As a young person concerned about issues broader than those of one’s immediate surroundings it is often difficult to feel engaged and active in significant global problems. Concerns such as climate change, human rights, class and gender equality and global poverty often feel beyond the scope of our influence. For many, sharing ideals and goals with multinational movements is often not enough to feel engaged and active in achieving change in areas that need to be addressed.
In fact, there are significant opportunities to engage locally in issues of global significance. One such example of a locally based and globally engaged organisation is the Oaktree Foundation. The Oaktree Foundation is and Australian non-Government organisation that is run entirely by volunteers under the age of 26 who are determined to do something real about extreme poverty. One of the best things about the Oaktree Foundation is that it engages young people in active responses to one of the most pressing concerns of our generation – extreme poverty.
This year I have been a participant in the Oaktree Foundation’s Generate program and have had the opportunity to undertake several projects and experiences that have, in some small ways, contributed to the local drive to increase our nation’s official development assistance to 0.7% of gross national income as well as the global push to end extreme poverty.
The Generate program engages young people in a number of awareness and fundraising activities with a wide range of benefits and tangible results. Not only is it a vehicle for educating young people about poverty and development, it is also an opportunity to equip them with the skills necessary to achieve real change about issues that they care deeply about. Organising petitions, a territory wide schools conference and letter writing campaigns were all successfully undertaken. As well as this, endeavours such as cocktail nights, barefoot barbeques and games nights were all important in raising money for overseas projects. One of the most successful events ran, in terms of raising both awareness and money, was a sponsorship walk around Lake Burley Griffin which raised $6000.
In terms of political endeavours as part of the Oaktree Foundation’s Generate program I had the opportunity to meet with several local and national politicians as well as hopefully influencing the decision making processes of many more. Sitting down and talking with those who are formulating government policy on such important areas was an invaluable experience..
Undertaking these activities was in many ways challenging but was also highly rewarding. Being able to actively participate in an area that I feel strongly about and for which I have great concerns was as fantastic as it was fulfilling. The opportunity to make an active contribution to such an important global movement should never be passed up easily.
The Oaktree Foundation’s Generate Program is designed for university students and will take place again in 2010. For more information and to apply, go to www.theoaktree.org.
By Jacob Mugavin
