Attendance high at Southland Youth Forum

The forum, the first of it’s kind held in Southland, was a youth leadership initiative that focused on motivation, leadership and the identification of key issues for Southland youth.  

Comedian Ben Hurley was MC for the event and provided a laugh a minute, which kept the audiences’ attention throughout the day.

Keynote speaker Marcus Akuhata-Brown is a national and international representative and delegate on youth-related concerns. His compelling speech about his own life and how far he had come drew awe-inspired noises from the young audience, with many moved by his message, ‘it’s not what you get, but what you can give’.

Two leadership workshops were run by local presenters before attendees were split into groups to discuss the seven Southland community outcomes identified by the Our Way Southland project. These are lifestyle, health, leadership, economy and employment, safe communities and safe roads, the environment and education. Each group assigned speakers to report their findings back to the forum.

Council Community Development Manager Mary Napper said the forum was organised by members of the Invercargill, Southland District and Gore Youth Councils and was funded by the Ministry of Youth Development.