Generate Event

We did it! We managed to pull off a successful Generate event in the form of our Peace.Poverty.Photography Awards and Exhibition night. We ended up having a few last minute issues and for a while there it was pretty stressful but the whole event went off without a hitch. Running our event reminded me how much I love the adrenaline you get on event day. It’s the perfect mix of excitement, nerves and stress. You really can’t comprehend it till you have pulled of an event. Maybe you should come get the feeling as a Generator next year! *wink wink * *nudge nudge*.

Our event aimed to raise awareness of Oaktree’s partnership with Ba Futuru in East Timor and to get young people creatively thinking about the concept of poverty and its relationship with peace. We ended up with 48 entries (most of which you can jump over and check out on our Facebook page) and 40 or so guests. It was a great night and we cannot truly thank enough those who supported us.

If you haven’t got yourself along to a Generate event yet don’t stress: the last of them are occurring over the next few weeks. To check out the fantastic events Generators have been putting on and to see what is still to come, go stalk Generate on Facebook. I have been stalking the page and have been seriously considering a personal jet or some sort of time travel machine so that I can attend them all!!

Oaktree Interview

Last time I told you all that Oaktree positions for 2012 were up on the website. I hope you all went and looked and applied. I did and guess what: I GOT ONE!!! In a few months’ time I will get to step into my very own roll as..*drum roll please*.. Queensland Generate Manager!!!  I am very excited!! Next year I will get to run this amazing program that I have been getting to tell you all about. How exciting is that!! Admittedly I am a little nervous. We have had a fantastic Generate Manager this year and stepping into his shoes is going to be challenging at first. I am not overly anxious though as I feel that Generate and my internship have prepared me for this. I can’t wait to work with the amazing Queensland team (hopefully some other fellow generators) to make 2012 a big year for Oaktree and more importantly Generate (a little biased? Potentially).

The countdown is now on to the end of Generate. Some states have even been graduating already! Up here in Queensland we have one session left and then Graduation!! I am a little bit sad about this. What am I going to do with my Tuesday nights now?  I feel that there will be Generate withdrawals even though I know I will stay in contact with all the lovely people I have met.

So savour this blog as you only get one more!! But look forward to hearing about our last generate event (90’s Party anyone?) and our Graduation. I’m going to go sob a little now and ponder my Tuesday nights without Generate.

The last day of the Global Community Forum has finally come.  And my, what a big weekend it has been. With speakers from Hugh Evans to Melissa Parke, to the Commonwealth Youth Forum Delegates, the delegates were given an amazing broad spectrum of ideas to think about and to develop into forms of action.

An NGO fair opened the last day over brunch, with delegates taking the opportunity to interact with representatives of NGOs, such as Left Right Think Tank, Murdoch and UWA Volunteer Hubs, AIESEC, Save The Children, The Global Poverty Project, The Oaktree, and Big Help Mob.

Another round of talks and workshops were then held, with topics ranging from Careers in Aid and Development to Leadership, to Corporate Engagement, to Community campaigning.

Finishing off the Forum was a pledge to action, summary of the week and an inspirational speech from WA’s Governor His Excellency Malcolm McCusker.

Words cannot explain or even try to portray the willingness to do something more, to make a change, that was present throughout these days amongst the delegates. With a whole spectrum of participants from various backgrounds and various ages, it proves that fighting poverty is universal and an area where people are most passionate about.

But none of this would have been possible if it weren’t for the amazing talents of the WA Events team.  So I’ll leave this post with a picture of the Events Team, as a silent digital thank you.

The amazing WA Events Team

If I had to describe today’s session, it would be with the following phrases: “Millenium Development Goals” and “Progress”.

Millenium Development Goals because of the focus of today’s session on the various goals, and the consequent discussions that followed as the delegates networked during lunchtime. The response to these from the delegates was positive.

The forum wasn’t all about speeches, note taking and being awestruck by inspirational speakers. There were activities – activities such as Ninja Destruction. If you haven’t heard of Ninja Destruction, then I am not sure where you have been. Ninja destruction is a group game involving hand slaps, ninja poses and full-on concentration. After a few hesitant starts, the poses got crazier, the competitiveness increased and energy was restored. Word of warning from a Ninja Destructor: it is ruthless.

