Kaha Create is built on the foundation of contributing to the mātauranga (knowledge) continuum while balancing the application of that knowledge with its safety and integrity.
Many Māori Data Sovereignty principles are universally useful for data, not just those from Māori.
Our Data Sovereignty statement is therefore not exclusively for Māori data, but for all data shared on our platform in the form of knowledge and learning. Due to our history in Aotearoa and the very real impacts of policies which harmed Mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and practices, extra care is taken when it comes to protecting and empowering Māori knowledge holders, organisations, and communities.
This statement outlines how Kaha Create treats all data by applying our own, Māori values and approaches to data and knowledge, ensuring that knowledge shared through the platform is protected, valued, and used to benefit communities and knowledge holders.
We hold the foundational belief that the best use of knowledge is action and that the world, society, and people are best served when lessons learned are shared in a way that can be applied. That's why we built Kaha Create. It is important to note that Māori Data Sovereignty is an element of Māori Sovereignty, not the be all and end all. There are trade-offs we've needed to make in order to carry out the ultimate purpose of Kaha Create (the wellbeing and survival of Māori as a people, and the wellbeing and survival of people through the wellbeing of kaupapa and knowledge). As a platform born from decades of lived experience working towards the overall wellbeing and aspirations of Māori and communities with complex challenges that require complex solutions, balancing how we treat data, and how we empower those communities (and the organisations that support them) to achieve wellbeing is something we've spent a lot of time on. So, apologies in advance for the length of this - like William Cowper said:
I had not time to make it shorter.
For Kaha Create, Māori Data Sovereignty is about ensuring that data about and from Māori is controlled and used by Māori to make decisions that serve Māori interests and aspirations. This principle underpins the entire purpose of Kaha Create, providing a safe, culturally aligned space for knowledge sharing that promotes present and intergenerational wellbeing. It is also an example of a universally applicable principle not limited to Māori ie. your data should be able to be used by you, to make decisions that benefit you. Knowledge from your collective (Māori or otherwise, should be able to be used by your collective, to benefit your collective). This might sound obvious but in a world where data has been commoditised and is the main source of income for entire industries, this is often not the case, and rarely prioritised.
Rather than relying on platforms like Meta, Instagram, YouTube, or Loom, which neither reflect nor contribute intentionally to Māori wellbeing, Kaha Create is designed to benefit across the time continuum - both immediately through the knowledge being applied, and into the future as funding streams are created for those sharers of knowledge, modern collectives, and rōpu toku iho (traditional groupings such as iwi and hapū). It nurtures the Māori ecosystem, aligns with mātāpono Māori (Māori values), and prioritises the development of rangatahi and wider Māori communities.
Kaha Create ensures that all knowledge holders have full authority over their data. Users choose whether their knowledge is shared internally, externally, or kept private. They determine how reciprocity occurs - whether as a koha, a repayment model, or a set fee and can control access through password protection, restricted invitations, or open access.
This is a foundational purpose of Kaha Create and requires removing our reliance on international knowledge sharing platforms like Social Media, Youtube, Vimeo etc. where we have little to no control over who sees what we've decided to share, nor any influence on the reciprocity of that knowledge sharing relationship. These platforms are fundamentally profit-driven, and the decisions they make when it comes to data are influenced accordingly. While we still have some reliance on external services (shown in our technology document) in order to do this, we hope to contribute to the aspirations and inspiration of others who will build some of those technology services here in Aotearoa. Wherever possible and feasible, we will utilise those and reduce our reliance on overseas based services. Our ability to do this will change over time as we mature technologically and commercially. When we do rely on services abroad, we ensure the closest value-alignment, the services that deliver best on our aspirations, and of course, what we can afford.
Built into the design of the platform is the ability for sharers of knowledge to choose where to host their data. In terms of regions, this is currently limited to options within the AWS ecosystem, including the upcoming option for your data to be held in Aotearoa later in 2025. This is a decision to be made by the holders of that mātauranga. This can be a complex decision, so we have built guidance into the platform, explaining some of the trade-offs and benefits, including longer term Tino Rangatiratanga building and environmental impacts of data centres housed in Aotearoa. As the electricity and water consumption of AI data centres is significant, and a rapidly changing space, we will adapt our tikanga and education as this evolves.
