title: Youth and Climate Change in Samoa

authors: Senara, Pati Orana

subjects: Youth

abstract: Climate change is a major issue for Samoa and the other Pacific island countries. Samoa’s Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has identified climate change as the government’s main challenge following his successful re-election in 2016. Many studies and research projects have addressed the significance of building adaptation strategies towards climate change in the Pacific. However, very few academics have paid attention and effort to include young people specifically in the fight against climate change. Young people often face great barriers in getting their voices heard. This is no different for the youth of Samoa given their social structure and their cultural tradition of respect. As Samoa continues to experience increasing environmental degradation and climatic changes, affecting its social and economic development, a sustainable collective approach from all groups of people including the youth can be crucial. This paper presents an outcome of a study to investigate if the youth of Samoa are active in the climate change projects being implemented in their local villages. 
The study was based on a particular climate change project called the Integration of Climate Change Risks and Resilience into Forestry Management in Samoa (ICCRIFS). The main focus was to examine if the youths of the project site villages were involved during the project. Particular interest was paid towards the discourses that may have prevented them from participating in voicing their concerns. A qualitative approach was central to the discussions from the youth focus groups, as their responses and perceptions were analysed.
The results highlighted the poor level of participation and understanding of the youths about climate change and the ICCRIFS project in their local villages. It revealed a downside of the communication process used between the ministry and the village, as well as the relationship between the local chiefs leading the project and the village youths. The findings also revealed how the youth are exposed to the cultural barriers which have influenced the way they understand and treated the ICCRIFS project. These findings concluded that the project needs a better medium of communication to enhance contact and improve interaction from both sides. The analysis of the youth participants painted the need for someone responsible and committed to lead the project. This will need to be someone who can become a good role model to motivate and encourage everyone in their local communities to work and participate. 
Hopefully this research paper will provide an opportunity to guide and improve the framework for the overall sustainability of adaptation programs in Samoa. More importantly, I hope this paper will provide a pathway for the youths of Samoa to develop a sense of passion and responsibility to participate and contribute to the various climate change programs being implemented in the local villages.

text: Youth and Climate Change in Samoa Climate change is a major issue for Samoa and the other Pacific island countries. Samoa’s Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi has identified climate change as the government’s main challenge following his successful re-election in 2016. Many studies and research projects have addressed the significance of building adaptation strategies towards climate change in the Pacific. However, very few academics have paid attention and effort to include young people specifically in the fight against climate change. Young people often face great barriers in getting their voices heard. This is no different for the youth of Samoa given their social structure and their cultural tradition of respect. As Samoa continues to experience increasing environmental degradation and climatic changes, affecting its social and economic development, a sustainable collective approach from all groups of people including the youth can be crucial. This paper presents an outcome of a study to investigate if the youth of Samoa are active in the climate change projects being implemented in their local villages. 
The study was based on a particular climate change project called the Integration of Climate Change Risks and Resilience into Forestry Management in Samoa (ICCRIFS). The main focus was to examine if the youths of the project site villages were involved during the project. Particular interest was paid towards the discourses that may have prevented them from participating in voicing their concerns. A qualitative approach was central to the discussions from the youth focus groups, as their responses and perceptions were analysed.
The results highlighted the poor level of participation and understanding of the youths about climate change and the ICCRIFS project in their local villages. It revealed a downside of the communication process used between the ministry and the village, as well as the relationship between the local chiefs leading the project and the village youths. The findings also revealed how the youth are exposed to the cultural barriers which have influenced the way they understand and treated the ICCRIFS project. These findings concluded that the project needs a better medium of communication to enhance contact and improve interaction from both sides. The analysis of the youth participants painted the need for someone responsible and committed to lead the project. This will need to be someone who can become a good role model to motivate and encourage everyone in their local communities to work and participate. 
Hopefully this research paper will provide an opportunity to guide and improve the framework for the overall sustainability of adaptation programs in Samoa. More importantly, I hope this paper will provide a pathway for the youths of Samoa to develop a sense of passion and responsibility to participate and contribute to the various climate change programs being implemented in the local villages.

year: 2016

title: Learning food technology outside the classroom: A study of a secondary class visit to a live historical village

authors: More, Beatrice Anne Maria

subjects: Food Technology

abstract: This thesis explores food technology learning experiences outside the classroom. The participants in this study were year 11 students who had selected food technology as one of their NCEA subjects. A living historical village, near to the students’ school, was chosen as the site for an interactive learning experience. The era and artefacts represented by this village are associated with 19th century New Zealand. The purposes of this study were to determine to what extent an interactive learning experience through a live historical village helped students learn about food and the technologies used to produce food; and whether this experience helped students better understand the complex relationship between food technologies and society. The study was informed by research literature on technology education in general and food technology in particular, as well as literature examining student engagement with history and learning outside the classroom. The study adopted a qualitative, interpretative methodology and data was gathered from surveys, tests, classroom activities, document analysis and a focus group interview. The study’s findings clearly indicated that the trip to The Historical Village helped the students learn about the constituents of food products and the technologies used to produce food. The historical context of the village engaged the students and enabled them to associate developments in food technologies with changes in society.

text: Learning food technology outside the classroom: A study of a secondary class visit to a live historical village This thesis explores food technology learning experiences outside the classroom. The participants in this study were year 11 students who had selected food technology as one of their NCEA subjects. A living historical village, near to the students’ school, was chosen as the site for an interactive learning experience. The era and artefacts represented by this village are associated with 19th century New Zealand. The purposes of this study were to determine to what extent an interactive learning experience through a live historical village helped students learn about food and the technologies used to produce food; and whether this experience helped students better understand the complex relationship between food technologies and society. The study was informed by research literature on technology education in general and food technology in particular, as well as literature examining student engagement with history and learning outside the classroom. The study adopted a qualitative, interpretative methodology and data was gathered from surveys, tests, classroom activities, document analysis and a focus group interview. The study’s findings clearly indicated that the trip to The Historical Village helped the students learn about the constituents of food products and the technologies used to produce food. The historical context of the village engaged the students and enabled them to associate developments in food technologies with changes in society.

year: 2011

title: Imagining our own approaches

authors: Smith, Linda Tuhiwai

abstract: I spent some formative years of my life either in the back of museums or their basements helping my father, a scholar of Māori Studies, and keeping myself out of trouble. In the late 1960s I had one small job in the library basement of the Peabody Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, typing new labels for the captains’ log books of ships that were sailing during the American Revolution. I read most of those journals that consisted of pages and pages of wind directions with the rare glimpse of an encounter with another ship or a list of supplies. Why were we there in Salem when we came from Aotearoa, New Zealand? We were there because Salem was the home base for ships that sailed into the Pacific and returned home with collections of materials from the various Pacific Islands countries they visited. My father was studying elaborately carved items from the Marquesa Islands that looked very much like Māori designs.

text: Imagining our own approaches I spent some formative years of my life either in the back of museums or their basements helping my father, a scholar of Māori Studies, and keeping myself out of trouble. In the late 1960s I had one small job in the library basement of the Peabody Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, typing new labels for the captains’ log books of ships that were sailing during the American Revolution. I read most of those journals that consisted of pages and pages of wind directions with the rare glimpse of an encounter with another ship or a list of supplies. Why were we there in Salem when we came from Aotearoa, New Zealand? We were there because Salem was the home base for ships that sailed into the Pacific and returned home with collections of materials from the various Pacific Islands countries they visited. My father was studying elaborately carved items from the Marquesa Islands that looked very much like Māori designs.

year: 2015