Indigenous voices a focus for New Zealand AFSE graduates
The Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity has produced a class of 2021 looking to Indigenous wisdom for social change, in New Zealand and beyond.
After completing a Master or Graduate Certificate of Social Change Leadership, six New Zealand Atlantic Fellows of Social Equity graduated from the University of Melbourne on Saturday 13 August.
The Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity (AFSE), a programme promoting Indigenous and non-Indigenous ‘change-makers’, attracts mid-career professionals from a broad range of backgrounds including the arts, advocacy, government, and education.
Established at the University of Melbourne in 2016, the network is coordinated and led by the Atlantic Institute, located in Oxford, UK.
“In a world with complex and competing histories one thing remains true: the answers to the inequities we face in our world can only be found with the self-determination and empowerment of our First nations communities themselves” says Professor Elizabeth McKinley, Executive Director of AFSE.
With their studies completed, culminating in spearheading a unique social change project, graduates are invited into the Global Atlantic Fellowship, which includes members across 68 countries and seven Atlantic Fellows hubs.
In partnership with the University of Melbourne, Professor Melinda Webber and Pro-Vice Chancellor Māori Associate Professor Te Kawehau Hoskins lead the University of Auckland arm of the programme. Professor Webber believes the programme offers New Zealand social change leaders the opportunity to network with other like-minded community leaders to effect collective change. Six New Zealanders were graduates of the 2021 class.
“The fellowship has given me the time and space to think deeply about how change happens and connect with others who believe that Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing are the foundation for the change we want to see” says Katrina Smit.
While Smit focused her project on the potential of whanaungatanga, the Māori system of relational connection, other social projects included investigations into an iwi-specific rongoā health system, indigenous digital identity, and Māori fishing practices.
AFSE believes a global network of Indigenous-focused professionals will platform First Nation practices and help bring about social change, through their collective cultural wisdom and collaboration.
New Zealand Global Fellow Tania Pouwhare sees the trans-Tasman and trans-Pacific solidarity of the fellowship as ripe with potential.
“Those I studied with are not just fellows to me. They’re lifelong friends.”
New Zealand AFSE 2021 Graduates:
- Boyd Broughton
- Katrina Smit
- Kaye-Maree Dunn
- Rachael Galway
- Samuel Hughes
- Te Taiawatea Moko-Mead