Creators choose who has access to their mātauranga. Some data and knowledge is open access or noa, other kōrero are tapu and restricted to access by invite only.
Traditional Knowledge tagging further enhances these access controls by automatically applying culturally appropriate restrictions at the metadata level, ensuring knowledge is shared according to its proper protocols and community guidelines.*
None of the data entrusted to the platform is used for any purposes other than the sharing of that knowledge, in the forms and to the audiences, determined by the holder of that knowledge. We will not sell or reuse anything you have entrusted to the platform unless you have asked us to. (In this context, selling means you a fee to the learner in reciprocation for the knowledge you are sharing with them).
Whenever possible, we use Māori hosted and owned services, eg. Te Hiku Media and Kaituhi Transcription. This isn't always possible, and for some of the process of shaping your data into a usable tool, we need to use services that don't currently have Aotearoa hosted options (eg. AI by Anthropic).
Creators can decide to utilise the benefits of AI, or not. If you want to use Kaha Create and manually create the learning resources to reduce the different whare that data travels to, you can simply toggle the AI assistance off.
Given the use of AI through Claude via Bedrock on AWS, when AI assistance is on, Kaha Create ensures that:
No data is used to train AI models.
Data is stored only in the user-designated locations.
Users are made fully aware of data storage locations and potential risks at sign-up and during knowledge sharing.
Users are made fully aware of all other locations their data travels to, how it is kept safe, and why it goes there.
Knowledge is treated as taonga (treasure) in Kaha Create, valued for the benefit it provides to people and the world. This is not only in the approach to protecting data, but also in the shaping of knowledge into a tool - ensuring it is prepared, sharpened, and maintained in order to be of most use - just like kaitiaki of weapons and tools are required to do. We are driven by two of the four foundations of Whakatupuranga Rua Mano (a 25-year experiment in iwi development by Ngāti Toa Rangatira, Te Āti Awa and Ngāti Raukawa in this sense:
The people are the wealth - develop and retain them, and
Self determination (advance our aspirations)
These form the underlying purpose of Kaha Create, shaping knowledge into practical tools that can be used to develop people, kaupapa, and our aspirations.
Preparation and Presentation: Tools are provided to help knowledge holders articulate and present their knowledge with care, ensuring it is appreciated, useful, and impactful.
Valuation and Reciprocity: Knowledge holders guide how reciprocation takes place, their knowledge, their tikanga. This may be a determined financial reciprocation, koha, redistribution for impact, proof-of-use, or something else.
Honouring Whakapapa: The origins of the data must be considered and articulated by the person sharing their knowledge. Revenue-sharing feature allowing creators to share benefits with contributors to the knowledge they're sharing, such as kaiako or kaumatua, ensuring that the whakapapa of knowledge is respected*
Traditional Knowledge Attribution: We are building Traditional Knowledge tags at a metadata level to ensure proper attribution and, where appropriate, community or iwi level restrictions are automatically applied. This ensures mātauranga is protected according to its whakapapa and cultural protocols, with appropriate access controls built into the platform itself.*
Access and Ownership: Knowledge holders control who accesses their taonga. Future beneficiaries can be designated to inherit ownership* and control over shared content.
AI Integrity: Knowledge processed by AI is not used for model training and remains strictly within user-controlled boundaries.
Importantly, taonga are available to be made use of. The purpose of Kaha Create is to make it easier to share important taonga with those who should have access to it.
