Last week, as the sun was going down on a Wednesday evening, 70 rangatahi from across Aotearoa gathered virtually to begin a five-month journey of imagining the future together as part of the Mō Āpōpō Future Leaders Programme.
The rangatahi, aged 12-25 represent regional, local, national and kaupapa-based youth councils from across Aotearoa. In each session they will learn practical tools to help them weave their unique voices together to create collective solutions to the challenges ahead.
Mō Āpōpō is an initiative of Tokona te Raki, an Ōtautahi based indigenous social innovation lab with a focus on designing workable solutions for complex problems.
Reflecting on the first session, Programme lead, Amy Knudsen says, “I’m so excited about the potential that was in the virtual room with us. We want to help young people feel hopeful and see the future as something that they can share in creating. And you could feel that beginning to come alive.”
The highly energised and passionate group were very quick to demonstrate their commitment to collectively addressing the challenges they care about. When asked ‘what could you do this week to start creating a better future’, the ideas were flowing, including: carpooling to sports practices, creating a resource to improve awareness about young people in care, or teaching kapa haka to a local primary school.
Over the next 20 weeks, these rangatahi will choose future challenges to focus on, practice deep listening, identify external forces impacting their challenge, imagine solutions, and finally launch their plan of action. We are looking forward to seeing where the journey takes them both in the short and long-term.
Last week, as the sun was going down on a Wednesday evening, 70 rangatahi from across Aotearoa gathered virtually to begin a five-month journey of imagining the future together as part of the Mō Āpōpō Future Leaders Programme.
The rangatahi, aged 12-25 represent regional, local, national and kaupapa-based youth councils from across Aotearoa. In each session they will learn practical tools to help them weave their unique voices together to create collective solutions to the challenges ahead.
Mō Āpōpō is an initiative of Tokona te Raki, an Ōtautahi based indigenous social innovation lab with a focus on designing workable solutions for complex problems.
Reflecting on the first session, Programme lead, Amy Knudsen says, “I’m so excited about the potential that was in the virtual room with us. We want to help young people feel hopeful and see the future as something that they can share in creating. And you could feel that beginning to come alive.”
The highly energised and passionate group were very quick to demonstrate their commitment to collectively addressing the challenges they care about. When asked ‘what could you do this week to start creating a better future’, the ideas were flowing, including: carpooling to sports practices, creating a resource to improve awareness about young people in care, or teaching kapa haka to a local primary school.
Over the next 20 weeks, these rangatahi will choose future challenges to focus on, practice deep listening, identify external forces impacting their challenge, imagine solutions, and finally launch their plan of action. We are looking forward to seeing where the journey takes them both in the short and long-term.
