By TBHS | Posted: Tuesday May 14, 2019
ECan Youth Rōpu began as an idea raised in a Christchurch Youth Council meeting that saw the Council commit time and money to create what would become the ECan Youth Rōpu, initiated with a “working group” in 2017 to establish a project that would allow ECan to communicate with young people (between 14 and 26).
The main goal was to form a genuine two way relationship between ECan and a select group of young people which would effectively allow the District Council to connect and communicate with the wider youth community.
Joshua Earnshaw applied and was accepted onto the newly formed ECan Youth Rōpu along with15 other members from across Canterbury. Commencing with an informal lunch on 5 April in the ECan building in Christchurch, this gave an opportunity to establish the plan for the year and get to know each other.
Six members travelled to Wainui after the lunch to take part in #activate which is an annual meet up of youth groups from across the country. Due to having only a week's notice, the remainder of the members were unable to attend.
Although Josh left on Saturday afternoon, #activate took place from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon and was a great experience for attendees.
He was able to participate in various workshops, including some based around improving leadership, awareness of Maori culture and protecting the environment. They were also given down time to take opportunity of everything Wainui had to offer. The trip itself was great and helped Josh realise the effort that many young people from across the country put in to help lead change. He also noted the importance placed on Maori culture in other towns. As the year goes on, Josh will travel to Christchurch to attend regular ECan Youth Rōpu meetings to discuss the big topics surrounding environmental issues in Canterbury. They intend working with ECan to make some significant changes in the region and by doing so, lead our generation in helping New Zealand become a cleaner, safer place for people and wildlife.