Melissa Parke, Federal Member for Fremantle, came to talk to us about her life as an aid worker, and her journey from being a community lawyer to being a federal MP. Along her life journey-  from working, to Kosovo, to New York, to the Gaza strip, and finally through to Fremantle – she picked up so many tips, which she imparted to the delegates. Many people were scribbling as fast as they could to write these down. Some of these included:

1. Change is going to happen, you might as well embrace it
2. Be positive in your work
3. Get some perspective and don’t sweat the small stuff.

Next we had two delegates from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) Youth Forum talking about youth issues, the progress within democracy, diversity, and development (the values of the Commonwealth). In a four day time frame, around 130 delegates were able to agree on five key points: Youth impact and influence on decision making, environmental sustainability, health, youth enterprise and ICT, and peace building.

After such amazing speakers, the delegates let off steam with good old fashioned primary school games. Round the world basketball, egg and spoon race, and all those amazing nostalgic games you used to play when you were in Primary School and those 45 minutes at lunchtime were carefree and fun.

Let’s bring on day 3.

The afternoon session was kicked off by a debate by the delegates on various themes, including problems in preventing aid and thus the process to help alleviate poverty, and the trade off between development and the environment.

After 15 minutes, with the debate warming up towards the end, Meredith Burgmann, President of the Australian Council for International Development, talked to us about the challenges that Australian aid agencies face within Australia. One of the problems was cynical voices (including those from the Murdoch empire of media) as we progress with our aid budget.

One of her major themes was the willingness of women to participate in politics, but the fact that they are held back by the male dominance within the field. Millenium Development Goal 3 talks about Gender Equality. Often we tend to think that here in Australia there is next to no gender inequality, but to be awfully honest, gender inequality exists in every country. In the Commonwealth, 9 of the 55 countries have female leaders. The Commonwealth has pledged to increase the number of females in politics to up to 40%. This pledge was made in light of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting’s theme of “Women As Agents of Change”.

What would Oaktree be without an appearance by Hugh Evans? Co-founder of both The Oaktree Foundation and The Global Poverty Project, Hugh proceeded to talk to us about the End of Polio campaign. Anyone who has seen Hugh speak live would agree that he is one passionate, inspirational speaker. It was obvious that he loved being here in the midst of such exciting events.

The last session before delegates moved to the End of Polio concert, was a panel discussion led by Kirsten Simpkins, when the panel fielded questions on human rights and the refugee situation.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard spoke at the opening of Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, and I want to share some of her words in the hope of inspiring you all:

“Because young people are our source of hope and inspiration for the challenges of  tomorrow, the future of our world … will be shaped by you.”

So after months and months of planning, of calling, of late night shifts trying to get the program together, it has come down to today. Today is the start of a three-day forum, with many inspirational speakers from all sorts of areas. 

Samah Hadid kicked off the start of the inspirational speeches, after the official welcome by Oaktree WA State Director Kirsten Simpkins. Basing her speech on her history in social activism and her experience recently in the Middle East during the Arab Spring, Samah stressed the importance of  increasing the voices of the youth.

“Our generation have succeeded where our previous generation have failed, and we will   continue to succeed…What will make a change is young people coming together at  grass roots level to make a change.”

This is part of her speech which was, for me, very important to our fight here in Australia for social justice. Granted, there are a lot of organisations at grass roots level; our voices, however, need to be louder and stronger. We need to be stronger in the fight to form a youth Coalition and make our voices louder than those of the lobbies and interest groups, which at this particular time seem to be holding the power in our political field.

Trade and development do play a larger role in alleviating poverty, because trading allows the respective economies to grow, and long economic story short, economic growth can alleviate poverty. That was the theme of Assistant Secretary of the Africa Branch of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) Peter Heyward’s speech. He said that we need to lobby not for more aid, but good aid, especially with politicians committing for the 0.5% GDP aid level.

