Poverty and homelessness - Anglicare
Tasmania
Animal welfare - Brightside Farm Sanctuary
Global poverty - Oaktree Foundation
Climate change - Oxfam Australia
Cultural diversity - Migrant Resource Centre
Transitional communities - Sustainable Living Tasmania
Making a difference - Foundation for Young Australians
Youth mental health - Australian Red Cross
Be More campaign - Caritas Australia
Human Rights - Amnesty International Australia
Youth Decide - World Vision Australia
Presenters: 
Introduction (10 mins) – students and facilitators introduce themselves.
Each student to give their name, school, why they came to the conference and name something they would never give up if they moved.
Feeling safe: “For some of you some things we might touch on today might stir up some bad feelings, if this happens please try to catch my eye, I will come over and we’ll find something else for you to do until we change the topic a bit.”
What is Anglicare? What is poverty? What is homelessness? (30 mins)
Introduce the lingo: write the following on a whiteboard with the terms underlined. ‘Anglicare is an NGO that is mainly focused on social justice and often works towards helping people living in poverty.’
Discuss: What is an NGO? What is social justice? What is poverty? Explain patchwork of programs that together create Anglicare and talk about the ACCESS program which deals with homelessness.
Exploration of homelessness and poverty through a group reading of Mutt Dog, King, Stephen M.
Discussion of why people become homeless. Write reasons on whiteboard under the headings of Money, Health, Relationships and Other.
What can be done about it? (15 mins)
The personal: Where do people who are homeless or experiencing poverty go for help? How could we help those places? Discuss ideas like canned food drive, clothing drive, blanket drive, fundraising activities, “winter sleep outs” (in the gym).
The political: Who can make the real changes to stop poverty? Politicians make the laws and are there to represent their voters so how can we tell them what their voters want? (Letters to politicians or to the paper and by trying to create a discussion in the community… a school is a great place to do that!)
Participate in ‘Paper and Pencil Homelessness’ activity which is suitable to share with other students when they return to school. (20 mins)
Students break up into groups of three or four. Each group receives 2 sheets of butcher’s paper and a pencil. Divide the first page into quarters; each quarter will be filled by things that comprise a fictional family but each student is encouraged to include something that is important to them such as a pet or a family member.
first quarter: draw a home
second quarter: draw a family (name each member)
third quarter: draw pets (name pets)
fourth quarter: draw important household items
Scenario: The family home burns down and the family has to move out. What will they do?
Tear off first quarter - house burnt down. Put it away somewhere.
Tear off second quarter - Where can the family go? Who can help? Options to be written on the torn off piece. Put piece away.
Tear off third quarter - Where can the pets go? Who can help? Options to be written on the torn off piece. Put piece away.
Tear off fourth quarter - Where can everything go? Who can help?
On second page, draw outlines of two big bags and then draw inside them what you would pack if you could only take those two bags with you to live out of for a few weeks. Share and compare bags with whole group.
Game to debrief: I Have a Home (5 mins)
Students sit in a circle. Youth facilitator says “I have a home and in
my home there’s a ___” and names something in their home. The student
next to assistant adds an item and repeats first item. Continue around
the circle.
Presenters:
Emma Haswell, Founder, Brightside Farm Sanctuary
Alice
Brickhill, Youth Facilitator
Brightside Farm Sanctuary is a
place in the sun for rescued farm animals. The animals at Brightside are
ambassadors for their kind, showing people the true face of farm animals
and how wonderful they are. Emma Haswell has given presentations at more
than 60 schools to over 8000 students and is available for educational
talks to both primary and secondary students and groups outside schools.
She does this with help from one of the sanctuary’s rescued pigs. The aim
is to raise the level of awareness regarding the suffering that factory
farmed animals endure.
Workshop Objectives:
PowerPoint presentation on farm animals, sanctuary work, factory farming, animal rights and our responsibilities to the welfare of animals.
View a short film which will give students some background information on Emma’s work as an animal rights activist and the issues around meat, egg and dairy production in Tasmania.
Brainstorm to come up with concepts for a television advertisement to raise awareness about the plight of animals in factory farms in Tasmania.
Film students presenting segments for the ad (accompanied by Lynnie the piglet).
Screen the completed advertisement at the end of the conference.
