Aimee Hadrup, Manager of our Tamariki Wellbeing programme, named NZ Harkness Fellow 2023

Aimee Hadrup, Manager of the Tamariki Wellbeing programme at The Southern Initiative (TSI), has been selected for the prestigious NZ Harkness Fellowship for 2023.

The Harkness Fellowships are offered to emerging public sector leaders to enable them to visit world class institutions in the US to gain insights that can be applied to public sector initiatives in Aotearoa. The Fellowships were relaunched last year, after a short break during the Covid lockdowns, with a refreshed focus on identifying and developing emerging future leaders in the public service.

As part of her fellowship, Aimee will visit the renowned Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University to understand how it is enabling public sector leaders to act on the Center’s world-leading research.

Aimee will research and develop case studies of innovative place-based initiatives underway in the US to help inform thinking around how our public service can better support communities to lead their own wellbeing responses.

Prevention is always better than cure. That’s why supporting better outcomes in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life is essential to TSI’s work in supporting social and economic transformation for south Auckland.

“Research from Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child has clearly demonstrated that one of the most important things any government can do to disrupt inequity and intergenerational disadvantage is to better support whānau in the critical first 1,000 days of a child’s life. I’m interested in understanding how we can work across agencies and power up communities to lead the way,” says Aimee.

Ensuring south Auckland children get the best start in life has been a priority since TSI’s inception. Aimee spearheaded our partnership with the Next Foundation and scaling our work and insights on tamariki wellbeing.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to be awarded a prestigious Harkness Fellowship – it really is a dream come true,” adds Aimee, who will also be accompanied by her family during the fellowship.

General Manager of TSI, Tania Pouwhare, says, “We’re really proud of Aimee. This is a much deserved acknowledgement of the excellence of her work and TSI’s deep expertise in what it’s going to take to short circuit persistent inequality, and the public administration reform that’s needed to do that. What Aimee brings back from the acclaimed Harvard Center on the Developing Child will only deepen this”.

Over the last 60 years, the Harkness Fellowships programme has enabled mid-career professionals who aspire to significant leadership roles within New Zealand, particularly in the public sector, to benefit from new ideas, practices and contacts in the United States.

The Fellowship programme has supported over 120 talented people to pursue study and research programmes, and many have gone on to become leaders in their profession making outstanding contributions to science and technology, health care and education, economics and public sector leadership.

Aimee joins a fellowship whose alumni include scientist Professor Sir Richard Faull, former Director General of Health Dr Karen Poutasi, businessman Sir Hugh Fletcher and TSI’s former executive leader when it was first established, Dr Roger Blakeley.

 Ka mau te wehi, Aimee!

 You can learn more about Aimee in her bio.