The Oaktree Foundation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Oaktree Foundation is a major organiser of Australia's Make Poverty History Concert: November 17, Melbourne
The Oaktree Foundation is an entirely youth run aid and development organisation, and appears to be the first of its kind in Australia. Its mission is to empower young people around the world to raise funds and awareness to support community based educational projects in developing communities.
The foundation is made up of volunteers (aged 26 and under), as they believe that young people have the passion, motivation and energy necessary for making positive change in the world. The Foundation also has a network of industry professionals who mentor its volunteers and provide them with support and guidance.
The Oaktree Foundation consists of people who have come together to raise funds and awareness in order to resource education and community-based initiatives in developing areas. The foundation aims to assist young people in developing communities by promoting education, motivation and sustainability.
The Oaktree Foundation believe that education is a fundamental part of any initiative seeking to combat the injustices of the world. They recognise that it is by pure virtue of birth and environment that young people in privileged areas of the world have the opportunity to pursue extensive education options, whereas many young people in the developing world are not so lucky. The Oaktree Foundation believes that every child should have the opportunity to be educated, and that education can assist in breaking the poverty cycle.
Contents |
[edit] History
The Oaktree Foundation was founded in 2003 by a group of young people in Melbourne, Australia. The driving force for Oaktree's inception was Hugh Evans (2004 Young Australian of the Year), who had just returned from living and volunteering in the rural valley communities of the KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. Whilst there, Hugh oversaw the development of an educational resource centre and sports field in the poverty and HIV-AIDS stricken region of Embo. Witnessing the empowering and uplifting effect that the resource centre had on the community, Hugh came to understand the crucial role that education can play in assisting underprivileged societies. Hugh has said that growing up in Melbourne with an excellent primary and secondary education, and then comparing this to the standard of education in the developing world has made him increasingly aware of his privileged position in society.
Upon returning to Melbourne in early 2003, Hugh joined with a group of passionate young people to establish an organisation that would aim to combat some of the extensive inequalities that he had witnessed.
Since Oaktree's founding, young people throughout Australia and the world have been inspired into action by Oaktree and all that it stands for.
[edit] Projects
The projects that the Oaktree looks to support are youth oriented as well as having a strong focus on education. The Foundation has targeted education because it believes it is a way of enabling those caught in the poverty cycle to break out of it themselves so that they are not reliant on hand outs into the future and can become young leaders within their own society and the world.
[edit] Vision
Ultimately the Oaktree Foundation would love to see equal educational opportunities for all young people across the world, as they believe that education is a key to breaking the poverty cycle. Oaktree believes that educated, empowered and motivated communities are better able to change their future.
The Oaktree Foundation's vision is of young people learning through partnership; young people in the developed world using and expanding their knowledge and skills to help young people in the developing world gain access to quality education.
[edit] Mission
The Oaktree Foundation's mission statement is "to empower developing communities through education in a way that is sustainable."
[edit] Volunteers
The Oaktree relies on the support of volunteers and mentors, primarily within Australia, but increasingly throughout the world with branches being established in the UK, the USA and South Africa. It seeks to engage young people, helping them to see the importance of the issues of poverty and education in developing communities. It also aims to equip them with the tools to do something about it.
This focus on advocacy, coupled with fundraising efforts, provides the main direction for the Oaktree's work. Oaktree volunteers spend a lot of time talking in schools, churches, universities and businesses raising awareness about the issues they are passionate about.
This message is linked closely with the Oaktree's drive to further empower young people in more affluent countries within their own societies. To ensure this is never lost, one of the fundamental rules of the Oaktree is that only those who are under twenty-six years old can actively volunteer for the organisation. That is not to say that they shy away from the wisdom of those who are more experienced. Older persons provide help, guidance, and advice through the Oaktree's mentoring program. Acorn.
[edit] School Groups
Oaktree's message of youth empowerment is nowhere more important than in their work with school students. Within each school with whom the Oaktree has contact, the students set up an Oaktree club, or 'seed'. These 'seed groups' are where school students can organize fundraising and advocacy related events. They are well supported by the Oaktree Schools Network and often have an interested staff member involved as a mentor and a link to the school.
[edit] one day
one day is the Oaktree Foundation's major annual fundraising event. Oaktree's previous, "Dinners for Life" campaign was renamed one day in 2006. The one day campaign aims to bring communities together by individuals utilising their skills and passions to run fundraising events on one day. These events are run across the world by school, university, church and community groups with the aim of raising funds for the Oaktree's current development projects in Africa and South East Asia. They also aim to increase awareness of the Oaktree Foundation and deepen event attendee's understanding of issues of poverty and injustice.
Through one day the Oaktree aspires to create and build a stronger sense of community in Australia while simultaneously providing youth in the developing world a chance to break free from poverty.
