a searchable collection of te reo Māori terms with definitions, context, and optional audio, and Te Mahere, a place-based resource that helps kaimahi understand the rohe they work in, including iwi, hapū, tikanga, and guidance for engagement.

Rather than over-engineering the platform, we focused on delivering clean, structured functionality that could be extended over time.

The website brings together a wide range of resources and initiatives into a single, structured experience, making it easier for staff to access and engage with content.

Tools such as He Kete Kupu support everyday use of te reo Māori, while Te Mahere provides grounded, place-based guidance that helps kaimahi engage appropriately with whānau and communities.

The platform supports both learning and application, helping people move from understanding concepts to applying them in real-world situations.

It also provides a consistent foundation for the programme, ensuring that new content and initiatives can be introduced in a way that aligns with its cultural intent.

Overall, it strengthens how cultural capability is supported across the organisation, both at an individual and collective level.