Be More campaign
Presenters:
Katherine Jauncey, Campaigns Officer, Caritas Australia
Jeremy Picone,
Youth Facilitator
Caritas
Australia is the Catholic agency for International Aid and
Development. Committed to working with communities, Caritas strives to
help people to help themselves, regardless of race, political beliefs,
gender or religion. Caritas achieves this by encouraging self-reliance via
development programs, responding to disasters and encouraging Australians
to be a voice for its partners. Caritas belongs to an international
network called Caritas Internationalis comprising of 162 organisations
working to build a better world, especially for the poor and oppressed in
over 200 countries and territories.
Workshop Objectives:
Empower participants with ideas and resources in order for them to engage in social action.
Assist participants in understanding the global impact of their actions.
Raise awareness about the work of Caritas Australia.
Grade: 7 - 9
Workshop Outline:
Warm up activity – get to know you/set the mood (10 mins)
Brief introduction to Caritas Australia (5 mins)
Social Justice quiz (10 mins)
Introduction to the Be More Challenge – social action website with case studies of individuals and schools taking action (10 mins)
Questions (5 mins)
2 groups – 1 x making videos; 1 x developing ideas for how to introduce Be More into a school environment (35 mins)
Sharing about group discussions (10 mins)
Conclusion – activities (5 mins)
Presenters:
Tom Schauble, Campaigns coordinator Victoria & Tasmania, Oxfam
Australia
Kim Beasy, Youth Facilitator
Oxfam Australia's vision is of a
fair world in which people control their own lives, their basic rights are
achieved and the environment is sustained. We aim to increase the number
of people who have a sustainable livelihood, access to social services, an
effective voice in decisions, safety from conflict and disaster, and equal
rights and status. Oxfam Australia works in 28 countries around the world.
Workshop Objectives:
Increase students’ understanding of the human dimension of climate
change and the relationship between climate change and poverty.
Discus the importance of Australia’s role at the upcoming UN climate
change negotiations in Copenhagen this December.
Explore the concepts of campaigning and social activism and how students
can influence the Australian government.
Grade: 8 - 10
Workshop Outline:
Presenters:
Viv Benjamin, National Campaigns Director, Oaktree Foundation
Jess Jacobson,
Youth Facilitator
The Oaktree Foundation is a youth
run aid and development organisation which is based in Australia. It works
to raise funds and awareness in order to resource education and
community-based initiatives in developing areas. The foundation aims to
assist young people in developing communities by promoting education,
motivation and sustainability.
Workshop Objectives:
Grade: 9 - 12
Workshop Summary:
This workshop is for emerging young activists who are looking for
opportunities to stand up for change and lead the movement against extreme
poverty.
The group will get a unique insight into the workings of some of
the most successful youth-run campaigns in recent years, whilst creating
their own practical action plan. Every student that graduates from this workshop will be offered a place in Oaktree’s Stand Up for Change
campaign, enabling them to experience a six-week immersion in social
change activism.
Workshop Outline:
Introduction: why are you here? (15 mins)
Oaktree campaigns: impact and insights – plus questions (20 mins)
Stand Up campaign: tangible opportunity for action (10 mins)
Breakout groups – create posters and films (20 mins)
Presentations and action plans – open practical discussion (20 mins)
Wrap (5 mins)
Presenter:
Melissa Ibrihim, ruMAD? Victorian Schools Coordinator, Foundation for Young
Australians
The primary focus of the
Foundation for
Young Australians is on improving the wellbeing of young Australians
- with an initial focus on supporting education reform in Australia.
This enables us to build on the existing strengths of our organisation,
particularly since committing to the development of our Education
Foundation Division. We look forward to working in partnership with
young people from across Australia, government agencies, the private
sector and other not-for-profit agencies.
ruMAD? is a dynamic mix of
education, action, advocacy and events. Think of ruMAD? as a toolkit
that enables young people to lead social change and become active
citizens. It is focused on values and led by students but benefits the
whole community.
Workshop Objectives:
To recognise individual and group values.
To discover individual and group passions.
Produce a Vision Statement for community.
Create a social change project encompassing one’s passion to implement back in their community.
Grade: 5 - 8
Workshop Outline:
View ‘Teenage Affluenza’.
Values and Vision workshop.
Create a Project workshop.