AI services like Claude AI and OpenAI are subject to US law regardless of data location - as is data held in a data centre owned by a US company. This is a risk of any service we use, where the data is not held in Aotearoa, eg. Facebook, Instagram, Google Docs, email etc. Whenever we build something there are tradeoffs. We live in a world of distributed services and don't have our own, Māori-owned versions of services we need, so the option is sometimes to not use them, or be comfortable in the understood risk. Could the US government demand access to your data if it had reason (eg. you were breaking the law)? Yes, and it could do the same with nearly anything you've typed on your phone, or into anything on your computer that isn't owned (and completely hosted) in Aotearoa. The most practical question is, how likely is that to happen? Why would it happen? The next question is what can we do to protect the data if that were to happen (and should we).
We've discussed this topic in depth with our providers and are comfortable in their approach (remembering that the safety and integrity of data is the product that these customers sell, so to compromise that, would be to lose their ability to gain customers). To date (30/07/2025) AWS (where our data is held) has not been compelled by Government or Law to hand over data from their data centres.
Your data is all encrypted so if the rationale for AWS sharing your data with (for example), the FBI was sufficient to warrant your data being the first such request that AWS has been compelled to act on, it's very unlikely they would be able to read it.
Again, the real question is would they do that and why?
If you think there is a high chance of the US Government taking AWS to court in order to obtain the data you intend to record in your video, please let us know first.
Reciprocity is embedded throughout Kaha Create. Users determine how their knowledge is valued and how reciprocation occurs. The platform ensures ethical sharing through:
Consent Mechanisms: Users must confirm they have permission to share knowledge.
Controlled Access: Knowledge holders define who accesses their knowledge and how it is used.
Reuse and Scaling: Iwi, kaupapa-led, and non-profit organisations can create reusable resources that scale their impact and drive funding or revenue streams.
We also believe it is our role as the hosts of your knowledge sharing work, to share what we know about data and some of the concepts of Māori Data Sovereignty, just like when you visit a marae, sometimes the manaakitanga there means you'll receive stories from the haukainga and the learnings contained within.
We do this by pointing out what we think is important as you think about how your knowledge is shared.
Kaha Create provides priority access for kaupapa-led and non-profit organisations and koha-based options for payment whenever possible, often supporting them through personalised onboarding and intensive support as part of our commitment to equity, and our lived experience of working in kaupapa and organisations without the resources to learn and use new technology.
Enterprise licenses contribute specifically to rangatahi training and employment pathways powered by the platform.
Commercial activity on the platform creates our ability to do this. By design, any commercial success of the platform generates collective success for Māori and our communities.
All data and all knowledge, comes from somewhere - acknowledging this is important, as is acknowledging why it was collected.
That's built into the creation of any resource you build on Kaha Create. You must specify where the knowledge came from, and we show you exactly where it goes, both in terms of learners who access it, and also the data itself, where it travels to for the purpose of creating your taonga, and why.
Traditional Knowledge tags work alongside this transparency, automatically encoding attribution and access protocols into the platform's metadata, ensuring the whakapapa of knowledge is preserved and honoured throughout its journey on the platform.*
We will give the sharers of knowledge the option to automate a check-in with those who have accessed their mātauranga, and ask how that knowledge was applied. This is an important part of both ensuring the knowledge is being used for the reasons it was intended, and also a means to help those sharing their knowledge, understand their impact.*
Kaha Create's long-term commitment is grounded in its enduring values and tīkanga, which form the foundation of all decision-making. These values focus on contributing to the Aotearoa and Māori technology ecosystems, and ensuring that data sovereignty and leadership development remain a priority.
By virtue of existing as a Māori owned and led data-based platform, Kaha Create contributes to the Māori Data Sovereignty cause. We care deeply about whānau, hapū, iwi, and people success and believe the more examples of locally, home grown solutions that are commercially viable, the more likely others are to find success for their collectives too. This is true both in Aotearoa and overseas for our indigenous brothers and sisters in particular.
Māori Data Governance and Māori Data Sovereignty are not the same thing, we govern and make decisions about our data using an advisory group of experts and leaders, including Māori members from multiple iwi, guides our decision-making. This framework ensures that ethical dilemmas are addressed in alignment with kaupapa Māori values.
*Currently planned
