Kai

Strong food systems create healthier whānau and stronger communities.

Porirua Kai Kaupapa Group

The Porirua Kai Kaupapa Group brings providers, iwi, and community together to tackle barriers to kai access and shape practical, locally grounded solutions. This is a space for collaboration focused on strengthening the kai system so whānau in Porirua can thrive.
If you care about improving access to healthy, affordable kai and want to be part of the solution, we’d love you to join us.

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Regional Food System Plan

We’re actively contributing to our region’s first Regional Food System Plan. This is an opportunity to create a sustainable, equitable and locally-led food system where everyone has the knowledge and opportunities to access healthy local kai for the well-being of our environment and people.

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Te Umu ki Rangituhi | Social Supermarket

Read about how Te Umu ki Rangituhi - Porirua’s Social Supermarket - is helping whānau who need support with kai, while restoring personal choice and reducing the stigma of receiving charity.

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Why Kai Matters

Across all our Reimagining sessions, one message has been consistent: access to healthy, affordable, and available kai is essential to whānau
well-being.

For many in Porirua, barriers exist across the whole kai security continuum; from short-term relief, through building whānau and community capacity, to long-term system redesign that addresses the underlying causes of kai insecurity.

Our starting point is short-term relief.
Whānau have told us that when time, energy, or stability are limited, access to readily available kai can make an immediate difference. When basic needs aren’t met, everything else becomes harder. Improving access at this point in the continuum responds to urgent need, while creating a foundation for longer-term change.

Kai is more than nourishment. It is central to culture, identity, and mana. Over time, our focus is on strengthening local food systems, reducing inequities, and supporting community-led solutions that increase whānau control over how kai is produced, accessed, and shared.

The Community Food Security Continuum shows how kai security spans short-term relief, building whānau and community capacity, and long-term system change. Our work begins with meeting immediate needs while working across the continuum over time.

Source acknowledgement: The Community Food Security Continuum, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). This material is reproduced from a copy of the version available here.

Data That Tells a Story

In the year to January 2026, food prices continued to rise sharply. The cost of fruit and vegetables increased by 6%, meat by 9%, a loaf of bread by 58%, and broccoli by 26%.

These rising costs are having real impacts on whānau. More than one in five New Zealand children (21%) live in households where food runs out sometimes or often. Pacific children are facing the greatest impact, with nearly one in two (44%) living in households experiencing food insecurity.

As pressure on household food budgets grows, reliance on hardship support remains high. In the year to September 2025, around 1.3 million food hardship payments were made by Work and Income, totalling approximately $129 million, with an average grant of about $100. Notably, food grant limits within the welfare system have not been adjusted to reflect changes in living costs since August 2008.

This pressure is also being felt locally. In the last six months of 2025 alone, Pātaka Kai provided 1,428 kai packs to whānau in need.
1017 tangata also accessed Te Umu Ki Rangituhi (Porirua’s social supermarket) for affordable, dignified access to food.

“Rent and grocery shopping [are] extremely expensive. Having to make sacrifices for essentials.”

— Young Māmā at a Reimagining Session

We are supporting improved access to kai by strengthening coordination across services and providers in Porirua. By bringing together organisations working across the kai system, we support shared learning, better visibility of what’s available, reduced duplication, and more effective collective responses to the needs of whānau.

This mahi aligns with Goal 2 of the Regional Food System Plan: Everyone has the knowledge and opportunities to access healthy local food.

This goal recognises the importance of food literacy, equitable access to good food, urban and community growing, and food security as a key indicator of regional well-being.

What We Are Doing

Our Approach: Kaupapa Groups through the Porirua Community Leaders’ Forum

Porirua Community Leaders’ Forum (PCLF) exists to foster relationships, strengthen local connections, and create a shared space for community-led action and learning. It brings together Porirua’s diverse leaders across iwi, community, Pacific, migrant, business, education, and social sectors to identify shared priorities and coordinate collective impact for our city.

As part of this model, kaupapa groups are established to move ideas into tangible action. Each group focuses on a specific area of community priority such as kai, housing etc.

The Kai Kaupapa Group is a collective space to tackle barriers to access and shape practical solutions for our whānau focused on strengthening the kai system.

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Read more about the Porirua Community Leaders’ Forum in the PCLF Operating Model .

Collective Action in Motion

SEPTEMBER 2026

Since coming together in April, the Porirua Kai Kaupapa Rōpū has been building a more connected and collective approach to strengthening our local kai system.

At the June hui, members agreed the group’s shared purpose and identified five priorities for collective action:

Local Production Growth
Porirua Kai System Map
Long-term Investment and Partnerships
Community Meals
Innovation and Pilots

By September, the focus had shifted to action and accountability — sharing progress, identifying next steps and continuing to strengthen connections across the kai system.

The September hui brought together 23 people from 13 organisations. Members reflected on the strengths of Porirua’s kai community, including strong volunteer networks, food rescue and redistribution, community gardens and growing partnerships, while also highlighting ongoing pressures such as the cost of living, funding and workforce capacity.

Turning connections into action

Several practical actions are now underway, including Skills and Resources Mapping, the Porirua Kai System Map, the development of a Porirua Community Directory, and a local distribution pilot through Kai Ora Collective.

Together, these actions are helping build a clearer picture of what already exists across Porirua, where resources and capability can be shared, and where collective effort could make the greatest difference.

There is still plenty to do, but the foundations are growing: stronger relationships, better visibility of our local kai system, and more opportunities to work together.

If you care about improving access to healthy, affordable kai and strengthening Porirua’s local kai system, we’d love you to be part of the Kai Kaupapa Group.

The next Kai Kaupapa Group hui will be held on Wednesday, 2nd December 2026, 1pm - 3pm.

Join our Kaupapa Kai Group

Read the September Hui Minutes Here