How Project Aitutaki became an initiative,,, Click here to watch.
WHY?
During a visit to the Island of Aituaki in 2015, we met with local village elders, the Mayor, church leaders and the principal of the only high school. They were all in unanimous agreement that the island's youth were in need of leadership training, to help them contribute to their community and give them the skills needed to succeed if they chose to travel and work abroad. Being a smaller island of the Cook Islands meant they often missed out on training and development initiatives that the main island of Rarotonga receive.
Seeing the Boys Brigade conduct a parade on a beautiful Sunday morning after church, we were invited to lunch by the church minister, who was very excited to have us come back with our team to run our leadership courses. They realised that our military background, military based leadership framework and experience with youth development were a perfect match to what would work with their young people.
HOW?
We have managed to secure sponsorship from Air Rarotonga for our team's internal flights within the Cook islands, which is a great start, and we thank them for their generosity. However we need a bit more support to make this project a reality and keep the costs down for all parties, especially the local community. Equipment, student resources, and travel costs are what you'll be helping with to make this project a go!
WHAT?
Our mission at Future Leaders NZ is to - Make our world a great place to live. One of the ways we do this is by developing people. Already working in the youth sector and having an effective leadership training program, we knew that we could make a difference to the young people of Aitutaki. We plan to run a number of leadership development courses over a 10 day period for 60 youth on the island in February 2017. We will ensure that all participants have a firm understanding of team leadership and have had a chance to lead a team using effective functional leadership methods.
Youth students will have achieved the following learnings and outcomes their leadership training:
- Unique and effective problem solving and decision making tools
- Opportunity to lead a team in a practical learning scenario
- Prepared to participate in advanced leadership training
- Be able to effectively lead a team in multiple environments
- Be more confident and better communicators
- Understand leadership principles and theories
- Certification by Future Leaders upon program completion
Are you willing to help develop the youth of Aitutaki with tax deductible support?
Jethro Gilbert: Future Leaders - Chief Instructor
Meitaki
