NZOIA Quarterly – article by April and Amy

In the latest edition of the NZOIA (New Zealand Outdoor Instructors Association) Quarterly magazine is an article written by Amy (our Adventure Therapy manager) and April (one of our field instructor)

Here it is, transcribed in full below, if you are interested in reading it!


CO-DESIGN

“Co-design is an approach for designing [outdoor adventure programmes] WITH people, not FOR people. Co-design actively involves all stakeholders (e.g. users, participants, professionals, the community) and works best if the people you engage with have personal experience with the problem you are trying to solve. “

CASE STUDY: ADVENTURE SPECIALTIES

“The 2018/2019 statistics released by Recreation Aotearoa and Sport NZ showed that Māori and Pacifica workers were under-represented in the outdoor education and tourism sectors within Aotearoa. 

“In 2020, Adventure Specialties Trust wanted to address this issue. The Outdoor Activity Fund (through NZ Recreation) offered some potential funding to do something to help this situation. Knowing that we didn’t have all the perspectives or skills to pull this off by ourselves, we contacted a wide range of people who we thought might have some whakaaro (thoughts, opinions, understanding, ideas) to partner with us, to inspire other Māori to pursue a career in the outdoor industry. Eventually we got together in a room to wānanga (meet to discuss, deliberate, consider) the issue. Represented in the room were Māori and Pākehā who were employers, students, iwi, training institutions, kaupapa Māori organisations and industry peak body. 

“Together we came up with the idea of the “Adventure Aotearoa Māori” haerenga (journey). Over six days, the rõpū (group of people) travelled to different locations in the North Island and experienced tasters within the outdoor sector and connected with other Māori who are working in adventure tourism, youth work, conservation and outdoor education […] The end result [of the haerenga] was 11 amazing Māori wāhine (women), all in different stages of interest in a career in the outdoors, all having an amazing, empowering experience that inspired all sorts of possibilities!”


Find out more about our Adventure Therapy programmes and then get in touch if you are interested in being involved!

Or watch this short video to get a taste of the fun that happens on our outdoor adventure programmes …

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