Community Happenings
GEC would like to welcome Jennie O’Donovan to the Community Youth Programme. Jennie will be covering for Kim Cuthbert who has gone on Maternity leave for a year.
Jennie is responsible for coordinating the Just Focus website, supporting young writers, overseeing contributions to Jet and Tearaway magazines and running training for young people involved in Just Focus. She would love to hear from any budding writers, photographers or researchers who would like to get active in this side of the project! Email - Jennie if you think any young people you work with would like to get involved.
"Kia ora all,
I'm very pleased to have joined the team here at GEC. I've just returning from a few years in the UK, the last of which was spent completely absorbed in the world of development and global education working for the Development Education Association in London. I am really pleased to be back in Aotearoa and very excited about Just Focus and the year ahead. "
- Jennie
Also check out other things to do with the Community team:
Welcome back from the Schools Team
Welcome back to school! This term our ever-talented and productive team has some great new resources for your delectation.
The latest edition of Global Issues magazine is now online, and many of you would have received a copy of it in the post. In this edition we joined with Oxfam to take a close look at Water and the ways in which it’s an integral part of life everywhere on the planet. Also coming up very soon is a special edition of Global Issues which will look at indigenous perspectives on water worldwide. Versions will be published in te reo Māori and English, and will be available further into Term 1. In Term 2 keep an eye out for the edition of Global Issues which will join Amnesty International to take a look at Human Rights worldwide. Order copies of Global Issues here.
We are also pleased to offer you the completely new Sustainability in Aotearoa New Zealand and the World resource. The resource pack includes three documentaries about sustainable development in New Zealand; and is excellent for covering issues like how climate change and water management can affect the way we do things. It also has examples of sustainable development from around the world, and includes a trial NCEA Internal Assessment written for Geography 3.7, covering the topic of climate change.
The new edition of our Tropical Rainforests resource kit is a whopping 40 pages of information and activities, and comes with a CD of six powerpoint presentations. At more than twice the size of the previous edition and filled with plentiful up-to-date information and statistics, it is a great purchase for social studies and geography teachers.
Don’t forget to checkout www.goglobal.org.nz for more resources on global and development issues for both community groups and the classroom.
In other exciting news, your friendly Global Issues writer, Pania, is going on parental leave in March as she is having a baby. Happily, Noa Noa has joined the Global Education Centre team and will be taking over the reins until Pania’s return in 2008. A very warm haere mai and kia ora to Noa Noa.
Have a great term!
From the Schools team
Pania Walton, Cindy Munn & Rachel Tallon
Schools Programme
Just Focus
Staff changes aside, the Just Focus team is buzzing with new ideas and projects. We did a mailout to all school representatives at the beginning of term, so we are looking forward to lots of new members too! The main focus of the first few months is Media that Matters.
Wellington - After organising the first Media that Matters Aotearoa, the Wellington regional group will start meeting regularly for workshops, informal discussions and to organise more fun events.
Christchurch - The Christchurch group is growing with the support of Chancey MacDonald from the Disarmament and Security Centre in Christchurch. The group is getting together regularly, most recently for a screenprinting workshop and to look at films for Christchurch’s own MEDIA THAT MATTERS event. For more information, email Chancey.
ON THE JUST FOCUS WEBSITE
Things were pretty quiet over the summer, but the website is starting to look more lively with lots of interesting discussion going on in the forum and some new articles posted.
In her article The Confusion Between Sexuality and Liberation Nicole Mathewson looks at the concept of “Sex-positive feminism,” the idea that sexual freedom is an essential part of women’s freedom. However she points out that while the movement may have started off to create sexual equality it is now leading to women being exploited through a false sense of sexual liberation.
For all people, language forms an important part of culture, and plays a crucial role in daily life as a means of effective communication. Pip Bennett looks at the decline and revitalisation of the Māori Language.
Elisabeth Perham asks why people are boycotting and protesting against one of the worlds most recognisable brands? Whats up with Coke?
In the Creative Corner Just Focus Forum Member Fairy Priest shares some thoughts about the Information Age.
Seaweek- Professional Development for Teachers
The Global Education Centre is running a professional development evening for teachers during Seaweek. The topic is “Oceans: What are they good for?” and will include presentations by Phil Sutton from NIWA on the effect of climate change on our oceans; and by Hiria McRae from Te Kura Māori at Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Education on “Mātauranga Taiao - A Māori perspective on Education for Sustainability”. The evening will also include practical, curriculum-linked teaching ideas, and comprehensive resource packs for teachers (including lesson plans, useful publications, and stacks of relevant information). Tea, coffee, and tasty nibbles provided!
When: Thursday 8th March, 4:30-6pm
Where: Centre for Global Action meeting rooms, 2nd floor James Smiths Building, Cnr Cuba and Manners Sts Wellington
Cost: $15 each
For further information email Pania or call her on (04) 496-9593.
Media that Matters Aotearoa
MTM Aotearoa showcases a collection of short films, many produced by young people, on issues ranging from identity to global warming. The films, usually only a few minutes long, are diverse in style and content, and include documentaries, music videos and animation.
“MTM gives young people a chance to engage in a different way with the media”, comments youth filmmaker, activist and event organiser, Hannah Newport, (18). “It is an opportunity to watch the kind of films that we would make ourselves, about the things we think are important.”
Event co-organiser Corinna Howland (17) sees the event as “a forum to discuss, debate and share knowledge through what is perhaps the most potent medium of our generation - film."
The MTM Aotearoa film event is connected to the US-based international year-long film festival. It has been adapted to be relevant in Aotearoa and includes NZ films. As well as the films there will be speakers, information stands with ideas for action, prizes and opportunities for discussion.
