IMPACT update
New Beginnings
It's been a positive start to the new year for the Impact project with the good news that we have secured funding from the Ministry of Youth Development for another year. This is good news indeed and means we can roll out the programme until July 2021.
The Impact team is now Erin and Peter (see Peter's bio below), who are working with three schools this term: Omata, Egmont Village, and St Patrick's in Inglewood. The groups are in their fourth week of the programme and have just selected the positive impact project that they will work on for the rest of the term.
The Omata school Impact group has chosen to do a makeover of their existing orchard and garden; Egmont village school have selected to make a nature trail and put up birdhouses, and St Patrick's school in Inglewood have decided on building an upcycled outdoor classroom.
We'll keep you posted on how they all turn out!
About the Impact Project
Sustainable Taranaki has been running the Impact project for nearly four and a half years and has touched the lives of approximately 350 young people around Taranaki schools, raising environmental awareness and helping in the development of youth-led environmental projects all around the district.
The project is funded by the Ministry for youth development with the aim of increasing youth resilience and leadership ability with a particular emphasis on those from disadvantaged or challenging backgrounds. Sustainable Taranaki uses the environmental issues we are facing as the focus for developing positive responses.
The project was initiated by Peter Heard and Jo Weise, and has gone through a series of developments to its current form. It is currently facilitated by Erin Strampel, who has been involved for the years, and Peter Calkin, who took over from Laine Phillips last year.
At present, the programme runs for a full term and works with groups of around 8-12 students from year 8 and above, visiting three or four schools each term.
The students are given an overview of the current status of the environment and then shown a series of youth-led initiatives from New Zealand and around the world that have made positive impacts.
The group discusses and selects a project that will benefit the environment and give back to their community, then goes through the process of outlining and planning it before seeking permission from teaching staff.
A major focus of the project is team building and developing positive relationships in the group. This is achieved through engaging cooperative games and challenges where students are led to identify their individual strengths and understand the practices necessary for teams to function well.
Previous projects have included worm farms, rainwater harvesting systems, school gardens, orchards, upcycled outdoor furniture, beach cleanups, environmental murals, river water-quality monitoring, videos, and songwriting.
