Kia Ora!
Over 2009 and 2010, Save the Children NZ is doing some research throughout Aotearoa NZ on the Conventions of the Rights of the Child and young people’s opinions about how well the NZ Government has followed this.
Visit our website to find out more: www.a12aotearoa.ning.com (you will need to create an account but this is just for your protection; the site is moderated so no one can bully or put down others).
We will be travelling the country, doing digital stories with groups of young people, surveys in some primary schools and an online survey with young people over 16. Most of the groups are with young people that often don’t get a voice (refugees, young mums, those that have been in the justice system etc) but we are also doing six with groups of interest).
If you are interested, email Dr Fi at fiona@globalfocus.org.nz. If you are a young person over 16 and would like to take the survey then
Click Here to take the 2009-2010 UNCRC Survey
warm regards
Dr Fi
I recently spent a year working in a youth centre in Port Vila, Vanuatu for out of school youth. In Vanuatu most young people finish school before they reach secondary level as there is no government funding for public schools and the school fees push a huge number of them out of the formal education sector. This means throughout Vanuatu there is a generation of young people cheated of a formal education who are looking to fill the gap. Some are lucky and get to enroll in Rural Training Centres, where they learn things such as building or mechanics. Others get a job working on a copra boat. Some return to their villages and work in the family garden, maybe starting their own patch of kava, or yam for sale. But for those who have joined the urban drift, and are living in Port Vila, the choices are somewhat limited. As with most capital cities, the cost of living in Port Vila is high, food and transport are expensive, education and training courses have high fees and most young people are living within a large extended family with a vast list of chores.
her mind “This isn’t a workshop! I’m wasting my time!” Nevertheless she stayed, and despite not getting a certificate for spending two hours with a literacy teacher she feels like she learnt something important during that time. The question I was left asking myself was, are the youth centres putting emphasis on the wrong thing? What is more important, actual learning or a certificate that says you have learnt something?’ Is it worth providing so many lunches and bus fares, for young tutors to come and learn just a fraction of what is needed to become an effective teacher?
opportunities, in the disguise of workshops on lifeskills.
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) came into effect, devastating small producers and workers with policies that allow cheaper, heavily subsidised US and Canadian goods to flood into the Mexican market. 
On the same day, 3000 members of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) seized six towns and hundreds of ranches in the Southern state of Chiapas, Mexico as an action of resistance against the imposition of neoliberal policies that favour already powerful multinational corporations. For two weeks, the state of Chiapas resounded with the chant “’¡Ya Basta! Enough is enough!” as the people called for an end to five centuries of indigenous repression and exploitation and of the encroaching globalisation of corporate hegemony and cultural homogenisation. The Mexican army responded with bombs and bullets, killing at least 145 indigenous people. Mexican civil society responded with massive demonstrations across the country calling for an end to the military repression, and a ceasefire was called on the 12th of January.
Indeed, the leaders of the movement famously mask their faces with balaclavas or bandanas to symbolise their anonymity and equality with the suffering indigenous, peasants and workers. The movement has organised countless consultations and meetings at community, national and international levels, but always prioritising the voice of the people. As a result, they have established strong, autonomous communities with health clinics, schools and cooperatives producing various goods as deemed suitable for the communities by the communities. A dynamic form of government, (el Buen Gobierno, the good government) modelled on traditional indigenous frameworks, has been established, where leaders are seen as servants of the people and extensive community involvement occurs.
Between August and October 2005 a group of dedicated students from Athena Montessori College in Wellington started investigating poverty with the Global Education Centre. What is poverty? Is it even a problem in Aotearoa New Zealand? What has it got to do with us? What can we do about it? As the questions started flowing, the answers followed, and the need to do something fun and interesting that would also make a positive difference started to grow.
After researching how other muralists (such as Diego Rivera) got their point across, and carefully considering the message they wanted to portray, the group got to work.
Globalisation’s winners and losers
Due to our generation’s obsession with Von Dutch and Stussy, certain parenting magazines (check out