Yes the path is long, and there are obstacles that need to be tackled. But that shouldn’t stop us. We’ve arrived at the 0.5%GDP level for aid, but it takes up a big part of our budget and there is always a large debate within Parliament about keeping it in the budget and that is why it is important to keep our voices heard.

Following that, we heard the inspirational speech made by Catherine Ojos, a midwife from Nigeria, who shared her daily encounters in regards to maternal and child health. She stressed the importance of educating women in the rural areas about the simplest things in regards to health, to save their lives as well as the lives of the children. She also stressed that midwives of African countries need importance and recognition.

The morning of Day One has been a hectic one, but also very inspirational. This afternoon promises to be just as amazing.

Coincidentally, this week is Anti-Poverty Week, with my Uni celebrating by hosting a Social Justice Week. So it made me think about social justice, and fighting for what you believe in.

I was talking to Anna Lam, WA Events Co-Manager, about the forum and she said something, which sums up a lot of the reasons why being part of a “Global Community” is important for those who fight for social justice.

Anna said “There are so many issues in our world and they’re all interrelated and for us to effectively work towards these goals, we need to work together because we can’t address one issue without addressing all the others as well.”

 Being part of a larger global community allows us to fight united against all social injustices.  There needs to be a stronger fight and a stronger commitment towards creating this global community. Sure, there is already a larger Global Community, but I think for us to fight for achieving the Millenium Development Goals, there needs to be a heightened sense of belonging to global communities.

And that is why CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) is such an important time in our lives. I am constantly inspired by how many NGOs, including Oaktree, are using this opportunity to use the increased media to shed light on the 1.4 billion people who live in poverty, on the need to fight Climate Change. For Justice.

But where to after CHOGM? Are we going to let this massive Global Community feeling just dissipate? No. I believe the sense that we are going to get from all these social justice movements during CHOGM will last, I believe that we need to continue and maintain this global community that exists at the moment.

Internship

So last time I had just found out I had got the internship and had no idea what that would involve. I was very excited but a little apprehensive about taking on the extra challenge. Turns out I had absolutely nothing to worry about. Being an intern is so much fun! It’s like an all access backstage pass to the world of Oaktree. As part of our internships we have now been attending Whole Team meetings as well as State Management Team meetings. It has been so great to get to go along to these meetings and spend time hearing about Oaktree and their work outside of Generate. I like that at these meeting we aren’t treated like interns; we are just part of the team. One of my fellow interns and myself even took a session in one of the team meetings. It was a little nerve racking having to stand up and talk about development with people who know so much more about it than me. But it went well, no need to worry yet again.

My favourite part of the internship so far is getting to spend some quality time with the managers, particularly Pete (our Generate manager) and Emma (our state director). All of the managers are such friendly, intelligent and interesting people. They all have amazing stories and personalities. Getting to spend time with them and getting to know them motivates me and has convinced me more than ever that Oaktree is the organisation for me.

Generate Event

This time last month I was yet to launch our project Peace.Poverty.Photography, which is a photography competition in which individuals submit entries around the theme of “peace and poverty”. Our competition has launched successfully and is in fact weeks away from coming to a close. I am not going to lie and say that it has all be fun and games because it hasn’t, but it has definitely been a learning experience and that is what Generate is all about. The whole experience of running an event has not been a horrible one so far but trying to get sponsors and venues has turned out to be quite challenging. Trying to find time on top of uni to get everything done has also at times felt a little overwhelming. But I have learnt a lot about myself, my strengths and weaknesses, as well as how to handle things better in future.

The best part of running our events so far has been the relationships we are building with each other. As we are in teams we are getting to know our team mates pretty well. I don’t know about the other groups, but I feel so lucky to have my team – they really are amazing! It’s not just the relationships that you are building in your own team that are important though. All of us are planning events, facing the same challenges and trying to balance uni, so it is fantastic to see people from other teams offering ideas, support and help when fellow Generators from other teams are struggling.

General Oaktree Awesomeness

To sum up my epic blog entry I just wanted to tell you all about some of the general awesome things going on in Oaktree.

The It Starts At Home campaign website launch was last week. There were hats and party food!It is going to be great to get involved as the campaign evolves. Stay tuned. Rumour has it the campaign will be on a TV near you very soon.