Presenters:
Georgi Marshall, Youth Support Worker, Migrant Resource Centre,
Southern Tasmania
Ros Lewis, Tasmanian Coordinator, Oxfam Australia
Josie Young-Shisanya,
Youth Facilitator
Cedrick Kayembe Mulumba, Youth Facilitator
The Migrant Resource
Centre is a not for profit organisation providing support to people
from migrant and refugee backgrounds in Tasmania. Amongst the various
programs that occur at the MRC is the Youth Program, which is funded
through the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to support 12-25
year olds from refugee/humanitarian entrant backgrounds to support their
settlement in Southern Tasmania.
Workshop Objectives:
Understand cultural diversity.
Understand what refugee means and why people become refugees.
Feel what it might be like to have to leave your country and settle in a new place.
Gain an awareness and insight into the Humanitarian refugee program in Australia.
Discuss how we can support creating a greater cultural awareness and understanding in our community by identifying our similarities and appreciating our differences.
Grade: 9 - 10
Workshop Outline:
Icebreaker (10 mins)
Students will be divided into two groups and given a situation where they
are presented to in a language other than their own. Outcomes are feelings
of discrimination/unfairness which introduce students to a couple of the
challenges that young people from refugee/humanitarian entrant backgrounds
might face.
Role of MRC and Youth Support Worker
Workshop plan
What is ‘culture’? Ask for ideas….lead into next activity.
What we know/what we’ve heard (20 mins)
Divide students into groups. Each group is given a different word:
REFUGEES, AFRICANS, AFGHANISTAN, PEOPLE and LAND (include prompts about
education/training, growing up, land, food, language, personality).
Refugees (15 mins)
Where are refugees coming from today, and where from in the past? Show on map and have recent refugee cards for students to put on map.
‘Choices’ - Give students two choices which they need to choose between to highlight the difficulty for someone who needs to leave their home.
Settlement (15 mins)
Students are given a coloured sticker which determines which country they go to. They go to their country group and work through/discuss various questions about how they would feel in this new country.
Conclude with focus on differences and feeling different. Does any one have a story to share? Youth facilitator to reflect on food, school and language and to tell of their challenges in being a bit different from the mainstream.
Pipe Cleaner Similarities (15 mins) an activity to understand shared similarities and differences.
Actions & Involvement (10 mins)
Ask for ideas for how we can assist settlement and make acceptance of cultural diversity stronger in our communities. Stick up suggestion cards around map. (i.e talk to someone at school, be patient,….).
Understanding and dispelling the myths amongst your peers.
Involvement in activities such as MRC Youth Program (volunteer); PCYC; St Vinnies etc…
Leave students with resources they can share with others to build awareness and understanding:
quiz (general to dispel myths, understand some facts about Tasmanian migrants)
school check list (gain an insight and appreciation of the challenges new arrivals, from non-English speaking backgrounds in particular, face).
Presenters:
Lissa Villeneuve, Project Officer, Sustainable Living Tasmania
Magdalene Parkes, Youth Facilitator
Sustainable Living
Tasmania is a community-based, non-political organisation established
in 1972. We are working throughout Tasmania to create a community within
which government, business, industry, education, community groups and
individuals work in partnership to continually improve Tasmania’s
environmental and social sustainability.
Workshop Objectives:
To explore issues of resource consumption and peak oil and the impact that
these issues have on our daily lives in Tasmania. We will look at how
communities can build resilience to help them cope with the changes.
Grade: 7 - 8
Workshop Outline:
Introduction.
DVD – The Story of Stuff.
Peak Oil explained.
Sharing activity – “What did you have for breakfast?”
Small group discussion – “What might Tassie be like without cheap oil/fossil fuels/natural resources?”
Groups present their vision.
Closing and reflection.
Presenters: 
Introduction and ice breaker. (5 mins)
Brainstorm ideas about what mental health looks like for young people. (20 mins)
What does good and bad mental health look like?
How can you tell when a friend isn’t feeling good or happy?
What can you do to help? and what shouldn’t you do?
Get moving activity. (5 mins)
Mental health awareness campaign for your school. (40 mins)
Design a slogan and poster for your school which gets students thinking
about mental health, what they can do to help themselves and how they can
help each other through hard times.
DIY stress balls. (15 mins)
Group evaluation. (5 mins)
Did they have fun?
What did they like the best?
Can they take their poster campaign back to school?
Who will talk to the Principal or relevant teacher to help with putting the poster up at school?
