Each year the National Commission sponsors projects that align with its mission through its UNESCO Contestable Activity Fund (UCAF). Below are the latest recipients.
Organisation: The Climate Challenge
Project: Climate Challenge Conferences
The Climate Challenge is a development programme for youth leaders, change-makers and innovators. The organisers will hold three youth conferences in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Their main objective is to educate young people about the issues they face and empower them to become leaders in their community. The events also aim to connect young people with a like-minded community of diverse peers and help them become active in their communities. Part of the funding will be used to develop resources and explore opportunities to deliver programmes in schools. There will be a focus on engaging young people living in rural areas.
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Organisation: New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) in collaboration with Gamefroot
Project: Telling place-based stories through youth-designed games for Tuia 250 commemorations
NZCER and Gamefroot will develop and implement a programme to support youth to develop digital games as a method of sharing local knowledge. The initiative is linked to the themes of Tuia Encounters 250, a national commemoration that will acknowledge the exceptional feats of Pacific voyagers who reached and settled in Aotearoa. Through the game-designing process, rangatahi will engage with their own culture and heritage, and learn how to become creators, designers, storytellers, and kaitiaki of their own stories, local heritage, environments and places.
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Organisation: Te Toki Voyaging Trust
Project: Te Hono Ki Hawaiki – Part One: Navigating to Norfolk
The objective of this project is to train a new generation of celestial oceanic navigators through a mātauranga Māori lens. Trainee navigators will test their navigation skills by sailing a double-hull waka from New Zealand to Norfolk Island and back. Navigating to Norfolk is the first of a three-year journey for these students. This will ultimately culminate in a pan-Pacific voyage from Aotearoa to attend the Pacific Arts Festival in Hawaii in 2020. There are 150 crew in training for this voyage – and 24 will be selected. Participants will be a mixture of men and women between 16 and 68 and will each sail aboard waka Haunui for at least 10 days. This life-changing event will require the students to live and breathe their craft as they navigate the Pacific Ocean. On Norfolk Island, the core crew will facilitate educational workshops for the trainees and local people to further develop a connection to a wider Pacific identity.
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Organisation: Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum
Project: Kaioarahuarahi Moana – Oceanic Trailblazers
Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum will organise a pan-Pacific event in Aotearoa focussing on marine conservation. The event celebrates indigenous knowledge as a force for connectivity. It aims to enhance protection of the Pacific Ocean by recognising that the cultural and biological diversity of the region are unifying characteristics. Through this lens, the project aims to illuminate shared interests, ambitions and experiences in managing significant areas of the Pacific Ocean, including Papahānaumokuākea, Hawai’i; Marianas, Palau, New Caledonia, Rangitāhua Kermadec Islands, Aotearoa, French Polynesia, Pitcairn, Rapa Nui, and Chile.