National Conference! It’s getting to that time of year where all the wonderful Oaktree people from all over Australia get together. Most excitingly GENERATORS ARE INVITED! I cannot wait. There are going to be some fantastic speakers and amazing people plus it is a great excuse to go on a weekend away to Melbourne.

Oaktree Positions for 2012 are up. Unfortunately some of the wonderful managers and team members in each state have bigger and more wonderful adventures to tackle and therefore their positions are vacant for 2012. If you’re reading this then you’re probably interested in Oaktree and should therefore look at applying! The positions are coming up gradually on the website. There are some awesome roles and opportunities. I have my eyes on two in particular but I am definitely up for some friendly competition.

So if you have made it all the way to the end of this epically long blog, thank you and I hope you enjoyed it. September so far (and the end of August) have turned out to be quite busy and at times challenging but it is important to look at the bigger picture and remember that all this effort is for a great cause and is going to make a real difference. Enjoy the uni busy season, everyone. Hope to see you all at a Generate event near you real soon!

By Lily Frencham 

Something that is often talked about at Oaktree, and particularly within the Campaigns team, is the importance of telling your personal story.

It’s commonly understood within this sector that by sharing your personal story with someone – that is, the story of what you do, where and how you started, why you act – you allow them insight into both your values and your character. Indeed, in consulting with other not-for-profits on this issue, some have suggested that telling someone your story is actually a more effective way of demonstrating what you believe in than telling them explicitly. It helps people to engage with the complexity of human emotions that drive and motivate us in a way that feels far more authentic.

Making these kinds of emotional connections allows people to understand your systems of belief and values, and can be hugely compelling. In short, sharing your personal story can be a fantastic way to get people to invest in the cause.

What we don’t often explore, however, is how personal stories are not simply effective in engaging others, but also in reinvigorating ourselves. Telling our personal story to others reminds us why we do what we do, and encourages us to re-invest in our cause and in our community.

I was fortunate to experience this recently, at Oaktree’s Future Fund Gala. For those that don’t know, the Future Fund is an endowment fund, that (when fully funded) will ensure Oaktree’s sustainability by covering the organisation’s administrative costs indefinitely by using the interest earned off the Fund. The Gala is an annual event which sees Oaktree supporters gather to strengthen relationships and raise funds to contribute to the Future Fund.

Personal stories are an important part of the Gala. Oaktree volunteers at each table share their own stories to demonstrate to guests at the Gala – potential psychological and financial investors in Oaktree – what they are supporting and where their time, money or energy is going. We know from past experience that this is a powerful way of creating connections with not just the people, but also the organisation and the movement.

What I had forgotten though, was that I was not immune to the power of personal story sharing simply by virtue of the fact that I was the one doing the sharing. Talking to guests on the night about the work I do with Oaktree and how I got to be involved was a poignant reminder of why I engaged with Oaktree and the anti-poverty movement in the first place, and of how much it means to me to get to work in such an amazing organisation. I feel incredibly privileged to work at Oaktree, with some of the brightest and most extraordinary people I know – and getting to tell people that only served to further reinforce it.

For me, the Future Fund Gala was a truly emotional experience, and being able to share my personal story only consolidated my motivation and my desire to continue to be involved.  Sometimes, when we’re weighed down by the feeling we’re going round in circles and getting nowhere fast, and struggling to juggle the many facets of our lives, we lose sight of why we do the work we do… the Gala made me remember how I got here, and how happy I am to be able to do what I do!

So I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on a different reason why it’s important to tell your personal story – because sometimes you need to tell it to yourself.

So exciting stuff first. Last weekend was the QLD Oaktree retreat and the team was lovely enough to invite us Generators along. It really was the best weekend I have had in a long time! There was plenty of food, games and socialising but we also put in a bit of work to coming up with some great presentations and ideas for Oaktree’s future. We also learnt some great time management skills and got to meet the lovely Claire, who was up from Melbourne. My favourite part of the weekend was getting to know the rest of the team. While I had met a few of them before I can now proudly say that I know most of the QLD team and not just on an Oaktree level but also on a personal one.