“This is not just a passive film watching opportunity, this is an event! Fun and interactive, Media that Matters Aotearoa looks at the big issues that affect our world” says Just Focus Coordinator, Eva Lawrence.
Just Focus will hold the very first screening of MTM Aotearoa in Wellington, on Thursday 15 March, from 6pm at the New Zealand Film Archive. A MTM Aotearoa event is also planned for Christchurch in May.
If you know any young people who might be interested in the event tell them to register there interest at, e: mediathatmatters@justfocus.org.nz ph: 496 9510 txt/ph: 0272893390
New Competition for Young People! The Outlook For Someday
Looking for creative projects to do with young people in 2007?
Want to make a difference?
The Global Education Centre, along with partners Connected Media Trust and Enviroschools, is proud to be part of a short film competition for young people up to the age of 20 years old.
The Outlook for Someday is an opportunity for young people to have their say on issues impacting on their local communities through the lens of sustainability.
How young people express themselves is up to them.
Entering The Outlook for Someday might be as simple as creating a photo essay, taking a video on a cell phone, filming a drama piece created by young people, interviewing local residents or leaders about issues, making an animated piece or telling a story, the list is almost endless.
Young people have the opportunity to develop new skills, work as individuals or teams and raise their profile in their schools or local community. Support will be available to young people, teachers and youth workers through partner organisations and our community facilitators who will have been trained to mentor and support young people through the process- to help them develop their ideas and connect to local resources and facilities across New Zealand.
The Global Education Centre is interested in the message, not just the vehicle. We would like to support all young people to have a say. There are a range of categories for young people of all ages and with a range of technical skills, not only those with access to camcorders and hi-tech digital editing equipment.
The winning entries will be made into a full-length documentary, which will be shown on Māori TV. TVNZ will broadcast a selection of the films on one of its new digital channels. And all entries will be made available for free viewing via streaming video (conditions in project description).
Prizes
The Outlook For Someday partners are currently negotiating a range of prizes. Actual categories and prizes will be made public before the official launch date of mid April 2007
Find out more about the project and to confirm dates contact Gino Maresca at GEC.
 |
 |
 |
New Resources
Why White Kids Like Hip Hop: Wankstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, And the New Reality of Race in America
The Global Education Centre has added this resource to its library in recognition that there is a diverse group of youth in Aotearoa NZ how come in contact with Hip Hop culture. While it’s focus is American culture, the messages are universal.
This resource explores how traditional notions of race are changing in a world made increasingly complex in the last few decades.
Can't Stop Won't Stop
Referred to as one of the essential books of Hip Hop, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop is a must read for anybody living the Hip Hop Lifestyle.
'Hip-hop is the voice of this generation. Even if you didn't grow up in the Bronx in the '70s, hip-hop is there for you. It has become a powerful force. Hip-hop binds all of these people, all of these nationalities, all over the world together."
—DJ Kool Herc, from the Introduction
Forged in the fires of the Bronx and Kingston, Jamaica, hip-hop became the Esperanto of youth rebellion and a generation-defining movement. In a post-civil rights era defined by de-industrialisation and globalization, hip-hop crystallized a multiracial, polycultural generation's worldview, and transformed American politics and culture. But that epic story has never been told like this. From the gangs of the late 60s to the icons of the new millennium, from the Ghetto Brothers and Universal Zulu Nation organizations to the hip-hop activists, Can't Stop Won't Stop presents the hip-hop generation in all its grime and glory with breadth, wit, and style.
Martin Luther King CDROM
A multi-function CD ROM uses the life of Martin Luther King for the study of human rights, prejudice and peaceful responses to conflict. It includes audio and video clips and text documents to support five lessons of activities for discussion, letter-writing, role play, drama, design and imagination. Notes are provided for each lesson, along with suggestions for further work.
Global Focus update
The last few months have been both busy and productive for the Global Focus team. In late November, Maria and Terence went down to the 2006 DevNet Conference held at Otago University. In January, issue 8 of Global Focus’s magazine Just Change was released. The issue dealt with the complex and controversial topic of ‘Governing the Commons’ and, not only was it the first ever Just Change produced entirely in colour, but it was packed full of informative articles.
As is always the case over this time of year the library has been fairly quiet but that hasn’t stopped the librarians from acquiring some excellent new resources including: Al Gore’s climate change documentary, ‘the Inconvenient Truth’; ‘Drowned Out’, a powerful expose of the true cost of large dams; and ‘the Silent Forest’, David Suzuki’s through-provoking look into the threats posed by genetically modified trees.
On the staff side of things Global Focus very regretfully said goodbye to Eli Chisholm, but also were happy to welcome Alia Levine back to the team.
DRC's New Strategic Plan
DRC has recently approved the new Strategic Plan for the 2007-2011 period. Led by the DRC Policy Committee, the plan reflects the collaborative efforts of both the board and staff and includes input from our key stakeholders.
The new plan reflects our recognition that:
- the creation of a just world starts from within our organisation
- developing working relationships with tangata whenua and other organisations will help us achieve our vision and mission
- we need to build a wider profile for the work that we do
- we need to monitor and evaluate how effective we are in informing and educating people to take action to create a just world
The Strategic Plan will be available from April 2007.
Global Education Fund
Next application round closes 31 March
The Global Education Fund (GEF) provides funding for small projects to develop awareness and understanding of global perspectives among New Zealanders, and to encourage them to become responsible global citizens. Projects must be educational. Grants are between $2,000 and $15,000 (ex GST).
GEF is a contestable pool of money allocated through New Zealand's International Aid & Development agency, NZAID Nga Hoe Tuputupu-mai-tawhiti and administered by the Development Resource Centre.
There are two funding rounds per year. The next closing date for applications is 31 March.
For more information on who is eligible and how to apply, go to: www.globaleducationfund.org.nz
