Chris Theobald, Principal at Holy Family School in Cannons Creek, Porirua, was a speaker on day one of the TacklingPovertyNZ workshop. You can view this presentation on our YouTube channel or play below.

Chris discussed the barriers that face those living in poverty. He suggested that we should focus on equity over equality, that we need new ideas to tackle the problem, and that we need a willingness to change. Chris proposed three ideas that he believes would make a difference: develop awareness of differences in society; enable schools to reflect the needs of their specific learners; and empower our whānau to take action.

About TacklingPovertyNZ
The TacklingPovertyNZ workshop brought together 36 young New Zealanders between the ages 18 and 25 to prepare a youth perspective on the issue of poverty in New Zealand and how we might, as a country, go about tackling it. Participants spent most of their 72 hours in Wellington working hard at Treasury, in order to present their findings to MPs and other guests at the finale at Parliament on Wednesday, 9 December 2020. Every year, the McGuinness Institute has worked in collaboration with the New Zealand Treasury to create a place for young New Zealanders to explore complex public policy issues together. The workshops have always proved exciting, enjoyable and insightful. The McGuinness Institute would particularly like to thank the staff at the New Zealand Treasury for their continued support and encouragement. This initiative is ongoing and we will be releasing further developments in the next few weeks on the TacklingPovertyNZ website.