In other exciting news, the QLD team has bravely decided to take six of us Generators on as interns. What this means is that on top of our Generate commitments we now all (the 6 interns) have managers to report to, more hours to contribute and projects and work we are responsible for. I got one of the internships! I am so excited about it. I get to follow and work with our lovely and amazing Generate manager, Pete. I am so looking forward to getting to do some great work. I can’t wait to be able to tell you all about it as the semester unfolds.

Now down to the good stuff. I left you with a cliff hanger last time about Generate’s goings on this semester. Hopefully the curiosity and suspense has driven you wild. Now without further ado (insert drumroll) this semester Generators get to plan their own projects! In small groups all over the country Generators have been meeting up over their holidays, putting their thinking hats on and coming up with amazing fundraising and awareness raising events and campaigns. This is my favourite part of the whole program and I have been looking forward to it all year.

My team are planning “Peace.Poverty.Photography” a photography competition that will see individuals take peace and poverty themed photos and hopefully raise awareness of Oaktree and the amazing project they are running in east Timor in partnership with Ba Fatura. Our competition has not launched yet, though it will in the next few days so keep your eyes out if your a Queenslander and come along.

No matter what state of Australia you are in there will be amazing Generate events going on throughout the next few months. There are already some great events popping up all over the place. So if you haven’t already I suggest you jump on to Facebook and Twitter and like or follow both the Oaktree Foundation page and the Generate page so you can see all the latest and hopefully head along and support an event near you!

When looking at the campaign planned out for the next 18 months, I find myself overwhelmed. The sheer magnitude, skill, and passion which has created this campaign is a testament to the dedication of those involved with the Oaktree Foundation.

As the old saying goes, an organisation is nothing more than the sum of its parts, and this makes Oaktree a very high achieving organisation, as are the people who run it. Being surrounded by smart, dedicated, and clever people is just one way that Oaktree continues to inspire and motivate me.

During the first stages of setting up the basis for this campaign, Tasmania has been undergoing some incredibly large changes in structure. Firstly, our founding State Director, the most beautiful Jess Jacobson, has transferred to the role of National Overseas Project Manager – an amazing step in her development has a human rights activist. Amidst the shock of losing such a precious piece of our Tas Oak Tribe, the whole branch sends our proudest wishes with her in this new role. During this period of processing a new State Director and Assistant State Director, our Campaigns Manager, the incredible Laura McIlhenny, was also given the opportunity to participate in Our Generation’s Challenge in Timor-Leste. While she was experiencing this inspiring journey, Carla Johnson, our Media Manger, was able to step into her place as Acting Campaigns Manager. She took on this role while also preparing herself to move to Denmark on scholarship to study Environmental Journalism.

This change in authority structure was also amidst a variety of exams and conferences for others in the team. While this culmination of achievements within our team may have caused disruption to committing a strong base for the coming campaign, Tassie was able to use recent events as motivation and determination to support one another during this busy time.

While all Tassie members are fully committed to improving aid and development, each person is able to bring an individual specific focus to the cause/campaign, including knowledge on Climate Change, Fair Trade, Child Slavery and Gender equality which are sheltered under the broad umbrella of ‘human rights’. Through Oaktree, we are able to share our knowledge and passion in these specific areas with one another. Through these discussions the magnitude of Global Poverty becomes clear.

Our world is crowded with injustices; a lack of food, sanitation, choice, safe drinking water, education and equality in countries run by corrupt governments and crowded with violence. These are the injustices of poverty: the absence of the most basic human rights. Our lives are crowded with potential. Our time is crowded with urgency. In the time it takes me to write this blog, dozens if not hundreds of children in poverty will have died, been exploited, forced into labour and countless human rights will have been abused in more ways than I can even comprehend. Each hour of poverty is crowded with suffering. It’s our responsibility, as ‘the lucky country’, to replace this suffering with opportunity.

I thank the Oaktree Foundation, and especially the Tasmanian Branch, for giving us the potential to do so. Through the sum of its parts, the people who create it, Oaktree is a vital player in the movement to Make Poverty History.