Rangatahi-led, Values Based Leadership

Self-determination through values-based-leadership. 

Our rangatahi can already build healthy futures for themselves and their peers. We just help them get there quicker.

Ma te whakarongo, ka mōhio; ma te mōhio; ka marama; ma te marama, ka mātau, ma te mātau ka ora.  

Through listening, comes knowledge; through knowledge, comes understanding; through understanding, comes wisdom; through wisdom, comes wellbeing.

Our primary purpose

Shoebox Christmas exists to let our tamariki know the community has their back. We connect with local schools, kura kauapapa Māori, kindergartens, kōhanga reo, and community organisations like Women’s Refuge centres to deliver manaaki in the form of Christmas gifts for tamariki. 

We do this because the more positive experiences our tamariki receive, the more likely they are to make positive decisions in the future. We work with everyday whānau in the community who then put together safely personalised Christmas gifts for these tamariki.

Koirā te aronga mātua o te kauapapa. This is the primary purpose of the project. 

But we can do more

Personal leadership, kaupapa (project) leadership, resilience, and transferrable skills for our rangatahi (young people).

In 2021, to meet the increased need in the community, and to start making the upstream difference we believe we can, we piloted a secondary kaupapa at Te Rūnanga o Toa Rangatira in Porirua. We tested the idea of powering up rangatahi to lead Shoebox Christmas. 

The concept worked so in 2022 we refined the concept and kaupapa further.

That year, we coached 8 rangatahi from Kaikohe, Ōpōtiki, Pukerua Bay, Waikato, Taranaki, and Manawatū with the skills needed to run their own Shoebox Christmas projects in their region. We coached and mentored these rangatahi leaders through the process of them leading the project. The goal was to remind our rangatahi of the potential they already have by giving them a safe space to apply leadership and transferrable skills in a proven, community-outcomes-focused kaupapa.

We held regular wānanga (workshops) on key leadership skills needed for the running of the project and then stood beside the rangatahi as they applied those skills in real-time on the project, leading it in their way. Eg. after our wānanga and workshop on effective communication - difficult conversations, the rangatahi leaders then applied that learning by replying to trickier emails or social media posts from gifters or the community.

In 2023, we're working on making this programme NCEA accrediable. Our tuakana or big sister/brother rangatahi will coach other rangatahi in a Tuakana-Teina framework, including delivery through schools.

What rangatahi told us about our programme

Values Based Leadership modules

In 2022 we worked through all the main skills we thought contributed to running a successful kaupapa like Shoebox Christmas. At the end of the year, the rangatahi taking part decided on which of those were most important to the project, and valuable in other contexts (transferrable). This is what guided the learning modules we're refining for delivery now.

How it works

We're using an online learning platform and a hybrid model of self-paced learning with online and face to face support, to ensure we can deliver these learning outcomes at scale.

We hold fortnightly wānanga or group discussions, and alternate fortnightly 1:1 coaching sessions as needed, delivered by our rangatahi leaders who have been through these modules and the process of leading their own Shoebox Christmas projects.

Each fortnightly wānanga on the above modules and skills are lined up with a particular phase of the project being led by the rangatahi, for application and embedding of learning. The online wānanga are attended by rangatahi across the country leading these projects, creating shared learnings, collective leadership, and peer relationships. 

When the project is finished, the kāhui (collective) will have the opportunity to stay connected including further help translating the skills learned into relevant job interviews and CVs from the kāhui itself and mentors as well as stepping into tuakana or coach roles and helping other rangatahi in the next cohort.

Pera

Thank you to Māui Studios for the beautiful images