Monthly Archive for March, 2009

February

Wow!  Is it that time already?  I started at Challenge 2000 on 9th February, and the month has just flown by.

I arrived armed with a cunning plan for my WOD year, but it became clear quite quickly that it will be very easy for me to be distracted by the day to day activities of such an energetic and diverse organisation.  I am definitely going to need to master the art of planning and time management.  My first task was to buy a big diary to write everything down.  So far so good!

The main focus of my first month has been getting to grips with what is going on at Challenge, who the staff are, and what training needs exist.  I have done this by just turning up and getting involved in the day to day operations at Challenge.  This has included running an afternoon programme for the students at our alternative education programme, supporting GAP year trainee youth workers to find their feet, interviewing young people and volunteers, and supporting and supervising staff.  I have also had the amazing opportunity to meet up with a few people from Vodafone to discuss ways that they can support Challenge 2000 this year.  One of the highlights of this month has been working alongside the enthusiastic and dedicated team of staff and volunteers.

I have made a little progress on researching mentoring programmes, making contact with other agencies in the community, and developing a training plan, but these are definitely some of my key goals for the next month.   Although progress towards my programme goals has been quite slow (and has perhaps seemed a little unexciting in contrast to being involved in the activities and programmes taking place around me).  The benefit of the background work, to the staff and young people involved with Challenge 2000, will show up a bit further down the track. Each week I have spent a bit of time reflecting on what I am learning and fitting this into the bigger picture for the year.  Its really been a time for taking in information and generating ideas, but hopefully over the next month or two I should be able to get some more solid plans in place.

2009 marks Challenge 2000’s 21st birthday.  During February, we had an initial planning meeting to brainstorm ideas for the birthday year.  A few events are going to take place throughout the year, culminating in a big event in October/November.  Watch this space for more info on exciting and fun-filled events taking place in this neck of the woods!

And we’re off… with memories of my track days I am feeling like the pace setter of an 800m race. Not that I ever ventured out to this distance but as it looked quick, technical, and tactical, I can’t help but think how it resembles the start to my World of Difference year.

With a reconnaissance trip to Japan I have had a powerful start to make this the best race (working year) of my life. My ticket to Japan was through been selected to partake in their Young Core Leaders of a Civil Society Development Program. Here I was part of the New Zealand delegation to be linked with delegates from Japan, the U.K and Germany who work in the fields of disability, youth and aged. My objective for the trip was two way. One to look into Japans Not-for-profit sector, and two, to look into their disability sector; what services were available, what changes they could make, where they aspired to be, and what the quality of life was like in Japan for people living with disabilities. Through discussion and site-visits the four countries involved spoke of our similarities, experiences and challenges to arrive at conclusions that could equip us with the intellectual resources to take our projects / organisations forward. Japan provided me with the opportunity to learn, teach, network and be further inspired through forming meaningful relationships with a group of individuals who live for a purpose beyond themselves yet at the same time are living life to the max!

A focus to one of the presentations I was asked to give in Japan was ‘the creation of a meaningful life’ and the conclusions related to the vision of the Carabiner mentoring program. A meaningful life is; creating opportunities for community participation, access to equality (community, education, sport & Recreation, leisure), acknowledging the ability to rise above the disability, creation of meaningful relationships (family & friends), to have ambition. For Carabiner to contribute towards a world of difference, it is these qualities that both mentors and mentorees need to and will experiance.

As a new initiative a key objective for me is to raise Carabiners profile to ensure we have the input of personal to make it sustainable. With a marketing plan now in place and increasing opportunities to speak to relevant groups about Carabiner, I’m already noticing an influx of inquiries and applications. Our most recent match has been between an aspiring journalist and experienced journalist, who together have written their development plan for the coming year and are in the process of building the foundations of their empowering relationship.

I am still in awe of the support I have got from the Vodafone foundation in the pursuit of contributing towards a world of difference. The brand recognition that comes from the association with Vodafone is already proving encouraging to the people I approach as well as myself.

I am excited to be spreading the message “dream it, believe it, achieve it”.